The premiere for a new documentary about Melania Trump took place last night, with guests including rapper Nicki Minaj in attendance but mainstream press barred from entering.
The event took place at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., which was referred to as the “Trump-Kennedy Center” on official invitations.
While taking questions from reporters before the screening, President Donald Trump hit back at critics of the $40 million Amazon MGM paid for the rights to the documentary by saying: “Well, I think they’d have to go and ask President Obama, who got paid a lot of money and hasn’t done anything.”
Also present was the film’s director, Brett Ratner. Ratner is a controversial figure who has not worked in Hollywood since a string of sexual misconduct allegations in 2017, and was recently pictured in the Epstein files.
Others in attendance included Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and Trump administration figures such as secretary of war Pete Hegseth, secretary of education Linda McMahon and secretary of health and human services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Notable by their absence were most of Trump’s children. Donald Trump Jr was present, but Barron Trump, the 19-year-old son he shares with Melania, was not.
Despite the lavish premiere event, the film is not expected to become a box office hit when it is released nationwide. It has been predicted to earn between $1 million and $5 million on its opening weekend.
Follow below for updates from the documentary premiere…
Brett Ratner and Marc Beckman pictured together at ‘Melania’ premiere
If Brett Ratner succeeds in using Melania to revive his career, he’ll have Melania’s senior advisor Marc Beckman to thank.
Beckman and Ratner have known each other since the former’s advertising agency hired the director in 2007 for a provocative jeans campaign starring a topless Heidi Klum.
“He understood how to bring this cinematic, stylized quality to the film that the First Lady envisioned,” Beckman recently told The Times.
Kevin Perry30 January 2026 07:00
Most of President Trump’s children, including Barron, appear to skip event
Among the notable absentees for last night’s premiere were most of President Trump’s children.
That includes Barron Trump, the son he shares with Melania. The 19-year-old rarely makes public appearances.
It had previously been reported that Eric and Ivanka Trump were unlikely to attend the event.
Donald Trump Jr. however did attend.
Kevin Perry30 January 2026 06:00
Melania struggles to sum up film in three words
Kevin Perry30 January 2026 05:00
Trump takes shots at Obama when questioned over documentary cost
Asked on the event’s black carpet what he would say to those who have been critical of the fact that Amazon paid $40 million to acquire the rights for this movie, President Trump replied:
“Well, I think they’d have to go and ask President Obama, who got paid a lot of money and hasn’t done anything.”
President Obama signed a production deal with Netflix in 2018 that has produced various film projects including American Factory, Leave the World Behind, and Crip Camp.
Kevin Perry30 January 2026 04:36
‘Melania is a huge supporter of my agenda,’ says RFK Jr.
Kevin Perry30 January 2026 04:00
Melania calls Trump ‘America’s director’
In her speech at the Kennedy Center, Melania Trump began by thanking her husband, who she referred to as “America’s director, Donald Trump.”
She also claimed that her new film is not a documentary, but instead a “deliberate act of authorship.”
Kevin Perry30 January 2026 03:18
Mainstream press shut out of screening
Variety reports that journalists from The New York Times, The Washington Post, AP, Vanity Fair and dozens of other outlets were allowed to ask questions outside but were not permitted access to the screening itself.
Per the publication, the only press invited in to see the film were Dan Ball and Peyton Drew of the far-right news channel One America News.
Kevin Perry30 January 2026 02:46
Nicki Minaj and Dr Phil attend screening
Nicki Minaj and Dr Phil were among the attendees at the Melania screening at the Kennedy Center.
Minaj said earlier this week: “I am probably the president’s number one fan, and that’s not going to change.”
Here’s The Independent’s Carsen Holaday on the controversies, feuds and fan backlash that reshaped the rapper’s career:
How Nicki Minaj went from Queen of Rap to controversial Trump cheerleader
Once the unassailable ‘Queen of Rap,’ Nicki Minaj has grown increasingly estranged from the music industry — and embraced by conservatives — culminating in a public show of support for Donald Trump that stunned fans. Carsen Holaday traces the controversies, feuds and fan backlash that reshaped her career
Kevin Perry30 January 2026 02:18
Most of President Trump’s children, including Barron, appear to skip event
Among the notable absentees for tonight’s premiere event were most of President Trump’s children.
That includes Barron Trump, the son he shares with Melania. The 19-year-old rarely makes public appearances.
It had previously been reported that Eric and Ivanka Trump were unlikely to attend the event.
Donald Trump Jr. did attend.
Kevin Perry30 January 2026 02:11
Melania reveals further details of upcoming docuseries
As if the release of the feature-length Melania documentary wasn’t enough, Prime video will also release several episodes of a docuseries later this year.
Speaking about the show at the premiere, Melania said: “We are still producing it, and that will be completely new footage.
“We have some scenes that are not in the movie. We will have in a few months a docuseries, so people will see much more documentary.”
Kevin Perry30 January 2026 01:52
