Melania Trump's ex-friend says she 'acted like nothing happened' after Access Hollywood tape dropped

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff.
(Image credit: Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images)

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former friend and adviser to first lady Melania Trump, describes in her new book what it was like when they met for lunch on the day the Access Hollywood tape with President Trump bragging about grabbing women went public.

The recording was leaked in October 2016, ahead of the presidential election. Winston Wolkoff writes in Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady that she thought Trump would be "in tears" when she arrived at lunch, but instead she was "radiant" and "smiling. It was as if nothing happened." Winston Wolkoff said she tried to lighten the mood by saying, "How many times have you heard the word 'p---y' and 'president' in the same sentence," and together they "burst out laughing."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.