A one-time friend and aide to Melania Trump said the former first lady is often portrayed as a counterbalance to Donald Trump , leading to the impression that she is a hostage hoping to be freed.

But that might not be the case at all.

[T]he truth is Melania knows and supports Donald and his viewpoints, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff wrote for the Daily Beast in a column published Tuesday.

She added: When he goes full brass knuckles on his supposed enemies, shes often encouraging him to aggressively go for it. Shes his biggest cheerleader.

While her husband is on trial in the Stormy Daniels hush money case, Melania Trump is staying out of the spotlight to avoid exposure.

But even that might have a more cynical purpose.

She knows exactly who she married and lives by the same principles. Shes a ruthless survivor and opportunist willing to do whatever it takes to resort to any means necessary for self-preservation, she wrote. Shes mastered the art of complicity.

She recalled something Melania Trump once said about her marriage:

Just let him do what hes going to do. Why get in a fight about something that wont change? shed say to me. This piece of advice came from her own life experience and how shed managed her own marriage.

It sounded like brilliant insight at the time, little did I realize how merciless and unscrupulous she was in her relentless pursuit of power. Melania, like Donald, had told me many times that she wanted to win and that meant at all costs.

Read the full column here.

Winston Wolkoff had a 15-year relationship with Melania Trump, worked on the 2017 inauguration and took on an unpaid role in the White House. After a falling out, however, she penned the tell-all book Melania and Me and released embarrassing audio of her conversations with Melania Trump .