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Stephanie Winston-Wolkoff Is Interviewed About Her New Book, "Melania And Me." Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired September 02, 2020 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[07:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much for being here and helping us understand what is also some breaking news this morning. Thanks guys. Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, NEW DAY HOST: OK, John, a former close friend and advisor to First Lady Melania Trump now says getting involved with the Trump's was the "worst mistake of her life." She joins us live in studio, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: A former close friends and advisor to Melania Trump says the first lady used a private email account repeatedly in the White House. In her new book, Stephanie Winston-Wolkoff describes her time as Melania's friend from helping to plan the inauguration to then how her friendship with Melania became what she now calls, quote, "the worst mistake of her life." The book is called "Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady", and it is out this week, and Stephanie Winston-Wolkoff joins me now. Stephanie, great to have you here.

STEPHANIE WINSTON-WOLKOFF, AUTHOR, "MELANIA AND ME: THE RISE AND FALL OF MY FRIENDSHIP WITH THE FIRST LADY": Thank you so much for having me.

CAMEROTA: I couldn't stop reading the book last night. I mean, it's filled with so much. You just dish about everything that happened in the White House, but let's just start with something that's making news that's not in the book.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Sure.

CAMEROTA: You and Melania Trump used private email to communicate with each other about official White House business?

[07:35:00]

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: You know, unfortunately, we did, and I think it was out of our control.

CAMEROTA: Why? Why not you - why? I mean, why after -

(CROSSTALK0

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: I know.

CAMEROTA: -- everything that came up with Hillary Clinton, why would you and she do that?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Because my contracts were being held up. I couldn't -- it was -- it took a very long time. I think everyone sorted of wanted me out of the White House, so without a contract, I couldn't get my assets, I couldn't get my computer, I couldn't get a phone, I couldn't get access to anything. So, we kept trying.

It's not the -- you know -- we tried.

CAMEROTA: I see. So, what you're saying is you didn't have access to a White House e-mail?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Not for the first, I would say first month and then it got turned on and off. Then it got completely shut off.

CAMEROTA: OK.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Yes, on and off.

CAMEROTA: But she did. Why? Why, after her husband believed that Hillary Clinton should be locked up for that and had people chant that at his rallies? Why would he be OK with his wife and why would the First Lady be OK using a private e-mail?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Does it really surprise you? I mean, really?

CAMEROTA: Well, the double standard, I guess.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Yes.

CAMEROTA: The double standard. Are you saying it shouldn't surprise us?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: I don't think so. I think the Trumps are the Trumps and they do whatever they want to do and they go by their own rules. And it's unfortunate, but oh my God, I don't think they look at themselves in the mirror and actually see what the rest of the world sees.

CAMEROTA: So, she never thought, perhaps, she would go to jail or be locked up?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Oh, no. Here's the other thing, Melania was never working on policy, no excuses. But again, a very difficult road to -- you know -- go down with as far as what the White House was willing to open her avenue to participate in --

CAMEROTA: Still, official White House business.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: I agree.

CAMEROTA: I mean, official White House business.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Official White House business.

CAMEROTA: You became well known, or your name did, after the price tag of the inauguration was revealed. Most expense inauguration in history, $107 million. So, when that astronomical sum was published, you say that you were thrown under the bus. Why was it so expensive? Where did that money go?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: So, the inauguration -- the planning of the presidential inauguration, it's complicated, I'd never really understood what inauguration entails, so when I was asked to throw two events, I thought, OK, I can do this, I've produced many events before.

Two turned into 18 and the chaos and the unavailability of anyone to try and help do it properly was really not at our fingertips. And as far as the financials, there was -- everything was pre-approved, everything was signed off on by the Chairman of the Inaugural as well as the president.

CAMEROTA: President Trump signed off on that?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: No, not President Trump, I apologize, the Presidential Inauguration Committee, Sara Armstrong.

CAMEROTA: OK, so they all -- you say they all signed off, because when it was revealed that your firm, your -- your event planning firm was paid $26 million, people felt that it was a sweetheart deal obviously.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Absolutely.

CAMEROTA: People felt that you were sort of bilking the White House or taxpayers or the -- I guess the campaign fund for that. You say that you were paid half a million, ultimately, that was your profit.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: A little less, but yes.

CAMEROTA: A little less than half a million.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: That's a lot. Yes.

CAMEROTA: Where did the rest go?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Well, OK, not only -- can I -- I really am glad you brought this up, because I think it's important to know that I also made sure to -- one of the networks to underwrite and sponsor one of the exclusivities of the shows that were taking place. So, I was having my entire salary covered as well as my teams.

So, I went into this very -- feeling very comfortable that I wasn't actually taking any money from anyone. I was going to do my service, I was going to help Melania and I was going to produce the inauguration with my own salary being covered.

CAMEROTA: So then how did you end up taking the fall for this?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Because I'm the perfect scapegoat. I think that being so naive as to the people that we involved in planning the inauguration used my relationship with Melania knowing that I would remain loyal and I would not leave, and that's just how I am, tunnel vision and very much once I'm on a job I don't leave until I complete it. It's -- you know -- the master of the dark. I -- that's what I say that the Trumps are, especially Donald.

You shine a really bright light on a really shiny object and over here you're taking care of like, oh, another $80 million is over here, but $26 million is over here, which wasn't even a fact, because the broadcast production company that we worked with had received over $24 million of that $26 million to produce two two-hour live broadcasts.

CAMEROTA: OK. But, I guess the -- what everybody wanted to know when the numbers came out -- I mean, I understand that you were steeped in the details, was someone lining their pockets? Was someone getting -- you know -- corruptly rich because of this?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Well, we know Rick Gates admitted, so -- you know -- perhaps slipping his hand into -- into -- into the pot of money and -- and taking some he finally admitted that in one of his cases. But, I think that it's complicated and it's dirty.

[07:40:00]

and I think that, obviously, with all the investigations going on I'm hoping that we can -- they can get to the bottom of it.

CAMEROTA: What part is dirty?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: You know, there's so many people that pay to play and I think that Donald surrounds himself with the type of people, and unfortunately the good people that try and think that being on the periphery - well being on the periphery versus being inside you could make a difference if you're inside. You really can't make a difference inside or outside. So -

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: I mean, so the draining the swamp promise, how did you see that?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Well I think it was draining the swamp, and I think any political - you know, any administration is going to have some of that. This just took it to a whole new level. I just think it seeped into our entire infrastructure now.

CAMEROTA: And so, your eyes were opened when you say that you had to take the fall for this. So you expected what? Melania to come to your defense? Someone to say that you didn't mastermind all of this?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Look, I was asked to actually stick to a narrative. I was actually asked to write the narrative. Write the narrative of, you know, what you want to see on the front page of The Washington Post about the presidential inauguration committee spending. I wouldn't go along with that. The narrative's a narrative. This is how much I know was spent. I wasn't in charge of the budgets. I didn't have access to signing off on anything. So the White House was getting pressure for the entire year leading up to release of the Form 990, which is the federal elections committee. And the pressure was, you know, questions like who is Rick Gates?

Need answer (ph). That's when I hired a lawyer while I was still working in the White House because I realized what was going on, and I spoke to Melania about all of this, and she was fully aware of all of this and she knew every detail. So that's when I decided to (ph) back up the book and I dedicated it to Melania is because there's nothing in this book she doesn't know.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about Melania because she is such an enigma to most people, but you knew her so well.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: I loved her.

CAMEROTA: You loved her. This book - my goodness - is filled with your texts between the both of you and your letters to her, all of which you sign off on basically I love you.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: And I did.

CAMEROTA: What did you love about her?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: There was as quality about Melania that she didn't share with anybody else. Do you know what I mean? There was a special friendship that we shared amongst ourselves. It was only the two of us. I'd never really spent time with Donald. Had I gotten a glimpse and some more spending time with him, I would have had more of an idea of why my friends were telling me to run away, not walk away. And I do write in the book she was like that older, confident, sister that nothing was ever a big deal. For me and with my heart on my sleeve and everything's chaos and a mess and, you know, I am who I am, she just kept it chill. Everything was, like I said, no big deal. Like Teflon almost.

CAMEROTA: So let's talk about some of those moments that have gotten attention with her. That jacket that she wore, "I really don't care, do you", as she was heading to the border to meet with children who had been taken away, separated indefinitely from their parents, why did she wear that jacket?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Well when I spoke with her - when she and I spoke about it afterwards, I told her I would have jumped on her (ph). I don't know if I put that in the book or not, by anyway - and Melania told me nobody would be able to jump on be because Melania makes her own decisions. Herve Pierre, her stylist, I actually sent him a picture - a screenshot of it, and he was -

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: And you were upset by it. When you saw it you realized that -

(CROSSTALK)

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: I didn't think it was real.

CAMEROTA: You didn't think - you thought it was a Photoshop.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: And so did Herve.

CAMEROTA: It was that shocking.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: And so did Herve, and Herve started getting the most terrible tweets. He started - his inbox started being flooded with how dare you? What kind of legacy are you leaving? And I begged the White House communications to make a comment this had nothing to do with Herve. And so, that's just a whole other - I mean, again -

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: But why did she do it?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Because she wanted everyone to know that she went to the border. She did not feel the press would cover a good deed, right? She felt the press only wanted to cover something that was damaging to the administration. She had now been - you know, once I had gone I really tried to keep her separate from Donald, and we did. I mean, we were not working on any of his policy. We were building our own initiative. The messaging was different. That jacket was really the first representation of Melania going on her own and her office saying it's just a jacket. It's anything but just a jacket.

CAMEROTA: So in other words just so I understand this, that was an attention grabbing stunt that she intentionally did because she knew it would get the press's attention.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Right, and I don't think she realized that it would get the negative attention.

CAMEROTA: How could she not know that a jacket that says she doesn't care as she goes to see children wouldn't get negatively -

(CROSSTALK)

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Because the interpretation that I took from it - again, just from someone knowing her was, oh my God, Melania. Why didn't your office just come out and say I don't care what liberals say? I don't care what conservatives say. I don't care what anybody says. I'm doing the right thing and I'm going to the border. That's the messaging because I do think deep in her heart that was there, but it got so convoluted, and nobody - again, nobody communicates.

[07:45:00]

Nobody really cares to help her cover, again, what's entirely wrong. Doesn't matter the reality she wore it to get attention, how I perceived it was because of how I viewed her as a friend.

CAMEROTA: OK, next fashion question, because I mean so many people think that she speaks in her fashion choices. You know, she -- she is not that forthcoming verbally.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Right.

CAMEROTA: OK, the white suit that she wore to State of the Union, this was at the same time that the Me Too Movement had really taken hold, grabbed a lot of momentum. This was their uniform, OK, so many of the Democrats in Congress, from Nancy Pelosi to Hillary Clinton were wearing white that -- at the same time. Look at -- look at the --

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: I know.

CAMEROTA: -- in the crowd, OK. And that was the same time that personally we had had the revelation about Stormy Daniels, about Karen McDougal, about her husband have paid hush money to these women who said they had affairs with him. Was that a statement that she stood with the Me Too Movement or what was she doing?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Not at all. She really -- I mean, she loved that suit. It was hanging in her closet and she wanted to wear it. I said, Melania, but you realize the message you're going to be sending. She did not care.

And so, I think that's something really important to remember about Melania, if she wants to do something she's going to do it and her messaging is as strong as Donald's is, just in a very different way.

When they first got together, I mean, Donald did not want to marry an Ivana or a Marla, right? He wanted someone that would not care that he was in the spotlight, would not care that he was -- you know -- show time all time. So, by marrying Melania he -- you know -- he got arm candy, he got a Vogue cover model -- I mean, Vogue legitimized him as well.

Melania, she got and I call two -- you know -- two dynamic decades, because truly she was young, striving, she was trying to become a model. After she married Donald, you know, she's a mother, a Vogue cover model and an American citizen. And the decade after that she's the First Lady of the United States. So --

CAMEROTA: So, it worked.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: It worked.

CAMEROTA: So, that partnership worked.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: It works.

CAMEROTA: And how would you describe their partnership?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: I have to tell you, some of those really intimate times around the dining room table, like even the first day after the inaugural I had gone over to the White House for dinner with the family and it's -- it's a very personal -- they joke with one another, but she's very honest with him and that's the -- that's what separates Melania from anyone else in that home.

CAMEROTA: But, what about the affairs? What about the 15 or so women at least who have come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct, does she believe them?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Behind closed doors and to the public her answer is the same, it's just politics. Which is -- you know -- I -- I again, like I always say, for me, I cannot comprehend that. I wouldn't even be able to stomach hearing one rumor knowing that your husband not only said that, and again, at the time when I was at lunch with her I hadn't heard the tape yet nor had allegations been made.

CAMEROTA: The Access Hollywood tape.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: The Access Hollywood tape.

CAMEROTA: So, does she believe it's just politics or is that what she does to get through the day?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: I think Melania does what Melania needs to do and she has said, I don't need to justify anything with an answer, I know who I married.

CAMEROTA: Because, you're saying that all of this access, all of this power, all of this platform is more important than having fidelity from your husband?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Well I think marrying Donald Trump, you know who Donald Trump is, was and will continue to be. So, I don't think that's a surprise. So, I do think she knows -- you know -- you lie -- you lie with dogs you get fleas. I mean, it is what it is.

CAMEROTA: Can you explain her relationship with Ivanka? And let me just show you this video that became a viral video, this was from the RNC, where they -- you just see sort of the public persona shift to something else.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Right.

CAMEROTA: And obviously there are memes about this, but you know the real story, you know the back story. What's the relationship between those two women?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: You see, I take that and I look at it completely different than everybody else. I actually saw that Melania was trying to smile, represent properly, not show any -- any type of -- you know -- friction between the two of them and Ivanka walked right by her and looked at Donald and ignored Melania. That's my take on it. I don't think it was the other way around.

CAMEROTA: OK, but you also happen to know that there is friction.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Oh, there's palace intrigue -- I've never seen -- you can't make a show up about it. Ivanka used to hurt Melania in every way that she possibly could and it's unfortunate because as the First Lady of the United States you expect to go into the White House and have some form of assistance as well as budgets, if as well as access, there was really, like I say -- keep saying, it's like banging my head against the wall. Ivanka wanted to control really her place in the administration.

[07:50:00]

So, I -- she really was -- you know -- they call -- we call -- Melania called her princess, we called her princess. She really is the princess who wanted to be queen and she broke all the rules to get there. And the rules don't apply to her.

CAMEROTA: So -- so, Ivanka wanted to be the First Lady basically. She wanted the role of the First Lady?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Oh, absolutely. And that was another -- you know -- reason why I felt it was really important for Melania to participate in some of the things that she didn't really want to go to because Ivanka would step in otherwise.

CAMEROTA: And when you say she was trying to usurp Melania's place, in the book I was fascinated to read about the budgetary things. What was Ivanka doing that ended up casting Melania's office aside?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Well we had no - I mean, I - when I first went into the White House and there was nobody there - I was the first one alone - I - originally Melania had given me a staff - org chart of about I would say about 25 people. It ended up six people. I even hired my cousin to double to be a policy director and Melania's assistant, and then I took her salary away to give it to somebody else. I had originally a salary of $179,000, assistant to the president. I didn't have a salary to give the Chief of Staff, so I gave up my salary.

CAMEROTA: Because Ivanka took it all?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Because the West Wing and Ivanka had already staffed all their positions and used all of the titles that correspond to the budgets.

CAMEROTA: And why does - was President Trump aware of this? Why is that allowed to happen?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Well I think the West Wing was - you know, their relationship with Ivanka, and I don't want to name names, but when you talk about the Chief of Staff and Reince Priebus and Katie Walsh, I mean, they were relationships that were built before getting into the White House. And so, that led to an easier transition for Ivanka and one that was impossible for Melania.

CAMEROTA: You talk about a very strategic photo op. Melania and Ivanka both wanted to be at the side, you say, of President Trump as he was sworn in. And so, you and Melania had to kind of mastermind how to cut Ivanka out. So what happened?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: So I really want to set this record straight, and thank you for asking that. You know, it wasn't so much that we - Ivanka really wanted to be in that iconic photo. She had sent me two photos of the Obamas and where they were placed. It was more of Ivanka - like not - we had to do that. I mean, it was always Ivanka wanted to be right next to her father.

CAMEROTA: Where did she want Melania?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Who knows?

CAMEROTA: So she wasn't featured. She just wanted to be standing next to -

(CROSSTALK)

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: It wasn't even -

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: -- Donald Trump as he was sworn in, Ivanka did, and she didn't care where Melania was in that picture.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: She didn't even ask. She just wanted to make sure that she was in that picture.

CAMEROTA: OK. So then what did you do?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: So then Melania and I spoke about it, and we made sure that Baron, Melania, and Donald were center to the photograph, which meant Ivanka had to be moved over.

CAMEROTA: How did you do that?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Well, I explained it in the book and I think someone has to read the book to know, but no. Basically we knew where they were going to be standing and where they were going to be positioned, the angles of the cameras, fortunately. I wasn't allowed to actually be there myself, so I had some of the producers there draw out - sketch out who was sitting where and take a few screenshots secretly and send them to me.

CAMEROTA: It worked very well because if we can rewrap that video that we just played you don't see Ivanka in it. So if you could see, OK, so obviously there's the Chief Justice, and there - OK, so actually you do see Ivanka, but she's sort of in half screen.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: And we expect that, right? But not right that - so right there. So in the White House that's the photograph hanging on the wall, and that is - I don't think that Melania would have enjoyed walking past - or no, Melania wouldn't have enjoyed walking past that photograph every day if it was she, Ivanka, and Donald.

CAMEROTA: It sounds very icy, so in other words, there is a battle royale of some kind between these two women.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Oh, there is a battle royale. I mean, it's friction, suspicion, deceit, deception. I mean, it doesn't stop. But again, I think that Melania wanted to go into the role and actually do some good with it, but the - you know, the barriers that went up around us and the blockades that came from the West Wing and the family, the other side, Ivanka, and Jared was just - it's - it was impossible.

CAMEROTA: Speaking of her wanting to do good, the Be Best campaign, you were involved obviously in that. Were you or she aware of the irony that she wants to counter cyber bullying and her husband has this incredibly toxic Twitter account that he uses against so many people?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Absolutely, and you know, I remember sitting in her apartment the first time we were discussing this, and we needed a broader platform. So cyberbullying we know was going to be the object of conversation, and when we actually started meeting with different therapists and experts, the Yale University Center for Emotional Intelligence, and all these other, Aspen Institute, I mean, we were really formulating something that was scientific evidence-based research that no one would be able to dispute. She - you know, one of the experts asked her, Melania, you understand - and they were very vocal. They were out front because they weren't going to get themselves in a situation that wasn't going to actually help the country.

[07:55:00]

And she said, I get it. They're going to say it starts at home, and I am going to focus on children. So again, what else are we -- you know -- what -- what was she going to do? She had -- she was going to admit it, understand it, but move forward. At least some good was going to come of it.

CAMEROTA: So she -- OK, so she wanted to do this despite the fact that there -- that everybody would point to Donald Trump's Twitter feed, she just decided she was going to press ahead. That was important to her?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: It was more -- it was going to be more about -- you know -- again, everyone focused more on the cyberbullying, I think it was more about the addictive behavior, again, originally when we were really getting to the end of -- of what -- you know -- ripped up and turned into -- I don't know, be best, but it was really more how not being able to express your emotions, not under -- being able to feel and -- and -- and express that to -- as a young age. So, it's more of a preventative versus intervention. So, at a young age you go into school and you learn those things.

CAMEROTA: Speaking of their -- children, we don't see as much of Barron as we did of other children, Sasha and Malia in the Obama White House, Chelsea Clinton. Why?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Well, Melania always said she was going to protect Barron and she's kept him out of the spotlight always. Barron is -- as I said, I have to say, I've spent a lot of time with Barron, he's a great boy. He is active, he plays soccer and he's very independent and who wants to be around, you know, what's going on in -- in -- in the spotlight.

And Barron never had to -- like when we were -- have dinner together, like I would have dinner sometimes -- I had dinner once -- you know -- Melania, Donald and my daughter, Alexi, Barron was there but he didn't come to dinner. I think it's more, if you'd like to come and if you'd like to be there, join us. If not, do what you -- you know -- continue -- you know -- playing soccer.

CAMEROTA: So -- so she's protecting him and he isn't that interested?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Yes.

CAMEROTA: You know described your relationship with Melania and the Trumps, well I'll just read it -- let me read how you've written it in the book, "It was the worse mistake of my life, to get involved with Melania and the Trumps, emotionally, mentally, physically, financially, socially, professionally. I thought I had an amazing friend, but when it really counted Melania wasn't there for me." Why is it now the worst mistake of your life?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Because, I'd spent over two decades building my legacy, my career, my reputation, and to have it ripped away so viciously and so callously, with such a big lie that went into the headlines that could have easily been -- you know -- the -- she could have easily come out and said it was true, but she couldn't because of the investigations.

They needed -- they needed a scapegoat. I was the -- you know -- sacrificial lamb and when you think about that nobody else -- again, I came from the fashion industry, entertainment industry, I did not have one person standing next to me saying do this. They understood why I did it, because she was my friend and she had no one else to help her.

CAMEROTA: And -- but what does it say about her that she didn't stand up for someone who was such a close friend?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: It says a lot. And that's why I say a Trump is a Trump is a Trump. I -- I really did see these -- you know -- I saw life between them, I did, I saw a difference, I thought she had a moral compass, I thought she had -- she was more principled.

In fact, she wasn't, she's just like the rest of them and I don't know if I blinded myself to that or it just -- it actually evolved into that, but we really did share something special and I would have never given everything up if she didn't want to pursue this, nor if I didn't have that friendship with her. I mean, we shared everything.

CAMEROTA: And so, you don't think she has a moral compass? Now you think what about her?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Oh, I think that Melania is like the rest of them, which their part of the family -- you know -- toeing the line and not -- I mean, what do you think?

CAMEROTA: Well, I mean, when I read your book she sounds constantly calculating. The way you depict her is constantly calculating just for the public persona and just for the brand.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: But, that's why I had to write the book. I had to get my sanity back, because I had to figure out, put the pieces together, was she ever really my friend. Was I always that person that she saw at Vogue that she found to open every door for her, to make sure was on every red carpet? I mean, not someone who would go out all the time with them, I mean, we had our lunches, we had our one-on- ones. So --

CAMEROTA: And what's the answer now?

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: I was probably -- you know -- I was foolish enough and naive enough to believe that I was -- you know -- her girl. I was -- I was her friend -- you know -- and I -- again, when my friends are my friends I love them, I will do anything for them and loyalty is everything. So, no, I don't think she was ever really my friend. I think I was -- you know -- unfortunately -- and I say the sucker who bought the fake watch on the corner.

CAMEROTA: The book is, "Melania and Me." Stephanie Winston-Wolkoff, thanks for telling us all by sharing your personal experience --

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Thank you so much for having me.

CAMEROTA: -- with us this morning.

WINSTON-WOLKOFF: Thank you so much.

CAMEROTA: New Day continues, right now.