Melania Trump: From model to former first lady - the story of Donald Trump's wife
Melania Trump started her modeling career in Slovenia and made it to the White House in Washington. A portrait of the former US First Lady.
- Melania Trump is the third wife of Donald Trump.
- Melania Trump was the US First Lady until 2020.
- How the born Melania Knauss from Novo Mesto found her way through New York to the White House in Washington in the former Yugoslavia and today's Slovenia.
Melania Trump is Donald Trump's third wife and became the first lady of the United States of America the following year after Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election. Melania was born under her family name "Knauss" on April 26, 1970 in Novo Mesto, which at that time was still in Yugoslavia and is now part of the territory of Slovenia. She is - after Louisa Adams - only the second first lady in the more than 240 years of history of the USA who was not born in the country itself.
Melania Trump: Grew up in Sevnica
Melania Trump grew up with her older sister Ines and her half-brother in the Slovenian town of Sevnica. Years later, an artist erected a wooden statue in that very town in honor of Melania, the design of which was lively discussed among the town's residents.
Even as a child, Melania Trump claims to have dreamed of a career as a model. First, however, she tried studying architecture at the University of Ljubljana, today's capital of Slovenia. However, Melania broke off after just one year to devote herself entirely to her modeling career.
Melania Trump: Moved to New York in 1995
After minor successes with European fashion magazines, Melania Trump moved in 1995 and at the age of 25 from Sevnica, which has a population of just under 18,000, to New York. Model agent Paolo Zampolli from Italy is said to have brought her to the USA. There she celebrated her greatest success in 1998: Melania Trump became the face of a campaign for the cigarette brand "Camel".
In the same year she met - at a party Zampollis - her future husband and father of her only child: Donald Trump. At that time he had no political advances, but was still married - for the second time (Trump was married to Ivana Trump until 1991) - and 24 years older than Melania. The two cultivated a very media-effective relationship, tinkered through America's talk shows and presented themselves as the glamor couple of the 1990s.
Her career was visibly good for her relationship with Donald Trump. Melania made it to the cover of many well-known fashion magazines as a model and appeared on the cover of the British men's magazine GQ in 2000. The photos in which Melania poses as good as naked were allegedly taken in a Donald Trump private plane.
Melania Trump: Married to Donald Trump since 2005
In 2005 the relationship turned into a marriage. Melania Trump was naturalized to the United States a year later. The wedding was staged as a major media event. The wedding dress is said to have cost over $ 100,000, the wedding ring $ 1.5 million.
The guests included Oprah Winfrey, Elton John, Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as Bill and Hillary Clinton - all of whom Donald Trump insulted years later on Twitter almost every week.
Melania Trump: Barron Trump is your only child
On March 20, 2006, Barron Trump was born, Melania's only son and Donald's fifth child. Barron is one year older than his eldest niece, Kai Madison, daughter of Donald Trump Junior and the eldest grandson of Donald Trump.
Melania Trump only intervened very carefully in her husband Donald's election campaign, which began in 2016. She made one of her few speeches at the Republican nomination convention and immediately sparked controversy. Whole passages of her speech were identical, except for word, to a speech that Michelle Obama had previously given, the wife of the 44th US President Barack Obama.
Melania Trump: The first first lady whose first language is not English
Donald Trump won the US election nonetheless, and Melania Trump, ex-model and mother, became the US First Lady. She is the first first wife of the United States whose first language is not English and only the second to be born outside the United States. She is also the only first lady who grew up in a communist country. A third wife had not made it to the White House until Melania Trump.
Melania Trump is also likely to be the first lady, who spoke significantly more languages than her predecessors. Allegedly, she is not only able to speak English and her native Slovenian, but also speaks French, German, Italian and Serbian. She speaks Slovenian with her son Barron.
Melania Trump: From Trump Tower in New York to the White House in Washington
Melania Trump delayed her move from New York from Trump Tower to Washington to the White House for over five months. This was justified with the needs of her son Barron, who should finish his high school in New York. However, the US gossip media suspected that Melania Trump would be reluctant to trade the luxury of the Trump Tower for the time-honored halls of the White House. Years later, a former confidante of Melania Trump published the "Melania Tapes". The First Lady could be heard there, complaining about her life in the White House.
In the White House, Melania Trump and her husband reportedly spent little time together. They sleep in different rooms, which is common for presidential couples in the White House.
Melania Trump and her initiative: With “Be Best” against cyber bullying
Melania Trump has launched an initiative. Theirs is "Be Best" and it is about the fight against cyber-bullying among teenagers. As an explanation, Melania said she considered herself "the most bullied person in the world".
In contrast to her husband Donald Trump, Melania Trump poses as the voice of reason during the Corona crisis. While the US President did not advocate wearing a mask until the very end, the First Lady spoke out in favor of this measure very early on.
Melania Trump: How the ex-model as a first lady causes discussions with her clothes
Melania Trump also caused a stir with a jacket from the fashion brand “Zara”. On the olive-green jacket was emblazoned in white: “I really don't care. And you? ”Immediately the entire public in the USA argued about what the label meant and what Melania Trump was trying to convey to humanity. According to her spokeswoman, it was pure coincidence, according to Donald Trump, Melania wanted to characterize her relationship with the “fake news” media.
But is it even the real Melania we are talking about? A popular conspiracy theory has it that Melania Trump has her own double who she represents on official occasions. As evidence, a photo of the former first lady leaving the presidential aircraft "Air Force One" in Brussels, on which Melania doesn't really look like Melania, is cited. The real Melania, according to many, is either locked up in a dungeon in Trump Tower or in a dungeon in the White House.
Through the years with Melania Trump
In the election campaign leading up to the 2020 US election, Melania Trump was only very dosed, as was the case four years earlier. The public ascribed great importance to her few appearances, especially in the fight for the votes of the “housewives in the suburbs” declared by Donald Trump. Her husband Donald Trump lost the election to Joe Biden.
