The photographer who undressed Melania Trump
He meets Alé de Basseville, a man whose photos shocked the world. Eccentric and royalty, de Basseville captured the still-unknown Melania Trump completely naked, and with another woman. An exclusive interview for SoHo.
It has caught our attention that you are an admirer of Colombia. How did you discover our country?
The first time I went I was 21 years old. It was in 1991 and I was touring South America and I arrived alone. It was an unforgettable experience.
That remember?
In a disco I met a girl who invited me to Medellín. I fell in love with that city: the atmosphere, the people, everything was spectacular.
Did you see that girl again?
No, but I went back three more times: in 1998, in 2000 and in 2003. Sometimes for pleasure and sometimes for work, because I took fashion photos. In every trip there was something new. Cartagena was another miracle for me.
And speaking of miracles, how did you come to photograph Melania Trump naked?
Once, when I was living in New York, in 1995, Max magazine hired me to take sensual photos of two models. One was famous, Emma Eriksson, and the other was totally unknown. It turned out to be Melania.
And did she have any reservations about undressing?
It is that from the beginning we had very good chemistry. She is from Slovenia, and in New York hardly anyone knows what that is. I, on the other hand, knew the region perfectly, since my mother was a Countess of Zagreb, which has been part of the Balkans and today is the capital of Croatia.
So you belong to the nobility?
Yes. My family comes from the oldest in Europe. I am a descendant of King Harald of Norway, and my mother was one of the last princesses of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. My dad was a German nobleman, but he was born in Vienna. I was born in Bordeaux, in the castle of Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Returning to Melania: when you told her that they were almost lesbian photos of two naked women, how did she react?
Well, first we took some pictures in underwear with the other model; in this way the two got to know each other. But I wanted to get a special emotion out of those girls. So I suggested that we take some nude photos.
Individual or both?
The two modalities. Melania has a spectacular body and she is aware of it. It was not complicated at all.
And when she suggested that the two of them go hugging, was there any reaction?
It is that a professional photographer sends the models to a dream in which they get lost and bring out the best in them. The true photographer has to take a special, spiritual, different world, and when that does not happen, the photographs have no life.
So she didn't have any inhibitions?
My photographs are not morbid. She immediately felt that way. There were a lot of people in the studio, the makeup artist, the light guy, the assistant, and she was divine to everyone. We are delighted. The photos were so perfect that Photoshop or things like that never came to mind.
But you took them in 1995 and they came to light 21 years later, when Trump was a candidate. How was that?
To my surprise, one day I was called by Rupert Murdoch, the greatest media mogul in the world. He told me that he wanted to buy them for his media. The photos at that time belonged to the Splash group, which is by Bill Gates, but I also had the rights for the United States. So I sold it to him.
And did Trump or Melania ever contact you to avoid that post? After all, at that moment she could become the first lady of the most important country on the planet.
Their lawyers did contact me, but to ask what I was going to do with those photos. I told them that they were art and that no one should be scared by art.
So they didn't try to block them?
I would say not. There was a lot of rumor about the photos and it was said that the Democrats were going to use them politically, but ultimately nothing happened. After all, they are photos without provocation and without bad vibes. But they are going to end up being mentioned in the history books… Never before has something like this happened with a first lady.
