Melania Trump has more class?
He was born and raised in a communist country. This is the story of Melanija Knavs giving birth to Melania Knauss to Melania Trump.
She is perhaps one of the most famous women in the world. Beautiful with a tall and slim body like a supermodel, her expensive clothes always look sleek and flawless. But it was her husband, Donald Trump, who made his name known. She is Melania Trump, now 47 years old, First Lady of the United States.
In his latest book that makes the White House nervous, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, Michael Wolff not only exposes some of Donald Trump's inappropriate behavior, but also reveals how President Trump's relationship with his third wife is. Donald Trump and Melania, Wolff wrote, were very rarely together. "They can go days without communicating at all, even when we were together at Trump Tower."
Melania, according to Wolff, arguably did not know at all what her rich husband was doing. Donald Trump was rare when the four children of his first two wives were growing up. And Trump is increasingly there for his youngest child, Barron William Trump, 11, the fruit of his marriage to Melania.
In the White House, Wolff wrote, President Trump had a separate bedroom from his wife, a rare thing for an American presidential couple. During President Trump's first six months in office, Melania was indeed a rarity in the White House. With the excuse of waiting for Barron who attended school in New York, Melania spent more time in the city. Unlike her husband, it is reported that Melania has absolutely no interest in the White House. "He didn't want that at all," said a friend of Melania, quoted by Vanity Fair, two months ago.
But Donald Trump is very proud of his beautiful and sexy wife. To his friends, he often refers to Melania as a 'trophy wife'. Melania Trump is indeed different from all previous White House First Lady. She is the first first lady who was not born an American citizen. Melania was also the first American First Lady who ever worked as a model and was photographed naked in a magazine.
"He did not call me, nor thanked me for opening the opportunity to become a photo model."
The constant media spotlight doesn't seem to be what Melania wants. The East Wing, East Wing of the White House, the office for First Lady Melania, is now a part of the White House away from the hustle and bustle. "We didn't do much," said a staffer at the East Wing. Compared to the previous first ladies, Michelle Obama and Laura Bush, Melania is a "economical" helper around her. She only had nine staff, far fewer than the previous first lady. Yes, Melania is not Michelle, not Laura Bush.
Born in Novo Mesto and growing up in Sevnica, a pretty little town on the banks of the Kava River, Slovenia, Melania looks nothing like Melanija Knavs, her real name. There are many lost stories of how Melanija, the girl who grew up in the communist country of Slovenia (then still part of Yugoslavia), turned into the all-around Melania Trump.
Srecko Ocvirk, the mayor of Sevnica and Melania's schoolmate, can't remember what Melanija Knavs was like before. "At that time there were lots of kids in school," Ocvirk told the Guardian. Melanija doesn't seem like a popular kid at school. He's a quiet and closed child.
One book that examines Melania's time in Slovenia until she moved to New York in 1995 is Melania Trump: The Inside Story, written by a journalist from Slovenia, Bojan Pozar. Although many people in her hometown are proud that their former neighbor is the First Lady of America, Bojan Pozar criticizes Melania's attitude.
"He never wanted to be interviewed by Slovenian journalists, as if he wanted to cut ties with his hometown," said Bojan, as quoted by the Daily Beast, several months ago. Melania also hardly ever shows that she was born and raised in Slovenia. Bojan also regrets Melania as if she wanted to cover up her past.
On a number of occasions, Melania said her father, Viktor Knavs, a manager and her mother, Amalija Ulcnik, a designer. He also claims to have graduated as an architect from the University of Ljubljana. Even though all of that is not true. His father and mother worked as regular employees at the factory. "He also did not graduate from college," said Bojan. Melania only lasted less than a year on campus.
One night in September 1998, Dusan Nograsek, a journalist for the magazine Nedeljski Dnevnik, got a call from the office of a modeling agency. There are jets waiting for Dusan and four Slovenian journalists and will fly them to Paris, France. All costs borne by the invitee.
In Paris, according to the caller, a top model from Slovenia was about to talk to Dusan and four of his friends. Dusan and his entourage of Slovenian journalists were lodged at the luxurious Lutetia Hotel. In a lavish dinner, the mysterious model appears. She introduces herself as Melania Knauss. "At that time none of us knew him," said Dusan to Univision some time ago.
Melania claims to be one of the top models in the world, one of the top 50. Not many stories were told by Melania that night. After dinner, Melania said goodbye to Dusan and her friends who were still unable to think about the invitation. The next day, the group of journalists were treated to a tour of the City of Paris before returning to Slovenia by private jet.
Years later, Dusan just understood what happened. Melania Knauss has become Melania Trump. Dusan suspected Donald Trump was behind the "magic" invitation to Paris. Her acquaintance with Donald Trump has completely changed Melania's life.
In 1998, unlike what she told a group of Slovenian journalists in Paris, Melania was nothing. Not a famous model in Slovenia, let alone a world-class supermodel. "Her career in modeling is still very short, it's impossible to make her into the top 50 in the world," said Stane Jerko, the photographer who first discovered Melania. When she first met Jerko, Melania was only 17 years old. "He's tall, slender, with long legs."
Even though Melania has a good posture for a career as a model, Jerko sees something missing in this woman. "He has no energy, something that will show through his eyes," said Jerko. After two meetings, there was no more contact between them. Melania also did not ask for Jerko's photo. "He did not call me, nor thanked me, who had opened up the opportunity to become a photo model."
After the meeting with Jerko, there were not many stories about Melania's career later. That said, he worked as a model in a number of European countries. Until he met Paolo Zampolli, owner of the Metropolitan Models modeling agency. It was Paolo who paved the way for Melania to the United States. "I told Melania, 'If you want to go to the United States, I'm willing to be your manager,'" Paolo told Vanity Fair.
How Melania got a visa and work permit in America is not clear. To be sure, Melania landed in America and lived in New York. Matthew Attanian, an apartmentmate, remembers Melania as a secretive girl who didn't like to party. "Usually he comes out of the room in flip-flops and watches 'Friend'," Matthew was quoted as saying by the Washington Post.
As a model, according to Matthew, Melania's career did not move up. She is only a second or third tier model in New York, while she is growing in age. Several times Melania asked Matthew to find a job as a model. Melania seems to be losing hope in New York. "The problem is he's very stiff, that's what makes it difficult for him to develop," said Matthew.
Melania's meeting with Donald Trump at a party at the Kit Kat Club, New York, in 1998 saved her. Donald Trump, who came with a woman, was immediately fascinated by the figure of Melania. Seven years after that meeting, Melania Knavs became Mrs. Melania Trump at a lavish wedding reception in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, in 2005. Melania was 34 years old, while Donald Trump was almost a quarter century older.
