The former model, born in Slovenia, is still blamed for her almost pornographic nudity and the plagiarism of her predecessor's speech in the White House, Michelle Obama
Melania Trump, the queen of copy-paste after plagiarizing Michelle Obama's electoral speech, became the first lady of the United States this morning, quite an achievement considering her Slovenian origin and, even more importantly, in such a conservative society like the American, its pornographic past. The committed resume of the 46-year-old ex-model seems not to have subtracted a single vote from her husband. Quite the opposite. Her low profile during the electoral campaign, where she has limited herself to smiling in her role as a vase woman with a single intervention at a rally, has aroused the sympathy of a sector of the female population who has been able to see herself reflected in her compared to with the high intellectual level of Hillary Clinton, her husband's defeated adversary.
Melanija Knavs, her real name, was born in the industrial city of Sevnica on April 26, 1970, under the former Yugoslav communist regime of Marshal Tito that she always repudiated. Her father, Viktor Knavs, was a car salesman, as well as a member of the Slovenian Communist Party, and her mother, Amalia, worked in a textile factory. Her family lived in a modest apartment building next to the primary school where she is still remembered today as a good student who, from a very young age, dreamed of dedicating herself to the world of fashion.
At the age of 16, she moved to Ljubljana, the Slovenian capital, to start her secondary school studies until one day the photographer Stane Jerko discovered her. She was born her career as a model, which she tried to reconcile with her studies. Mission Impossible. Finally, she only studied one year of the Architecture degree. Her statuesque body of 1.80 meters tall and her beautiful blue eyes made her one of the most sought-after top-models of the time, a regular on the catwalks in Paris or Milan, for which reason in 1996 she decided to leave her native country to going to live in New York, with a work visa, in search of his particular American dream, appearing on the covers of such prestigious fashion magazines as 'Vanity Fair', 'Vogue' and 'Elle'.
Captivated by her beauty
In 1998, Trump met her at a party in Manhattan and was captivated by her beauty, so from that moment the recently separated billionaire decided that she should become her third wife despite being 24 years younger than the. And all this despite the fact that he was rejected after asking for her phone number since, according to the ex-model in an interview, the businessman was with another woman at the time. She gave the same Trump always gets whatever he wants and they started dating.
It is not known if Melania did not see much of a future in the relationship because she, in the year 2000, dared to pose nude for the UK magazine 'GQ'. Curiously, the photo session was done in the private jet of the American millionaire, a controversial decision that, apparently, did not prevent the tycoon from asking his parents for her hand in 2004 in the restaurant of the Gran Toplice Bled hotel, a luxury establishment located in the Julian Alps, northwest of Slovenia.
Luxury wedding
They ended up getting married on January 22, 2005 in a big wedding held in Florida attended by, who was going to say it, Hillary Clinton herself, accompanied by her husband. The bride wore a $200,000 Dior gown. A year later, their joint son, Barron Trump, who is now 10 years old, was born.
Melania unconditionally supported her husband when he launched into the race for the White House. Since November of last year, she became his shadow, although she did not hesitate to give the media prominence to Ivanka, daughter of the billionaire's first marriage and one of his main advisers. For his part, Trump, 69, has always done everything possible to appear at many electoral events with his beautiful wife, who has known how to take advantage of his past on the catwalk. And she always responded with praise as when she said, with a foreign accent that he has not been able to tame: "He will be the best president in history. I love you!"
Everything was going well for the former model until, on a fateful July 18, 2016, she read in the middle of a Republican convention a speech that was mostly plagiarized from the one given by Michelle Obama at the 2008 Democratic convention. The scandal was served. However, the couple's reaction, joking about the matter and downplaying it, aroused the sympathy of the Americans. "Michelle Obama gives a speech and everyone praises it. It's fantastic, they think it's absolutely stunning. My wife gives the exact same speech and people criticize her. I don't understand," said the Republican candidate and many forgave the copy-paste of what would be his future first lady, who speaks fluent German, French, Italian and Serbo-Croatian. And it is that, according to the people in her closest environment, Melania is a much more prepared woman than she could give the sensation.
Defending her at all costs from her husband
Despite the blunder of her plagiarism, Melania was vital in defending her husband from accusations of rude and obscene treatment of women (more than a dozen accused Trump of sexual harassment and even assault ). Not in vain, the first lady has been married to him for 18 years, a respectable figure in a society like the United States, little used to marital stability due to the proliferation of various divorces. "My husband was incited to make lewd comments," "My husband is kind and a gentleman," she has said. And America has believed it.
In this sense, Melania, who has declared herself an admirer of Reagan, represents a very important part of American society: housewives who do not work and who dedicate themselves body and soul to their families. Not surprisingly, her husband said years ago that "having a wife who works is a very bad idea, because if I come home and dinner isn't there I cry to heaven" or "I've never changed a diaper, that's something of women". Everything seems to indicate that the first lady perfectly meets that profile, especially when she now calls herself a defender of morality and good customs, at the same time that she promises to dedicate herself to causes of solidarity with those most in need. "She is an impressive mother, an incredible woman," the new president of the United States says of her.
The fact is that Melania has become the second foreign lady of the United States after the British Louisa Adams, wife of the president of the United States, John Adams (1825-1829). Likewise, she is the first to have been raised in a country with a communist regime and to have been photographed nude. None of that matters anymore. Trump's wife must now make us forget the incredible charisma of Michelle Obama, who shone with her own light during all the years of her husband's term. Although, after plagiarizing her speech, it looks like she's not going to have a chance to overshadow him in her position as the wife of the most powerful man on the planet.
