Melania Trump reveals she earned $10.7M from Amazon documentary in financial disclosure report
WASHINGTON, DC: First Lady Melania Trump made $10.7 million from the Amazon MGM documentary that features her, according to President Donald Trump's annual financial disclosure report released on Tuesday, June 30, Tuesday. This is the first official confirmation of her income from a film that cost $75 million to make and promote, but earned only $16 million at the box office.
The disclosure, filed with the Office of Government Ethics, also shows that Melania Trump received just over $6 million from NFTs and other collectibles. Additionally, she earned about $521,000 from proceeds of her memoir, published a month before the 2024 presidential election. Her total reported income from these three sources is roughly $17.2 million.
Amazon paid $28 million to Melania's production company
Amazon MGM reportedly paid $28 million to Melania Trump's production company as part of a broader $40 million licensing deal for the documentary.
The $10.7 million listed on the disclosure form represents her personal income from the arrangement. The film premiered at the Kennedy Center in January.
The Amazon MGM-produced documentary about Melania Trump cost $75 million to make and promote, but garnered just $16 million at the box office. Lagging ticket sales led to some sparse showings, and in South Africa, it was pulled from all theaters.
Reviews were also generally poor. On Rotten Tomatoes, 61 critics’ reviews combined for just 10 percent approval. The Daily Beast’s Kevin Fallon called it “a level of insipid propaganda that almost resists review; it’s so expected and utterly pointless.”
Donald Trump was asked during the film’s January premiere at the Kennedy Center about whether Amazon’s Jeff Bezos was “trying to get in good with you,” and how Americans have “called it corporate corruption.”
Trump responded: “No, I don’t know, I mean, I don’t know really, I’m not involved in that. That was done with my wife.”
Deal draws scrutiny from lawmakers
The size of the Amazon deal drew scrutiny from members of Congress, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Hank Johnson writing to Amazon president and CEO Andy Jassy to ask whether the documentary represented a "box office gamble or bribe" or part of a "pay-to-play arrangement" with the Trump administration, given Amazon's broader regulatory interests before the federal government.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also denied any improper arrangement. "We have denied it. Melania's office has denied it. It's not true. I had nothing to do with that," Bezos told CNBC last month, while acknowledging he could see why people raised the question.
In a statement, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said, "Neither the President nor his family has ever engaged — or will ever engage — in conflicts of interest."
