Had she not become First Lady, Melania Trump might have graced the silver screen as a Bond girl – with her supermodel figure, alluring foreign accent, and head-to-toe couture. While her husband transformed from a real estate tycoon and reality TV star to the world’s most powerful man, the woman beside him has her own fascinating story.
In 1998, she first met Trump at a party – at the time he was “just” a wealthy real estate magnate – and the couple began dating while he was in the midst of divorcing his second wife, Marla Maples. They got engaged in 2004 and married in 2005; marriage number three for him, number one (and still counting) for her.…CONTINUE READING
Father, mother, and half-brother
The 54-year-old wife of the comeback-seeking president was born Melanija Knavs in 1970 in Novo Mesto, Slovenia (then part of Yugoslavia), to a father who started as a driver before becoming a car salesman and a mother who was a fashion designer. She has one sister and a half-brother from her father’s previous relationship, whom, according to reports, she never met as their father refused to acknowledge him as his son.
As a child, she participated in fashion shows and showed talent in sewing and design. Beyond her artistic abilities, she also demonstrated impressive academic skills and served as her school’s treasurer.
Modeling career and nude photoshoots
With her striking features, sculpted figure, and impressive height of 5’11” – like his mother, her son Barron stands tall at 6’9″ – it was almost inevitable that Melania would try modeling. She began at age 16, leading to a contract with a modeling agency and subsequently a career in Europe and the USA that included shoots for prestigious fashion magazines such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and Sports Illustrated.
During her career, she appeared nude in a series of photos for GQ and Max magazines, and in what seemed like a prophetic shoot, she posed as First Lady in a 1993 fashion editorial.
Early in her modeling career, she won a beauty contest where the prize was a movie role, but she declined it after being sexually harassed by a producer. During this period, to advance her international modeling career, she changed her surname to Knauss.
The incomplete degree and language skills
Despite claims of holding an architecture degree from the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, journalists discovered in 2016 that she dropped out after her first year of design and architecture studies. Plot twist: references to her degree were swiftly removed from her official White House biography.
Reports claimed she spoke no fewer than six languages: Slovenian, English, French, Serbian, Italian, and German. However, according to The Washington Post journalist Mary Jordan’s book, people who crossed paths with her over the years alleged that she wasn’t fluent in most of them, and her knowledge was limited to basic words.
First meeting with Trump
In 1998, she first met Trump at a party – at the time he was “just” a wealthy real estate magnate – and the couple began dating while he was in the midst of divorcing his second wife, Marla Maples. They got engaged in 2004 and married in 2005; marriage number three for him, number one (and still counting) for her.
In 2006, their son Barron William Trump was born. While Melania picked his middle name, Trump chose Barron – the same name he’d used as his own alias when trying to keep his identity under wraps.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump kisses his wife Melania as she introduces him at a campaign rally on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016, in Wilmington, N.C. Photo credit: AP /John Bazemore
The million-dollar wedding
Her 2005 wedding featured a Dior gown designed by John Galliano (which graced the cover of Vogue) with an estimated cost exceeding $200,000, taking 550 hours to create, adorned with 1,500 crystals, incorporating 92 yards of premium satin, and a 16-foot veil. It weighed over 44 pounds.
After the ceremony, she changed into a lighter dress by designer Vera Wang. She forwent a bouquet, instead holding ancient family prayer beads. She walked down the aisle to an opera soprano’s rendition of “Ave Maria.” The wedding ring was valued at over $1.5 million, with reports indicating the diamond was 12 carats.
The event was split into two parts: first, a ceremony at the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida, followed by an elaborate reception at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s resort estate, in a room costing tens of millions to construct, inspired by Louis XIV and decorated with 10,000 flowers. Among the wedding guests were Bill and Hillary Clinton, Heidi Klum, Shaquille O’Neal, Simon Cowell, Barbara Walters, and P Diddy.
Guests enjoyed a Michelin-style menu featuring caviar, shrimp, lobsters, steaks, and hundreds of bottles of premium Cristal champagne. The wedding cake stood at five feet tall, weighed 200 pounds, and was decorated with 3,000 sugar flowers soaked in Grand Marnier cream, though guests never tasted it as it remained uncut. Instead, they enjoyed an extensive dessert menu and were sent home with individual chocolate truffle cakes. A 46-piece orchestra entertained guests while first-tier singers including Elton John, Tony Bennett, Billy Joel, and Paul Anka took turns performing.
Business ventures and plagiarism scandal
Before becoming First Lady, Melania launched a jewelry collection on QVC (the American shopping channel) and a caviar skincare line. Both ventures disappeared almost as quickly as they appeared. Parts of her 2016 Republican Convention speech were copied from Michelle Obama’s 2008 Democratic Convention speech. Her team called it “common words and values.” The internet called it copy-paste.
How she ruined Christmas
As First Lady, she launched a campaign called “Be Best” focusing on children’s welfare, cyberbullying, and opioid addiction, with critics pointing out the irony of her anti-cyberbullying stance given her husband’s Twitter habits.
In 2018, her use of red Christmas trees sparked criticism as many compared them to horror movie scenes. Melania stood by her choices, calling them “avant-garde.” In 2020, she became embroiled in another Christmas controversy when leaked recordings revealed her saying “Who gives a f— about Christmas stuff?” during a discussion about her First Lady duties.
An exceptional model?
Melania received her EB-1 visa (also known as the “Einstein visa” or “extraordinary ability” visa) in 2001, typically reserved for individuals with “extraordinary ability and skills” in science, technology, education, engineering, mathematics, and other fields, often including Nobel Prize winners or outstanding athletes.
The move raised many eyebrows as Melania was then a model, not typically considered an “extraordinary ability” category. In 2006, she became a US citizen, making her the first naturalized First Lady in American history.
The controversial jacket, tennis pavilion renovations, and kidney tumor
In 2018, she sparked outrage when she visited migrant children at a Texas detention center wearing a jacket emblazoned with the words “I really don’t care, do U?” In 2020, she renovated the White House tennis pavilion during the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing criticism for the timing. During protests following George Floyd’s death, she wore a black dress, generating theories about the message she was trying to convey. In 2018, she underwent surgery to remove a benign growth from one of her kidneys.
The prenup
Before her wedding, Melania signed an extensive prenuptial agreement that, according to reports, was updated after Barron’s birth to secure his inheritance rights. The agreement ensured Melania would remain “financially comfortable” regardless of future family tensions.
In 2017, she delayed her and Barron’s move to the White House after Trump’s presidential election, claiming she wanted to stay in New York with Barron until his school year ended, but according to reports, there was another reason: according to The Washington Post journalist Mary Jordan’s book, Melania was in the midst of renegotiating her prenuptial agreement with Trump, conditioning the move on ensuring Barron’s future status would be equal to his other children.
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