--- title: Melania Trump Says She's 'the Most Bullied Person in the World' description: First Lady Melania Trump told ABC News that personal attacks on her inspired her to launch the "Be Best" anti-bullying initiative. canonical: https://time.com/5421671/melania-trump-most-bullied-person-world/ author: Ciara Nugent article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-11T11:35:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:53:08.822Z article:section: Politics og:title: First Lady Melania Trump Says She Is 'the Most Bullied Person in the World' og:description: 'If you really see what people are saying about me' og:url: https://time.com/5421671/melania-trump-most-bullied-person-world/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ea74f5a7d9cee19/69893c5ddb2987656d260ea8/gettyimages-1046706282.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2930 og:image:height: 1648 og:image:alt: EGYPT-US-DIPLOMACY-MELANIA og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: First Lady Melania Trump Says She Is 'the Most Bullied Person in the World' twitter:description: 'If you really see what people are saying about me' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ea74f5a7d9cee19/69893c5ddb2987656d260ea8/gettyimages-1046706282.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # First Lady Melania Trump Says She Is 'the Most Bullied Person in the World' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Melania Trump Warns of Online Bullying as Her Husband Slings Insults on Twitter [Watch (HLS stream): Melania Trump Warns of Online Bullying as Her Husband Slings Insults on Twitter](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SN5ofv53.m3u8) (1:14)  _Published 2018-08-20. Melania Trump encouraged technology and social media companies Monday to provide more opportunities for young people to share ideas for how to be good citizens online._  by [Ciara Nugent](https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/)  ## Ciara Nugent Oct 11, 2018 11:35 AM UTC  US First Lady Melania Trump tours the Egyptian pyramids and Sphinx in Giza, Egypt, October 6, 2018, the final stop on her 4-country tour through Africa. US First Lady Melania Trump tours the Egyptian pyramids and Sphinx in Giza, Egypt, October 6, 2018, the final stop on her 4-country tour through Africa. Saul Loeb – AFP/Getty Images  by [Ciara Nugent](https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/)  ## Ciara Nugent Oct 11, 2018 11:35 AM UTC Melania Trump says she is “the most bullied person in the world.” The First Lady told [ABC News](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/melania-trump-bullied-people-world-distrusts-west-wing/story?id=58419018) that personal attacks on her inspired her to launch the “Be Best” anti-bullying initiative. “I could say that I’m the most bullied person in the world,” she said in an interview recorded during her recent tour of Africa. “One of them – if you really see what people are saying about me.” “That’s why ‘Be Best’ is focusing on online behavior and social media,” she added. “We need to educate the children \[about\] social, emotional behavior.” > [](https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1050335358863462400) The First Lady has made cyberbullying a key part of her public platform, having pledged to fight it [while campaigning for her husband](http://time.com/4556902/melania-trump-donald-first-lady-social-media/) in 2016. But many have [questioned the choice of subject](http://time.com/5208298/melania-trump-anti-cyberbullying-campaign/), given her husband’s well-known habit of insulting his critics on Twitter. In the ABC interview Melania also dismissed the idea that she had “the most control”over the president but said she often gave him “her honest advice” about which members of the administration he should trust. “It’s harder to govern,” she said. “You always need to watch your back.” _Being Melania – The First Lady,_ airs at 10 p.m. Friday on ABC. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5421671/melania-trump-most-bullied-person-world/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5421671/melania-trump-most-bullied-person-world/"},"headline":"First Lady Melania Trump Says She Is 'the Most Bullied Person in the World'","datePublished":"2018-10-11T11:35:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:53:08.822Z","description":"'If you really see what people are saying about me'","url":"https://time.com/5421671/melania-trump-most-bullied-person-world/","keywords":["White House","Melania Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ea74f5a7d9cee19/69893c5ddb2987656d260ea8/gettyimages-1046706282.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ciara Nugent","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2ea74f5a7d9cee19/69893c5ddb2987656d260ea8/gettyimages-1046706282.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"EGYPT-US-DIPLOMACY-MELANIA","caption":"EGYPT-US-DIPLOMACY-MELANIA","creditText":"Saul Loeb – AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5421671/melania-trump-most-bullied-person-world/","name":"First Lady Melania Trump Says She Is 'the Most Bullied Person in the World'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Melania Trump Warns of Online Bullying as Her Husband Slings Insults on Twitter","description":"Melania Trump encouraged technology and social media companies Monday to provide more opportunities for young people to share ideas for how to be good citizens online.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/SN5ofv53/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-08-20T17:35:47.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SN5ofv53.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5421671/melania-trump-most-bullied-person-world/","duration":"PT1M14S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5421671/melania-trump-most-bullied-person-world/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```