Melania Made a Sweet Promise to Herself Hours Before Donald Was Elected as President

For Melania Trump, something else was more important than her husband Donald Trump's 2016 presidential win. The former First Lady, often quiet and withdrawn, gave an insight into her new life after Trump's White House win in her newly-released Memoir Melania. In one of the excerpts, she shares that hours before her husband won the election, her "protective" maternal instincts kicked in like never before. 

In the book, Melania recalled the morning of the 2016 election day and her promise to her first and only child Barron Trump, who at the time, was only 10 years old. She writes, "Barron was still asleep when I entered his room and gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead." That moment, as Melania puts it, she looked at her son a little more knowing that his world had "already undergone so much transformation since his father's decision to run for president." 

So, from then onwards, Melania vowed to protect her son at all costs knowing how daunting it would be for a 10-year-old boy if his father became the president of the United States. "I made a commitment there and then that if we were headed to the White House, I would fiercely protect my beautiful son in every way I could," she further writes in her memoir. 

And she kept her promise regardless of the criticism and media scrutiny hurled her way. Barron, who is currently a college student at NYU's Stern School, has been kept away from the prying eyes courtesy of his Slovenian mother. She, along with her son, maintained a conscious distance from Trump's political events, appearing only on a few occasions. 

The former model isn't known to have close friends, and this Palm Beach source told PEOPLE, "She has always surrounded herself with family. She is a doting mother to Barron and very protective of him. This is nothing new. Barron has always been a first priority in [Melania's] life," adding that though she has been worried and concerned about her husband's legal woes, "[Melania] has always put him first. She is a good mother."

In an interview to promote her memoir, the 54-year-old shared what life is like since Barron left for college, "I could not say I'm an empty nester. I don't feel that way," she told Fox & Friends' Ainsley Earhardt. "It was his decision to come here, that he wants to be in New York and study in New York and live in his home, and I respect that," while still seemingly concerned, "I hope he will have a great experience because his life is very different than any other 18, 19-year-old child."