Jenny Sanford offers advice to Melania Trump

As the new first lady prepared for Friday’s pomp and circumstance surrounding her husband’s inauguration as the 45th President of the United States, a former first lady of South Carolina penned some advice for her.

Jenny Sanford, who lived in the Governor’s Mansion in Columbia from 2003 until 2010 during her husband’s terms as the governor of South Carolina, wrote a First-Person essay in the online magazine Vox.

She notes the unique nature of the position of first lady, whether of a state or of the nation.

It’s an unpaid position which none-the-less comes with heavy responsibilities and many customs.

She said the positives that came with the job were awe inspiring but nothing really prepared her for the negatives that also came with it. Always in the cross-hairs, a politician’s spouse and family were fair game for reporters and political operatives always on the hunt for any misstep, she said.

She also found it difficult to adjust under the political spotlight. She ended up giving up many of her business and charitable pursuits to accommodate “the demands, privilege and adventure rolled up in a public political life.”

She found her life in the governor’s mansion “filled with people, though lacking community...[..] ever busy and often lonely.”

She ended up uprooting her four sons in the middle of a school year to move to their new home in Columbia. It was disruptive, she said.

“I applaud Melania for considering what is right for her son Barron in choosing not to uproot him in the middle of the school year,” she writes.

It’s important to remember, she said, that the title first lady is just that, a title, which is temporary.

“Guard your values and your family, as they are what remain when the time in office is over,” she writes.

Read the entire essay here.

This story was originally published January 20, 2017 at 8:41 PM with the headline "Jenny Sanford offers advice to Melania Trump."