Melania Trump (; born Melanija Knavs; [mlanija knaus], Germanized to Melania Knauss; April 26, 1970) is the current First Lady of the United States and wife of the 45th U.S. President Donald Trump.[1]

She was born in Novo Mesto, Slovenia and grew up in Sevnica, in the Lower Sava Valley.[2] She worked as a fashion model for agencies in Milan and Paris, later moving to New York City in 1996.[3] Her modeling career was associated with Irene Marie Models and Trump Model Management.[4]

In 2001, she became a permanent resident of the United States. She married Donald Trump in 2005 and obtained U.S. citizenship in 2006.[5] She is the first naturalized U.S. citizen to become First Lady of the United States.[6]

Melanija Knavs was born in Novo Mesto, Slovenia (then part of Yugoslavia) on April 26, 1970.[7][8] Her father, Viktor Knavs, was from the nearby town of Radee, and managed car and motorcycle dealerships for a state-owned vehicle manufacturer.[9][10] Her mother Amalija (ne Ulnik) came from the village of Raka and worked as a patternmaker at the children's clothing manufacturer "Jutranjka" in Sevnica.[11][12] As a child, she participated in fashion shows featuring children's clothing, along with other children of workers at the factory.[13][14] She has an older sister, Ines, and an older half-brother whom she reportedly has never met, from her father's previous relationship.[15][16]

Knavs grew up in a modest apartment in a housing block in Sevnica, in the Lower Sava Valley.[1][17] Her father was in the League of Communists of Slovenia, which prohibited its members from openly practicing religion.[18][19] As was common, however, he had his daughters baptised secretly.[20][21]

When she was a teenager, Knavs moved with her family to a two-story house in Sevnica.[22] Then, as a high-school student, she lived in a high-rise apartment in Ljubljana. She attended the Secondary School of Design and Photography in Ljubljana,[23] and studied architecture and design at the University of Ljubljana for one year before dropping out.[24][25][26]

She began modeling at five years old and started doing commercials at sixteen when she posed for the Slovenian fashion photographer, Stane Jerko.[27][28] When she began working as a model, she translated the Slovene version of her last name "Knavs" to the German version "Knauss".[29]

At eighteen she signed with a modeling agency in Milan, Italy.[30] In 1992, she was named runner-up in the Jana Magazine "Look of the Year" contest, held in Ljubljana, which promised its top three contestants an international modeling contract.[7][31]

After attending the University of Ljubljana for one year,[32] she modeled for fashion houses in Paris and Milan, where in 1995 she met Metropolitan Models co-owner Paolo Zampolli, a friend of her future husband Donald Trump, who was on a scouting trip in Europe. Zampolli urged her to travel to the United States, where he said he would like to represent her.[14]

In 1996, she moved to New York City,[14][31][30][33] living in an apartment in Zeckendorf Towers on Union Square, with a roommate, photographer Matthew Atanian, per Zampolli's arrangements.[14] She did ten paid modeling jobs in the U.S. in the seven weeks before she received legal permission to work in the country.[5]

In September 1998, she met real estate mogul Donald Trump at a party thrown by Zampolli at the Times Square nightclub the Kit Kat Club (now the Stephen Sondheim Theatre).[34] Trump had been separated from Marla Maples since May 1997, and attended the party with Celina Midelfart. When Midelfart went off to use the bathroom, Trump approached Knauss and asked for her number. She took his number instead, and subsequently they attended the 1990s Greenwich Village hot spot Moomba, and began a relationship.[14][1][35]

Melania continued her modeling career,[14] with her American magazine cover shoots, including, In Style Weddings,[36] New York Magazine, Avenue,[37] Philadelphia Style,[38] Vanity Fair[39] and Vogue.[40] While they were dating, Trump relocated her family to New York, where her parents now live for most of the year.[41]

In 1999, the couple gained attention after an interview on The Howard Stern Show, and, when asked by The New York Times what her role would be if Donald Trump were to become President, she replied: "I would be very traditional, like Betty Ford or Jackie Kennedy."[10]

In 2000, she appeared with Donald Trump while he campaigned for that year's Reform Party presidential nomination and modeled for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.[42][41]

After becoming engaged in 2004, Knauss married Donald Trump in an Anglican service on January 22, 2005, at the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida, followed by a reception in the ballroom at her husband's Mar-a-Lago estate.[43][44] The event was attended by celebrities such as Katie Couric, Matt Lauer, Rudy Giuliani, Heidi Klum, Star Jones, P. Diddy, Shaquille O'Neal, Barbara Walters, Conrad Black, Regis Philbin, Simon Cowell, Kelly Ripa, then-Senator Hillary Clinton, and former president Bill Clinton.[44][45] At the reception, Billy Joel serenaded the crowd with "Just the Way You Are" and supplied new lyrics to the tune of "The Lady Is a Tramp".[44] The Trumps' wedding ceremony and reception were widely covered by the media.[33] She wore a $200,000 dress made by John Galliano of the house of Christian Dior.[44]

On March 20, 2006, she gave birth to their son, Barron William Trump.[46] She suggested his middle name, while her husband suggested his first name.[47]

In November 2015, when asked about her husband's presidential campaign, she said: "I encouraged 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."[48] She played a relatively small role in her husband's campaignatypical of spouses of presidential candidates.[49][50][51]

In July 2016, her official website was redirected to trump.com. On Twitter, she stated that her site was outdated and did not "accurately reflect [her] current business and professional interests".[52]

On July 18, 2016, she gave a speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention. The speech contained a paragraph that was nearly identical to a paragraph of Michelle Obama's speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.[53][54][55] When asked about the speech, Trump said she wrote the speech herself "with as little help as possible".[56] Two days later, Trump staff writer Meredith McIver took responsibility and apologized for the "confusion".[57]

In 2016, she told CNN her focus as First Lady would be to help women and children. She also said she would combat cyberbullying, especially among children, having quit social media herself due to the "negativity."[58]

In February 2017, she sued Daily Mail and General Trust, the owner of The Daily Mail, seeking $150 million in damages over an August 2016 article which falsely alleged that she had worked for an escort service during her modeling days. The Mail retracted the article, apologized, and printed the retraction from the blogger they were quoting, who said: "I had no legitimate factual basis to make these false statements and I fully retract them".[59] The lawsuit stated the article had ruined her "unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to establish "multimillion dollar business relationships for a multi-year term during which Plaintiff is one of the most photographed women in the world".[60] Her claim raised potential ethical questions with its implication that she intended to profit from being First Lady.[61] On February 18, the lawsuit was amended, removing the language about her earning potential and focusing instead on emotional distress.[62] In April 2017, the parties settled the lawsuit and the Daily Mail issued a statement that said, "We accept that these allegations about Mrs Trump are not true and we retract and withdraw them." The Mail agreed to pay her $2.9 million.[63][64]

Five days before the election, she told a crowd of supporters in Pennsylvania: "Our culture has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers. It is never OK when a 12-year-old girl or boy is mocked, bullied, or attacked. It is terrible when that happens on the playground. And it is absolutely unacceptable when it is done by someone with no name hiding on the internet."[65] Regarding the contrast of her platform with her husband's use of Twitter during his campaign, Melania said shortly after the election that she had rebuked him "all the time" but that "he will do what he wants to do in the end".[66]

She assumed the role of First Lady of the United States on January 20, 2017.[67][68] She continued living in New York City at the Trump Tower with her son, Barron, until the end of his 20162017 school year at Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School.[69][70] They moved into the White House in Washington, D.C. on June 11, 2017.[71] Her Secret Service code name is "Muse" (beginning with the same letter as Trump's code name, "Mogul," per Secret Service tradition).[72]

She is the second foreign-born woman to hold the First Lady title (after Louisa Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams, who was born in 1775 in London to an American father and British mother).[73][74] She is the first First Lady to be a naturalized citizen (rather than birthright citizen), and the first whose mother tongue is not English.[75] At 5feet 11inches (1.80m), she is also one of the tallest First Ladies to hold the office, tied with Michelle Obama and Eleanor Roosevelt.[76]

The first White House event she hosted was a luncheon for International Women's Day on March 8, 2017. She spoke to an audience of women about her life as a female immigrant, and about working towards gender equality both domestically and abroad, noting the role of education as a tool against gender inequality.[77][78][79]

In March 2017, Slovenia honored her by introducing "First Lady" wine, a red wine produced in the region near her hometown of Sevnica.[80][81]

In February 2017, at a Florida rally, she led the crowd in the recitation of Lord's Prayer.[82][83] On her husband's first foreign trip as President in May 2017, Melania spoke in Italian with children at Bambino Ges Hospital, a pediatric hospital in Rome.[84]

In January 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported that during a three-month period where she lived in New York in 2017 that she took Air Force jet flights (between New York City, Florida and Washington) at a cost of more than $675,000 to taxpayers.[85][86] In comparison, former first lady Michelle Obama's solo travel cost an average of about $350,000 a year.[85][86]

On January 30, 2018, on the night of the State of the Union address, she broke with tradition by riding in a separate car in the Presidential motorcade with her guests, rather than riding with her husband in the presidential limousine.[87]

Vogue has compared Trump's wardrobe as First Lady to that of Jackie Kennedy and Nancy Reagan, noting that she prefers "strongly tailored pieces" in bold colors and almost exclusively wears high-end designers.[88][89]

Trump is involved with a number of charities, including the Martha Graham Dance Company,[90] the Boys Club of New York, the American Red Cross,[91] and the Police Athletic League.[92][93]

Trump's native language is Slovene. She also speaks Serbo-Croatian.[94] In a May 2017 interview with Greta van Susteren, Trump said that she spoke English, French, Italian, and German.[95]

During her and her husband's visit to Vatican City in May 2017, she revealed that she is a Catholic, making her the first Catholic to live in the White House since President John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie over half a century earlier.[96][97]

Read the rest here:

Melania Trump - Wikipedia