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WASHINGTON<\/strong> \u2013 Melania Trump is capping her first year back as first lady with the global release of a documentary<\/a> she produced about the 20 days leading up to husband Donald Trump\u2019s return to the White House.<\/p>\n \u201cMelania\u201d will premiere Thursday at the Kennedy Center, where the Trumps are expected to walk the red carpet before the film opens in theaters worldwide Friday. They hosted a similar viewing at the White House last Saturday.<\/p>\n The first lady has said that she got the idea for the documentary after her husband won the 2024 election and that it will give viewers a rare, behind-the-scenes look at her life. <\/p>\n \u201cMy new film, \u2018Melania,\u2019 provides a window into an important period for America, the 47th presidential inauguration,” she said Wednesday before ringing the bell to open the New York Stock Exchange. “For the first time in history, people will witness the 20 days leading up to the inauguration, through the eyes of an incoming first lady.\u201d<\/p>\n A private person, Melania Trump still remains a bit of a mystery to the public in her husband’s second term.<\/p>\n She said the film will show what it takes to step into the high-profile role as she juggles being a businessperson, a wife and a mother, as well as the coordinator of her family’s move back to the Executive Mansion.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone wants to know. So here it is,\u201d she says in the trailer for the nearly two-hour film. <\/p>\n \u2018Here we go again\u2019<\/p>\n In another scene from the trailer, it is Inauguration Day and Melania Trump is inside the Capitol, waiting to be escorted into the Rotunda for the ceremony. She turns her head, looks directly into the camera that had been documenting her every move and says, \u201cHere we go again.\u201d<\/p>\n She wrote in her self-titled memoir published in 2024 about how much she values her privacy. She is not as frequently seen or heard from as often as some of her recent predecessors, which may be influencing the public’s perceptions of her. But she also likes to do things her way. <\/p>\n The U.S. public is divided on their views of the first lady, but a significant number \u2014 about 4 in 10 adults \u2014 had no opinion or had not heard of her, according to a celebrity.land poll from January 2025<\/a>. About 3 in 10 adults saw her favorably while roughly the same share had an unfavorable opinion.<\/p>\n Her standing among Republicans was higher, with about 7 in 10 saying in the poll that they viewed her favorably, but around one-quarter did not have an opinion.<\/p>\n Experts said the film could help improve perceptions of her. <\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s an attempt, in a way, to really augment or tailor or really refine her image for the American public,\u201d said Katherine Sibley, who teaches history at Saint Joseph\u2019s University in Philadelphia. \u201cShe\u2019s a mystery to the American people.\u201d <\/p>\n First lady cites impactful first year of second Trump term<\/p>\n Melania Trump, 55, said she’s honored to execute the traditional duties of first lady, such as holding state dinners, hosting the annual Easter Egg Roll<\/a> and decorating for Christmas<\/a>. But she also has suggested she wants to leave her mark in other ways, too. <\/p>\n \u201cI want to impact Americans’ lives,\u201d she said this week during an interview on Fox News Channel’s \u201cFox & Friends.\u201d <\/p>\n She spent chunks of time away from Washington last year working on the documentary and was deeply involved in every aspect of its development, according to Marc Beckman, her longtime senior adviser.<\/p>\n The well-being and safety of children remains one of her top priorities, and she has used her influence to lobby Congress to pass the \u201cTake It Down Act,\u201d making it a federal crime to publish intimate images online without consent. The president signed the bill into law and had her sign it, too.<\/p>\n Her advocacy for foster children was enshrined in an executive order creating a \u201cFostering the Future\u201d program<\/a>. It’s part of the \u201cBe Best\u201d child-focused initiative<\/a> she launched in the first term.<\/p>\n