--- title: Melania Trump Slams Ivana Trump Over 'First Lady' Comment description: The First Lady's office called Ivana's quote "attention-seeking and self-serving noise" in a statement. canonical: https://time.com/4974886/melania-trump-slams-ivana-trump-for-first-lady-comments/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-09T18:40:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:47:17.188Z article:section: Politics og:title: Melania Trump Slams Ivana Trump for Calling Herself 'First Lady' og:description: "This is unfortunately only attention-seeking and self-serving noise" og:url: https://time.com/4974886/melania-trump-slams-ivana-trump-for-first-lady-comments/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce8c88c966276501/6988e1224ee262162c30f538/gettyimages-532014002-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3136 og:image:height: 1764 og:image:alt: FRANCE-CANNES-PEOPLE-ENTERTAINMENT og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Melania Trump Slams Ivana Trump for Calling Herself 'First Lady' twitter:description: "This is unfortunately only attention-seeking and self-serving noise" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce8c88c966276501/6988e1224ee262162c30f538/gettyimages-532014002-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Melania Trump Slams Ivana Trump for Calling Herself 'First Lady' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### 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: First Lady Melania Trump Speaks about Caring for Children at the United Nations [Watch (HLS stream): First Lady Melania Trump Speaks about Caring for Children at the United Nations](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0Ht98w9Y.m3u8) (1:37)  _Published 2017-09-21. First Lady Melania Trump Speaks about Caring for Children at the United Nations_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 9, 2017 6:40 PM UTC  Czechoslovakian businesswoman Ivana Trump attends the De Grisogono Party on the sidelines of the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival, at the Eden Roc hotel in Antibes, near Cannes, southeastern France, on May 17, 2016\. / AFP / JEAN CHRISTOPHE MAGNENET Czechoslovakian businesswoman Ivana Trump attends the De Grisogono Party on the sidelines of the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival, at the Eden Roc hotel in Antibes, near Cannes, southeastern France, on May 17, 2016\. / AFP / JEAN CHRISTOPHE MAGNENET JEAN CHRISTOPHE MAGNENET—AFP/Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 9, 2017 6:40 PM UTC The office of First Lady Melania Trump is firing back at the President’s ex-wife Ivana, who called herself the “first lady” in an interview with [_Good Morning America_](http://abcnews.go.com/US/ivana-trump-opens-surprising-facts-life-donald-trump/story?id=50330454) on Monday. While promoting her new memoir, “Raising Trump,” the mother to [Trump’s oldest children ](http://time.com/3990496/donald-trump-children/)— Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric — said that though she can call the White House directly, she chooses not to call too often because “Melania is there and I don’t want to cause any kind of jealousy.” “I’m basically first Trump wife,” she continued. “I’m first lady.” The office of the actual First Lady of the United States didn’t take too kindly to that assertion. In a statement, a spokesperson for the First Lady called Ivana’s interview, “attention-seeking and self-serving noise.” “Mrs. Trump has made the White House a home for Barron and the President. She loves living in Washington, DC and is honored by her role as First Lady of the United States,” the statement from FLOTUS reads. “She plans to use her title and role to help children, not sell books.” It continued, “There is clearly no substance to this statement from an ex, this is unfortunately only attention-seeking and self-serving noise.” ## Transcript By our own example, we must teach children to be good stewards of the world they will inherit. We must remember that they're watching and listening, so we must never miss an opportunity to teach life's many ethical lessons along the way. As adults, we are not merely responsible. We are accountable. We must turn our focus right now to the message and content they're exposed to one a daily basis through the social media. The bullying, the experience online and in person. And the global epidemic of drug addiction and drug overdose. Together we must acknowledge that all too often is the weakest, most innocent and vulnerable among us, our children, who ultimately suffer the most from the challenges that plague Our societies whether it is drug addiction would link poverty, disease, trafficking, illiteracy or hunger, It is the children are hit first and hardest in any country. And as we all know the future of all nations rests with the promise of their young people, if you look at the present state of children in any society, we would see the future that our world can expect tomorrow ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4974886/melania-trump-slams-ivana-trump-for-first-lady-comments/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4974886/melania-trump-slams-ivana-trump-for-first-lady-comments/"},"headline":"Melania Trump Slams Ivana Trump for Calling Herself 'First Lady'","datePublished":"2017-10-09T18:40:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:47:17.188Z","description":"The First Lady's office called Ivana's quote \"attention-seeking and self-serving noise\" in a statement.","url":"https://time.com/4974886/melania-trump-slams-ivana-trump-for-first-lady-comments/","keywords":["White House","First Lady","Melania Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce8c88c966276501/6988e1224ee262162c30f538/gettyimages-532014002-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce8c88c966276501/6988e1224ee262162c30f538/gettyimages-532014002-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"FRANCE-CANNES-PEOPLE-ENTERTAINMENT","caption":"FRANCE-CANNES-PEOPLE-ENTERTAINMENT","creditText":"JEAN CHRISTOPHE MAGNENET—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/4974886/melania-trump-slams-ivana-trump-for-first-lady-comments/","name":"Melania Trump Slams Ivana Trump for Calling Herself 'First Lady'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"First Lady Melania Trump Speaks about Caring for Children at the United Nations","description":"First Lady Melania Trump Speaks about Caring for Children at the United Nations","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/0Ht98w9Y/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-09-21T06:18:34.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0Ht98w9Y.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4974886/melania-trump-slams-ivana-trump-for-first-lady-comments/","duration":"PT1M37S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4974886/melania-trump-slams-ivana-trump-for-first-lady-comments/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```