‘Here we go again’: Melania Trump documentary teases inside look at her return to the White House

First lady Melania Trump arrives for a meeting of the White House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence Education in September. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

A new trailer previewing Melania Trump’s eponymous documentary offers more questions than answers about the relationship between U.S. President Donald Trump and the first lady.

“Hi Mr. President. Congratulations,” Melania Trump says brightly, standing with her back to the camera, as she looks out at the Manhattan skyline in a gilded room, a single white rose on a desk.

On the other end of the phone, her husband asks, “Did you watch it?”

“I did not. Yeah. I will see it on the news,” Melania Trump, now seated at her desk, responds. The trailer cuts to a January photo shoot at the White House with dramatic music and then, a title card: “MELANIA.”

Selecting that exchange between the first couple as the climax of the trailer marks an intriguing choice by the filmmakers — which includes the first lady herself.

The documentary, set to be released on Jan. 30, will offer a rare window into one of Donald Trump’s most trusted — and famously private — advisers. Melania Trump signed a multi-million-dollar deal with Amazon MGM and is an executive producer of the project, signaling that the documentary was made with her full participation — and editorial control. The documentary began filming in December 2024 and chronicles the 20 days around her return to the White House.

“Here we go again,” Melania Trump says in the opening cut of the trailer, as she walks into the U.S. Capitol, wearing a navy-and-white boater-style hat, on Inauguration Day. The one-minute-eight-second trailer goes on to show the Trumps with White House residence staff on Jan. 20; images of Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, and Trump Tower in New York; Melania Trump having lunch with an associate and holding an umbrella in a cemetery, placing a white lily by a tombstone.

In one lengthier scene, Trump offers her husband feedback as he rehearses a speech in which he calls himself a “peacemaker.” Seated off to the side, the first lady interjects, “Peacemaker and unifier.”

In another scene, she asks a Secret Service agent about an undisclosed event, “Is it safe?” to which he responds affirmatively.

Trump narrates a mysterious preview in an off-screen voiceover: “Everyone wants to know. So here it is,” underscoring her awareness of the public’s curiosity about her life — and Amazon’s interest in promoting it.

“MELANIA” is being directed by Brett Ratner and will mark the filmmaker’s first major project since 2017, when he was accused of sexual misconduct by numerous women. Ratner has denied the allegations.

Trump has indicated that the documentary had taken up much of her attention behind-the-scenes this year. She’s been mostly under the radar during her husband’s second term, appearing publicly significantly less than she did at this point in his first term as she largely splits her time between New York and Palm Beach. But she’s scaled up appearances around the holidays in recent weeks ahead of the documentary’s release.

Trump said during a recent appearance accepting Fox Nation’s “Patriot of the Year” award that the idea of the documentary came to her soon after her husband won a second term.

“A first of its kind, capturing the 20 days of my life before the inauguration, 20 intense days of transformation from private citizen to first lady, balancing my business, my philanthropy, fostering the future, building my East Wing team and the White House staff, and, of course, caring for my family,” she said.

By Betsy Klein, CNN