Melania Trump was secretly recorded expressing surprise over Vogue magazine’s choice to feature Beyoncé on the cover of its coveted September issue in 2018, and that the singer was given ‘complete’ creative control.
The First Lady discussed the issue in a secretly recorded phone conversation from July 2018 with her former friend and aide Stephanie Winston Wolkoff.
The September issue is traditionally Vogue’s biggest and most important issue of the year.
‘Anna [Wintour] gave the September issue of Vogue cover – complete, complete, complete everything – to Beyoncé,’ Melania said in the recording shared with NBC News.
‘So she will hire black photographer and it’s the first black photographer ever doing cover of Vogue,’ she added.
Melania has not appeared in Vogue since her husband Donald took office.
Meanwhile Michelle Obama graced the cover of Vogue three times during her husband’s presidency.
Melania Trump expressed surprise with Vogue magazine’s choice to feature Beyoncé on the cover of the coveted September issue in 2018 where the star was given ‘complete’ editorial control, according to a new secret recording
Beyonce pictured on the cover of the September 2018 issue
‘What? That is insane,’ Wolkoff is heard responding to Melania in the audio.
‘Well that’s what I read,’ Trump replies.
Wolkoff recorded six telephone conversations with the First Lady between February and July 2018.
She said she started to record her calls with Trump after she was asked to leave the White House amid scrutiny about overspending done by the Presidential Inaugural Committee, which she worked on.
She went on to write a book entitled: ‘Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady’.
Melania’s spokeswoman condemned Wolkoff’s secret recordings.
‘Her narcissism knows no bounds, this woman is a fraud. These audio tapes are hand-picked about nonsense and presented with no context. Shame on her for this continued attempt at character assassination and shame on NBC for covering this gossip,’ Stephanie Grisham said.
Beyoncé’s spokesperson declined to comment on the remarks.
The September issue of Vogue is considered the most important issue of the year. Beyoncé was chosen as the special cover star and she hired black photographer Tyler Mitchell for the issue, marking the first time a black photographer shot the magazine’s cover
The September 2018 issue was a historic one as it was the first time a black photographer was selected to shoot its own cover star.
Beyoncé had agreed to feature photographer Tyler Mitchell for the special shoot, saying she saw the issue as an opportunity to provide other black artists with big opportunities.
Vogue said the cover for the issue was ‘truly a collaborative effort’.
‘When Vogue suggested photographer Tyler Mitchell to Beyoncé, the star immediately said yes to the opportunity to work with this young artist,’ the magazine said at the time.
Melania shared those comments with Wolkoff, who previously spent a decade at Vogue, after discussing the departure of top editors at the magazine.
The conversation is one of several secretly recorded by Melania’s former friend and aide Stephanie Winston Wolkoff. She recently published a tell-all book about the Trumps entitled: ‘Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship With the First Lady’
The First Lady, who was formerly a model, has not been featured in Vogue since Donald Trump took office in 2016.
Her predecessor Michelle Obama was on the cover of Vogue three times while Barack Obama was in office. Former First Lady Hillary Clinton was also included in the magazine.
Trump had been featured in the magazine before. She graced the cover of Vogue in her wedding gown in March 2005 after marrying Donald Trump.
In the July 2018 call Trump also described her astonishment at the magazine’s decision to feature Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress who was paid $130,000 in hush money to keep quiet a sexual encounter she alleged to have with Trump in 2006.
Melania goes on to say she would never be selected to appear on the cover of the magazine’s coveted September issue.
‘They would never do it,’ she said to Wolkoff.
Trump went on to say that she had turned down an opportunity to be profiled in the magazine.
‘I don’t give a f*** about Vogue,’ she said brushing the magazine off.
Last week it was revealed that Wolkoff is being sued by the US Department of Justice for allegedly breaking a nondisclosure agreement in publishing her book in early September where she recounted her nearly two-decade friendship with Melania Trump.
