Who is Donald Trump’s wife Melania? What the former model does in her role as the US First Lady
Melania Trump is the first naturalized citizen to hold the title of first lady, and the first whose native language is not English.
Melania Trump is Donald Trump‘s third wife, having married him in 2005. They have one child together, Barron, who is 14.
She is just the second foreign-born woman to hold the title of first lady, after Louisa Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams, who was born in 1775 in London.
She is also the first naturalised citizen to hold the title, and the first whose native language is not English.
What did Melania Trump do before meeting Donald Trump?
Ms Trump was born Melanija Knavs in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, which was then part of Yugoslavia.
She had a relatively modest upbringing, and studied architecture and design at the University of Ljubljana for one year before dropping out.
She did so to pursue her career as a model, which started when she was just five-years-old. She won a modelling contract in Milan, before moving to New York in 1996.
She has posed for the likes of GQ‘s UK edition – on which she appeared the cover, naked except for diamond jewellery, reclining on fur, aboard President Trump’s custom-fitted Boeing 727 – and Sports Illustrated.
How did Melania and Donald Trump meet?
Mr Trump, who was then a real-estate mogul, met Melania at a party in September 1998, and they quickly started dating.
He was in the process of divorcing his second wife, Marla Maples, at the time.
They got engaged in 2004 and were married in Palm Beach, Florida the following year. Bill and Hillary Clinton were at the wedding, as were the likes of Simon Cowell and Billy Joel.
What does Melania Trump do as first lady?
Ahead of her husband’s 2016 presidential campaign, Ms Trump told press: “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.”
She was largely in the background throughout the campaign, which is quite unusual for the spouse of a candidate.
After Mr Trump won the election, she spent the early part of his presidency still living in New York, where their son Barron was at school.
She has been outspoken about causes including gender equality and cyberbullying, and also spoken about her experience as an immigrant to the US.
In June 2018 she said that she “hates to see children separated from their families”, referring to news that the Trump administration was splitting children from their parents at the Mexican border.
