--- title: Melania Trump Cutes Ties with Adviser Linked to Inauguration description: First Lady Melania Trump has cut ties with Stephanie Winston Wolkoff after she was paid $26 million for Donald Trump's inauguration. canonical: https://time.com/5177145/melania-trump-stephanie-winston-wolkoff-inauguration/ author: Flora Carr article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-27T12:29:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:58:03.334Z article:section: Politics og:title: Melania Trump Cuts Ties With Adviser After Inauguration Backlash og:description: Stephanie Winston Wolkoff's firm was paid $26 million to plan the inauguration og:url: https://time.com/5177145/melania-trump-stephanie-winston-wolkoff-inauguration/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc684ebf4cfc68b33/6988e112196cf4bdf70423cf/first-lady-melania-trump-style-80-rtx2znrl2.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: First Lady Melania Trump style og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Melania Trump Cuts Ties With Adviser After Inauguration Backlash twitter:description: Stephanie Winston Wolkoff's firm was paid $26 million to plan the inauguration twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc684ebf4cfc68b33/6988e112196cf4bdf70423cf/first-lady-melania-trump-style-80-rtx2znrl2.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Melania Trump Cuts Ties With Friend Whose Firm Was Paid $26 Million for Inauguration > Sponsored content. 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Carlos Barria—Reuters by [Flora Carr](https://time.com/author/flora-carr/) ## Flora Carr Feb 27, 2018 12:29 PM UTC First Lady [Melania Trump](http://time.com/5128621/colbert-melania-trump-state-of-the-union/) has severed ties with her senior adviser and friend Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, following news that Winston Wolkoff’s firm was paid $26 million for [President Donald Trump’s inauguration](http://time.com/4640625/new-york-post-daily-news-donald-trump-inauguration-headline/). The first lady’s spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, confirmed to the [New York _Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/26/us/politics/melania-trump-inauguration-adviser.html) on Monday that the office had “severed the gratuitous services contract with Ms. Wolkoff.” “We thank her for her hard work and wish her all the best,” Grisham added. President Trump was [reportedly “enraged”](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/us/politics/trumps-inaugural-committee-paid-26-million-to-first-ladys-friend.html) that the 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee, the nonprofit group that oversaw his inauguration and related events in January 2017, paid $26 million to WIS Media Partners of Marina del Rey, Calif., the firm founded by Winston Wolkoff.  Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, who is helping plan events for events for the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, leaves Trump Tower, December 5, 2016 in New York City Drew Angerer - Getty Images Winston Wolkoff is a friend of _Vogue’s_ editor-in-chief, [Anna Wintour](http://time.com/5166958/queen-of-england-fashion-week/), and began her career planning society galas in Manhattan, the _Times_ [reports](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/us/politics/trumps-inaugural-committee-paid-26-million-to-first-ladys-friend.html). Wolf and Melania Trump moved in similar social circles, and in 2010 the first lady attended Winston Wolkoff’s 40th birthday party. In emails to the _Times_, Winston Wolkoff defended her firm and said most of the $26 million was spent on the costs of organizing the inauguration, including paying for satellite feeds. She said her firm kept $1.62 million to pay the staff. She also said the first lady’s decision had nothing to do with the inauguration contract and that she still maintains her relationship with her. “I expect to remain a trusted source for advice and support on an informal basis,” she told the _Times._ Wolkoff was Melania Trump’s [first hire](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/melania-trumps-first-white-house-hire-new-york-event-planner-stephanie-winston-wolkoff/2017/01/26/67dc19a8-e3ec-11e6-a547-5fb9411d332c%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.6a979c546dcd) in January 2017 for her official government office. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5177145/melania-trump-stephanie-winston-wolkoff-inauguration/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5177145/melania-trump-stephanie-winston-wolkoff-inauguration/"},"headline":"Melania Trump Cuts Ties With Friend Whose Firm Was Paid $26 Million for Inauguration","datePublished":"2018-02-27T12:29:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:58:03.334Z","description":"Stephanie Winston Wolkoff said she expects to remain the first lady's informal adviser","url":"https://time.com/5177145/melania-trump-stephanie-winston-wolkoff-inauguration/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc684ebf4cfc68b33/6988e112196cf4bdf70423cf/first-lady-melania-trump-style-80-rtx2znrl2.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Flora Carr","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/flora-carr/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc684ebf4cfc68b33/6988e112196cf4bdf70423cf/first-lady-melania-trump-style-80-rtx2znrl2.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"First Lady Melania Trump style","caption":"First Lady Melania Trump wearing bright pink Dior gown with emerald and diamond earrings, attends the 60th Annual Red Cross Gala at Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla, Feb. 4, 2017.","creditText":"Carlos Barria—Reuters","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/5177145/melania-trump-stephanie-winston-wolkoff-inauguration/","name":"Melania Trump Cuts Ties With Friend Whose Firm Was Paid $26 Million for Inauguration"}}]}] ```