Donald Trump hails his wife as ‘big movie star’ after release of panned documentary Melania

Donald Trump reckons his wife is a “big movie star”.

After the theatrical release of the US First Lady’s Amazon-backed documentary, her president husband, 79, gushed about the project – and told the audience in Washington DC there was “not room in one family for two stars”.

Trump was speaking at his ‘Board of Peace’ event in Washington on Thursday (19.02.26) where he praised Melania, 55, following the global cinema release of Melania, a documentary directed by Brett Ratner, 56, and backed by Amazon MGM Studios.

The film, which follows Melania in the 20 days leading up to Trump’s second presidential inauguration, has grossed almost £12million worldwide.

It will later stream on Amazon Prime Video.

Trump said: “She has a very successful movie out right now, like number one. Can you believe this?”

He added: “Big movie star, and 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, so I don’t know what that means. It’s not good.”

Trump – who has had cameos as himself in movies including Home Alone 2, Zoolander and Two Weeks Notice – continued: “Melania has become the biggest-selling documentary in 20 years. The theaters are all packed. Women, especially, they go back, and they see it two or three times, four times.”

According to Variety, Melania opened at the domestic box office to around £5.2 million.

The trade publication reported the film fell 67 percent in its second weekend.

Variety also reported 72 percent of the opening weekend audience was female and 83 percent was over the age of 45, with nearly 75 percent of ticket buyers white.

Amazon bought the film for almost £30 million and spent about another £30 million marketing it.

The release prompted criticism from media figures including Jimmy Kimmel, 58, who questioned why Amazon had backed the project.

Jimmy called the film a £60 million “bribe”, while Variety reported on speculation the documentary was an attempt by Amazon to “cozy up” to the current Trump administration.

Controversy also surrounded the film’s ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, where it holds an 11 percent critics’ score and a 98 percent audience score – described as the biggest disparity between critic and audience reviews in the site’s history.

Rotten Tomatoes’ parent company Versant said in a statement to Variety: “There has been no bot manipulation on the audience reviews for the Melania documentary.

“Reviews displayed on the Popcornmeter are VERIFIED reviews, meaning it has been verified that users have bought a ticket to the film.”