Melania Trump's Massive Personal Payday Exposed — Despite First Lady's Amazon Documentary Flopping at the Box Office
Melania Trump's documentary was released by Amazon MGM Studios.
July 1 2026, Published 5:45 p.m. ET
Melania Trump raked in the big bucks for her self-titled documentary, RadarOnline.com can learned.
Produced by Brett Ratner and released by Amazon MGM Studios for a brief theater run in January, the film was widely viewed as a box office flop, but that doesn't mean that the first lady didn't get a massive personal payday.
How Much Money Did Melania Trump Make From Her Documentary?
Melania Trump reportedly made over $10million on her documentary.
Melania: Twenty Days to History cost around $75million in total, including money spent on marketing the high profile project, but in the end, it only made around $16.3million globally.
That makes it all the more surprising the hear Trump, 56, pulled in a whopping $10.71million from the gig. That means roughly 65 percent of what the documentary made worldwide was essentially the mother-of-one's paycheck.
On top of her payday from the documentary, she also made $521,000 from her 2024 memoir and $6million from NFT's and "other collectives," according to a financial disclosure report, per DailyBeast.
Initial Concerns for 'Melania' Explained
'Melania' was screened in nearly 1,800 theaters around the world.
This comes after there were concerns that few moviegoers would choose to see the documentary in theaters ahead of its streaming premiere on Prime Video in March.
"In New York, only a handful of seats have been booked," a source told Rob Shuter earlier this year. "Palm Beach is no better. Even in Trump country, theaters are practically empty."
"It's a high-profile project, but hype doesn't always translate into ticket sales," an insider continued. "People are curious, but they're not rushing to buy tickets yet."
Wins and Losses for 'Melania' Documentary
'Melania' made around $7million on opening weekend.
Determining whether the film could be considered a success or not was complicated, as there were various hits and misses.
Opening weekend, Melania was shown in more than 1,770 movie theaters around the world and made about $7million. Despite it failing to earn nearly as much as it cost over following weekends, it was still the biggest opening for a documentary film in more than 10 years.
Critical Reception Vs. Audience Enjoyment
'Melania' earned a 10 percent score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
There was also a massive gap between viewer enjoyment and critical reception. On Rotten Tomatoes, it scored only 10 percent from critics, but a shocking 99 percent on the Popcornmeter from audiences.
Professional film critic Peter Travers called it "shallow, sycophantic and absent a single unguarded moment," making it appear more like an "infomercial" than a vulnerable sneak peek into someone's life.
Leigh Paatsch of the Daily Telegraph in Australia claimed, "The whole vibe is eerily off from start to finish, leaving you feeling as if you’ve spent 105 minutes alone on a merry-go-round in an abandoned amusement park."
Meanwhile, several fans of the movie praised it on RT as "fascinating," a peek at the "beauty, elegance and genuineness of Melania" and "a real good look at what happens when somebody's elected president."
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Donald Trump Supports 'Movie Star' Melania
Donald Trump called the movie 'very successful' in February.
Melania's husband, President Donald Trump, supported his wife's participation in the documentary.
He called the film "very successful" and said it was "like number one," while speaking with reporters at a Board of Peace event in February.
"Big movie star," he added of his wife at the time. "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."
