NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — As first lady, Melania Trump was a cipher to Americans. Now, with her husband weeks from possibly securing a return to the White House, her glossy memoir Melania still leaves more questions than answers.

The former model, who immigrated from Slovenia and married then-Manhattan-playboy and tycoon Donald Trump in 2005, generated one big headline by using her 182-page book to reveal a strong pro-choice stand on abortion rights.

“A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes,” the former first lady writes. “Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body.”

“I have carried this belief with me throughout my entire adult life.”

It’s a bold statement for the wife of a man who says his signature victory as president was naming the Supreme Court justices who scrapped the longstanding national right to abortion under Roe v Wade.

Why Melania Trump, 54, went public with this right ahead of the November 5 election — in which Democrat Kamala Harris seeks to cast a Trump victory as hellbent on further abortion clampdowns — is unclear.

She has barely appeared publicly during his campaign. So, was she showing independence? Or, instead, was she helping her husband with centrist voters by muddying his anti-abortion policies?

Melania Trump does not answer that or many other questions in the $40 book.

Its publication follows a laundry list of other family products sold in the election run-up — from a gold Donald Trump watch and golden Donald Trump shoes to a
Bible and a cryptocurrency announced by the former president and his sons.