Melania Trump ‘Can't Even Open a Window at the White House,’ Says France's First Lady

The life of a First Lady, presumably, isn't always an easy one: Your life is forever in the public eye and subject to a certain level of scrutiny, whether you'd like it to be or not—and it's through no direct choice of your own. Even former First Lady Michelle Obama recently said that the eight years spent in the White House weren't really her choice: "I've never had the passion for politics," Obama said in April. "I just happened to be married to somebody who has the passion for politics, and he drug me kicking and screaming into this arena."

The current First Lady, Melania Trump, is married to the most divisive President in recent history—and forget scrutiny: Rampant speculation surrounds her in an effort to understand her reclusive life (especially so compared to her bombastic spouse). There are "Free Melania" memes and thinkpieces weighing in on her marriage with every viral video of her swatting away Donald Trump's hand (and there are quite a few of those). But after the state visit of France's President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron earlier this week, Brigitte has weighed in on what Melania's really like in person.

In an article published Friday in Le Monde, Brigitte said that the American First Lady is "much more constrained" than she is.

“She can’t even open a window at the White House," Brigitte said, according to the Guardian's translation of Le Monde's French-language report. "She can’t go outside. She’s much more constrained than I am. I go out every day in Paris.”

Brigitte, by comparison, said that she felt she was still living "a normal life": "I haven’t changed in my head. I’m still the wife of Emmanuel Macron, not of the president. I don’t feel like a first lady.”

She also described Melania as "kind, charming, intelligent, and very open" and said that the somewhat inscrutable persona Melania projects isn't true to who she actually is.

"[Melania] is actually really fun. We have the same sense of humour. We laugh a lot together," she said.“Everything is interpreted, over-interpreted. She’s someone who has a strong personality but works hard to hide it. She laughs very easily, at everything, but shows it less than I do.”

And the whole "can't even open a window" thing isn't a metaphor: Michelle also said she couldn't open a window in the White House. "I can’t open my windows," she once told Stephen Colbert. "One day as a treat, my lead agent let me have the windows open on the way to Camp David. It was like five minutes out, and he was like, 'The window's open. Enjoy it!' I was like, ‘Thanks, Alan.'"

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