Why IS Melania Trump suddenly so desperate to make her own fortune? You'd think she had it all. But now she appears to be shoring up millions

Cutting through the gentle memories and loving praise for her husband in Melania Trump 's recently published memoir is one hard-edged theme: her keen interest in the subject of cash – the more the better.

Describing financial independence as 'a core value', she writes: 'I have long been driven to work hard and earn my own money.

'I firmly believe in maintaining control over one's own life, regardless of who you marry,' she continued.

Surely, millions of American women would agree. Yet, even experienced Melania watchers feel that the former First Lady may have gone into commercial overdrive in recent months.

She's launched a series of strikingly lucrative projects that dwarf her previous experiments selling face creams and jewelry.

Take an April campaign fundraising event for an LGBT group called the Log Cabin Republicans – an appearance for which she was paid $237,500, according to Donald Trump 's latest financial disclosures.

The same group thanked Melania for hosting them in her New York penthouse three months later in July. It is not clear if she was paid for the second appearance.

This is certainly not the first time Melania has charged a hefty fee for campaign appearances.

Records reportedly show that Melania received three payments of $250,000 or more for speaking in December 2022 to groups including the Log Cabin Republicans and a California group, Fix California, which campaigns for fair elections.

She was also reportedly paid $155,000 by a Trump-aligned PAC called Make America Great Again, Again in December 2021.

It's unusual for a political spouse to receive any money for campaign appearances: representatives for First Lady Jill Biden and former First Ladies Michelle Obama , Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush claim that their bosses were never paid while their partners were on the trail.

'It seems pretty self-serving,' Virginia Canter, the chief ethics counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics told the New York Times, 'from my own general observation, I'm not used to seeing that'.

The fact that a fee was paid in April is all the more striking given how few and far between Melania's recent campaign appearances have been.

Aside from the two Log Cabin events, Melania has taken part in a Palm Beach fundraiser in April and appeared on stage at the Republican National Convention in July before a surprise turn at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally in New York City last month.

In early October came another lucrative money-spinner – a memoir titled Melania which initially sold at $40 a copy (or $150 if you want it signed).

She appeared on Fox News Channel to promote the book, including a $250 'collector's edition' with several additional photos, some taken on her smartphone.

Even the October publication date, with the election battle in full swing, was financially astute, according to Melania's former aide, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff.

She is 'capitalizing on the time she has left before the election,' she told the Associated Press, adding that her 'value is gone if she is no longer a prospective first lady.'

Exactly how much Melania is making from sales is unclear, but Melania closed out its first week having reportedly sold more than 85,300 hardcover copies.

This is less than some other big political figures have shifted. For example, Michelle Obama's 2018 memoir, Becoming, sold 636,696 copies in its first week.

Regardless, Melania claimed the top spot of the New York Times bestsellers list all the same and – if the figures are correct – some $3.4 million dollars of revenue in just the first few days.

So, why is Melania hunting down the big bucks? It's certainly not because she needs the money.

Donald Trump is worth an estimated $6.6 billion, according to Forbes, which makes him one of the richest and most powerful men in the world.

Melania has access to private jets and luxurious mansions, including their famous Mar-a-Lago home in Florida worth tens of millions of dollars – and possibly more.

She regularly wears clothes with five-figure price tags.

Questions have been raised about other potential forces at play.

Melania has long sought to make it clear that she is in no way financially dependent on her husband.

Responding to accusations that she was a 'gold digger' Melania insists in her memoir that, 'I was already a thriving model, enjoying my success when our paths crossed.'

'I had earned my fortune and could easily have captured the attention of numerous celebrities if I had so desired,' she added.

Elsewhere, she writes that: 'I've never been one to sit idly by, even with the comfort of a successful husband by my side'.

And Melania has certainly not sat idly by.

Even back in 2010, she was selling a line of watches and jewelry, including a faux-ruby and diamond cocktail ring for $35, and went to the trouble of selling them herself on QVC, the home shopping network.

The following year she tried to launch her own skincare line, selling serums 'all priced between $50 and $150,' according to her memoir.

These included the memorably named Melania Caviar Complex C6 and the Luxe Night with vitamins E and A. But following a bitter legal dispute with her business partners, the venture came to nothing

The courts eventually ruled in Melania's favor and she was awarded what she describes in the memoir as a 'contract agreed settlement' – although it is unclear whether this was the $50m compensation she claimed at arbitration.

Undeterred, in a particularly unorthodox move in 2022, Melania auctioned off a white hat she wore when French President Emanuel Macron came to the White House on a state visit.

It sold for a cool $170,000, payable only in cryptocurrency - although Melania may have been disappointed by that price, given the suggested starting bid was $250,000.

You won't catch the former First Lady on QVC today, but she is promoting her current products on MelaniaTrump.com.

There, visitors can find merchandise including a $600 Vote Freedom necklace with a gold-plated pendant featuring Lady Liberty. There's a range of Christmas ornaments, including a $90 bauble titled Merry Christmas America.

Melania is also cashing in on products called non-fungible tokens, or NFTs .

These are described as digital 'collectibles' – items that only exist in electronic form – including a set of three watercolor style portrait sketches of the former First Lady priced at $150.

And it seems to be working for Melania. In total, she has raked in more than $330,000 in licensing fees for her sale of NFTs, according to her husband's financial declarations.

The documents also show she receives $19,000 in rental income from residential real estate in Ljubljana, Slovenia and real estate in New York valued between $500,000 and $1 million.

Those who know the former First Lady say that her interest in money-making goes beyond a simple desire to work – it is more of a preoccupation, suggests Stephanie Grisham.

'Even when we were in the White House , she was always so concerned about people making money off of her because she felt it was money she should be earning,' Grisham told CNN in September.

In the same CNN interview, Grisham suggested that Melania had been so concerned about people profiting from her name and image that she once asked the White House gift shop to stop selling Bobblehead statuettes with her likeness without permission.

And finally, her hard-nosed business sense extends to more private matters.

Sources claimed in 2023 that Melania has re-negotiated the terms of her prenuptial agreement at least twice: once after allegations Trump had an affair with porn-actress Stormy Daniels surfaced in 2016, and again last year when the extent of the legal bills for the civil suits against him became clear.

However, there is no evidence that any of that necessarily bothered Donald Trump, a man who is rarely known to miss a chance to monetize.

He was certainly happy to give her memoir a ringing endorsement – 'it's a great book' – at last Sunday's Madison Square Garden rally.

After all, Trump has always been vocal about equating net worth with personal worth.

As he said at a rally in 2016: 'You have to be wealthy in order to be great.'

On this point, at least, Donald and Melania really do seem to be a marriage of true minds.