Melania Trump is now First Lady of the United States of America. She’s not only making headlines for her new role, but she’s also making headlines for her fashion choices. From a beautiful blue dress to a stunning gold dress and a cream inaugural gown that was amazing, the Internet is abuzz about Melania Trump. But she’s not just known for her fashion sense. She’s strong, confident, and poised and will make a great First Lady.
First Lady of the United States Melania Trump is the wife of President Donald J. Trump, and was born on April 26, 1970 in Slovenia.
Melania Knavs began her modeling career at the age of sixteen. She would pursue a degree at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, but pause her studies to advance her modeling career in Milan and Paris before moving to New York in 1996. As a model, Melania has appeared in high profile ad campaigns and worked with some of the top photographers in the fashion industry, including Patrick Demarchelier, Helmut Newton, Arthur Elgort, Ellen Von Unwerth, Peter Arnell, Antoine Verglas and Mario Testino. She has graced the covers of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, British GQ, Ocean Drive, Avenue, In Style, and New York Magazine. Her major layouts include the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, Allure, Vogue, Self, Glamour, Vanity Fair, and Elle. In addition, Melania has appeared in numerous television commercials and television programs, including co-hosting The View with Barbara Walters.
With a penchant and passion for the arts, architecture, design, fashion and beauty, Melania has thrived on the cultural diversification of New York City. This passion can only be surpassed by her dedication to helping others, and her generosity has been noted. She was Honorary Chairwoman for Martha Graham Dance Company in April 2005, is an active member of the Police Athletic League which honored her with Woman of The Year 2006, has been an Honorary Chairwoman for The Boy’s Club of New York for five consecutive years, and in 2005 The American Red Cross awarded her with Goodwill Ambassador which she has proudly served for four years. In April of 2008, she was asked by Love Our Children USA and NASDAQ to participate in the Fifth Annual National Love Our Children Day and the beginning of National Child Abuse Prevention month by ringing the closing bell at NASDAQ. In 2010, Melania was the Chairwoman for The American Heart Association which raised $1.7 Million for research. Melania’s philanthropic interests represent her humanitarian side, and she remains an indefatigable and dedicated New Yorker.
Melania married Donald Trump in January 2005. In March of 2006 they welcomed their first child, Barron William Trump.
Melania is also a successful entrepreneur. In April 2010, Melania Trump launched her own jewelry collection.
In 2006, Melania Trump proudly became a citizen of the United States of America. She is only the second First Lady born outside of the United States. The first since Louisa Adams, wife to John Quincy Adams, the nation’s sixth president.
Mrs. Trump cares deeply about issues impacting women and children, and she has focused her platform as First Lady on the problem of cyber bullying among our youth.
She grew up in communist Yugoslavia and speaks five languages
Slovene, English, French, Serbian and German, if you want to know. That linguistic prowess could come in handy at White House functions, but it has been suggested her thick accent is the reason she makes few public speeches alongside her immigrant-bashing husband.
Melania was raised away from the glamour of New York high society in a concrete tower block in then Yugoslavia during the rule of Marshal Josip Tito. Now that her husband has become president, Melania is the first first lady to be born in a communist nation and only the second to be born abroad, after Louisa Adams, the English wife of sixth president John Quincy, who served from 1825 to 1829.
Her native Slovenia wants to help the US’s relationship with Russia. Melania’s home country appears to believe her rise to the White House could be an opportunity to increase its own standing in the world. Tiny Slovenia, with its population of two million, has positioned itself as a possible mediator between the US and Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who rarely makes trips to western states, has visited Slovenia twice and the two nations have a comfortable relationship with one another.
Prime Minister Miro Cerar told the Associated Press last year: “If the United States and Russia give some initiative in this way, Slovenia could become a bridge between the two powers.”
Donald’s apparent soft spot for Russia may mean Slovenia’s services are not required. However, Cerar said he had spoken to Melania in a phone call following the Trump election victory, both chatting in their native tongue.
She then passed the phone to her husband, added the PM, and their conversation “touched very briefly” on possible Slovenian mediation efforts, although “there was no specific statement about that”.
The former Melania Knauss started dating Donald Trump in 1998, married him in 2005 and gave birth to their son, Barron, the following year. Before Melania, Donald was married for a few years in the 1990s to Marla Maples, a television personality, former beauty queen and mother to their daughter Tiffany Trump. The couple met while the businessman was still with his first wife, Czechoslovakian Ivana Zelnickova, who he had married in 1977. They have three children – Ivanka, Eric and eldest child Donald Trump Jr, who, at 38, is eight years younger than his stepmother Melania.
Ivana and Donald were leading socialites in New York during the 1980s, but their marriage ended with a very public divorce in 1992. Absolutely Fabulous star Jennifer Saunders says some of the inspiration for the show’s fashionista Patsy Stone, played by Joanna Lumley, came from Ivana, who often sports a high blonde beehive.
She refused to give Trump her number
The billionaire asked Melania for her number at a party in New York in 1998 – and she said no.
Melania, then 28, was there at the invitation of Paolo Zampolli, the Italian businessman who set her up as a model in the US. The property tycoon – future husband Donald, then a notorious playboy – had arrived with another woman, but he sent her to the bathroom so he could chat up the model.
However, Melania knew his reputation so when he asked for her number she refused and instead asked him for his details.
She told GQ magazine: “If I give him my number, I’m just one of the women he calls.”
She waited to see if he would give her a personal or a business number, to assess what his intentions might be. “It tells you a lot from the man what kind of number he gives you,” she said.
Trump, it seems, was serious, giving her “all of his numbers”, she revealed.
