Melania Trump reportedly earned a sizeable payday from her documentary, even though the film itself appears to have fallen short financially.
The documentary, Melania, arrived in theaters in January 2026 and quickly became one of the most polarizing releases of the year.
Critics were largely unimpressed, but audience feedback was far more favorable.
That split is reflected on Rotten Tomatoes, where the film has hovered around 10 percent on the Tomatometer while registering an almost flawless 99 percent on the Popcornmeter.
Even with stronger audience scores, the documentary struggled commercially and finished its theatrical run with about $16.6 million worldwide at the box office.
Reports said Melania was supported by a $40 million agreement with Amazon MGM Studios, along with a $35 million marketing push.
See the trailer here:
Despite the underwhelming box office result, Donald Trump described the project in February as a ‘very successful movie’ and referred to his wife as a ‘big movie star’.
The POTUS said at the time (per PEOPLE):
“I always say it’s trouble, because I always say there’s not room in one family for two stars. I told her that we can’t have two stars in one family.
“The theaters are all packed,” he went on. “Women, especially, they go back, and they see it two or three times, four times.”
Newly released financial records have now shed light on how much Melania herself made from the project, and the figure is substantial.
The information appears in Trump’s 2025 financial disclosure, released in 2026, which outlines the president’s earnings and assets.
NBC News reported that Trump brought in more than $236 million from meme-coin earnings and additional crypto token sales, pushing his reported crypto-related income past $1 billion. The same filing also detailed money the president received from settlements involving ABC and anchor George Stephanopoulos, CBS, Meta, and YouTube.
The same filing states that Melania earned more than $10 million from the documentary by licensing her image to its producers.
According to NBC, those settlement funds were directed to The Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation Inc.
🚨 FIRST LOOK: The Donald J. Trump Presidential Library is officially here.
Over the past six months, I have poured my heart and soul into this project with my incredible team at @Trump.
This landmark on the water in Miami, Florida will stand as a lasting testament to an… pic.twitter.com/azV1hx0HG2
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) March 31, 2026
The presidential library is expected to be built in Miami, Florida, and Eric Trump shared an early look at the skyscraper design on Twitter in March.
He said of the building:
“This landmark on the water in Miami, Florida will stand as a lasting testament to an amazing man, an amazing developer, and the greatest President our Nation has ever known.”