Inside Donald and Melania Trump's 'Transactional' Marriage: Why Insiders Say It Is 'Crumbling'

Donald Trump and Melania Trump’s marriage is under intense scrutiny, as insiders suggest the couple’s romance is hanging on by a thread.

“​​They clearly do not inhabit a marriage as we define marriage. They live separate lives. They are separated. The marriage is crumbling,” biographer Michael Wolff told a news outlet.

Donald, 79, and Melania, 55, tied the knot in 2005 and marked 20 years of marriage earlier this year. This is the businessman’s third marriage; he was previously married to Ivana Trump from 1977 to 1992 and Marla Maples from 1993 to 1999.

Reports of the couple’s marriage being on rough waters allegedly first started in 2017, when Melania was spotted swatting Donald’s hand away from hers following a trip to Israel. More recently, Melania was seen doing the same thing during Halloween activities in October.

It is also believed that Donald and Melania don’t typically share a bed when they're at the White House. According to CNN correspondent Katie Bennett, the president occupies the master bedroom while the model uses a bedroom on the third floor.

Melania’s former senior advisor and best friend Stephanie Winston Wolkoff has publicly labeled the first lady as Donald’s “arm candy” and admitted their marriage has benefited the Slovenian native’s modeling career.

​​”I do believe it’s a transactional marriage,” Wolkoff opined at the time. “Donald got arm candy […] and Melania got two dynamic decades [as a model],” she said.

Although Donald and Melania have yet to address their relationship, the former raised eyebrows in October when he wouldn’t stop calling Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni "beautiful” during a speech with more than 20 other world leaders.

"We have a woman, a young woman, who's a — I'm not allowed to say it, because usually it's the end of your political career if you say she's a beautiful young woman," the U.S. commander-in-chief stated. "Now, you use the word beautiful in the United States, about a woman, that's the end of your political career, but I'll take my chances."

Donald looked for Giorgia, 48, in the audience, asking her, “Where is she ... there she is. You don't mind being called beautiful, right? You are.”