Trump says his wife has told him ‘tone it down a bit’ in debates

"We discuss, I tell him my opinions," Melania Trump said sitting beside her husband, Donald Trump, in an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters set to air Friday night.

Prompted for an example, the former supermodel said she "would keep it private" after pausing to look at her husband.

But Trump jumped in to share: "I can tell you, she's told me a couple of times during the debates she was very happy with my performances — if you can call it a performance — but she's said you could tone it down a bit on occasion, which I understand."

Asked to dispel what she views as the greatest misconception about her husband, Melania Trump said it's the perception that "he's nasty."

"He's not. He has a big heart and a very warm heart," she said of her husband, who has been known not to parse words on the campaign trail in slamming his rivals for the GOP nomination.

The brash candidate's wife explained that she's staying off the campaign trail, for now, because she wants to be home for their 9-year-old son, who she said is at an "age he needs a parent at home."

But that doesn't mean she tried to dissuade her husband from running.

"I encourage(d) him because I know what he will do and what he can do for America. He loves the American people and he wants to help them," she said in the interview. "I think America needs a strong leader and tough leader and know what he's doing."