Michelle Obama And Melania Trump Seem To Agree On This One Thing

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Melania Trump and Michelle Obama couldn't be more different, but as it turns out, there's one thing the two women seemingly agree on — the White House's East Wing should have been left well enough alone. President Donald Trump, however, demolished the entire thing to make room for his $300 million gold ballroom. Even worse, he didn't necessarily have to tear down the historic building to do so. "I could've built the ballroom around it," the divisive politician acknowledged on Fox News in November 2025, adding, "I didn't want to sacrifice a great ballroom for an okay ballroom by leaving it right smack in the middle." 

As the renovation continued making headlines, the Wall Street Journal reported that Melania Trump apparently wasn't a fan of the East Wing demo and had, in private, confessed that she didn't think it was a good idea. Michelle, meanwhile, raised her concerns publicly, during a November 2025 appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." The former first lady didn't mince her words either, noting, "People have asked me how I felt about the move. What I will remind people is that house is not our house." 

She and Former President Barack Obama went out of their way to preserve the history of the building during his tenure. As Michelle emphasized, "We never viewed it as our house. We were there for a time. We had a job to do. We always felt it was the people's house."

It's impossible to forget about Melania Trump's controversial 2016 Republican National Convention speech, of which some parts were infamously plagiarized from one previously delivered by Michelle Obama. Meredith McIver, Melania's speechwriter at the time, took full responsibility for the flub, clarifying in a statement, "A person she [Melania] has always liked is Michelle Obama," per the Detroit News. McIver isn't the only one who's said this; as Myra Gutin, the author of "The President's Partner: The First Lady in the Twentieth Century," revealed, "She [Melania] really did admire Michelle Obama very much." The truth about Melania Trump and Michelle Obama's relationship is that the former model quietly revered her predecessor upon stepping into the role of first lady herself.

For instance, Melania kept Michelle's White House vegetable garden going and initially adopted some of her signature fashion statements too. She also pursued many of the same charitable causes. Melania Trump and Michelle Obama even have one thing in common when it comes to their marriages too  — separate bathrooms from their spouses (and in Melania's case, separate bedrooms as well). While the first lady initially admired Michelle, and reportedly shares the "Becoming" author's sentiments when it comes to the demolition of the White House's East Wing, she also kind of gave Michelle the cold shoulder. 

Upon her moving into the expansive property in 2017, the former first lady reassured Melania that she could call any time if she needed help or guidance, but Michelle's successor never took her up on the offer. After the former lawyer revealed this in "Becoming," Stephanie Grisham, Melania's communications director at the time, explained to CNN, "When she needs advice on any issue, [Melania] seeks it from her professional team within the White House." Ouch.