Melania Trump

Melania Trump (born April 26, 1970, Novo Mesto, Yugoslavia [now in Slovenia]) is a Slovenian American former fashion model who served as first lady of the United States during the administration (2017–21) of her husband, Donald Trump, the 45th U.S. president. Following his reelection in 2024, she was to resume the role in January 2025. Melania Trump is only the second foreign-born first lady, after Louisa Adams.

Modeling and marriage to Donald Trump

Melanija Knavs grew up in Sevnica, Yugoslavia (now in Slovenia), where her father sold cars and her mother worked in the textile industry. She attended the University of Ljubljana for one year before leaving to pursue a career in modeling. She found success, first in Slovenia and later—under the name Melania Knauss—in Milan and Paris. In 1996 she was brought to New York by Paolo Zampolli’s modeling agency. In the course of her career she appeared on the covers of several magazines, and in 2000 she modeled for Sports Illustrated’s popular swimsuit edition.

Knauss first met Trump in 1998 at a fashion industry party in New York City. He was then married to Marla Maples, whom he was to divorce in 1999. After a long courtship, Trump and Knauss were married on January 22, 2005, at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida. It was his third marriage and her first. One of the guests at the wedding was Hillary Clinton. In 2006 Melania Trump gave birth to Barron William Trump, her first child and her husband’s fifth. In that year she also became a U.S. citizen. During this time, Melania Trump continued her career. In addition to occasionally modeling, she marketed a line of jewelry sold by the QVC company and developed a line of caviar-based skin care products.

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2016 election and first lady

In 2015 Donald Trump announced that he was entering the U.S. presidential race. When he made immigration a central issue, the details of Melania Trump’s own immigration history were scrutinized, including allegations that she worked in the United States before acquiring the appropriate visa. Although Melania Trump did not take a prominent role in the campaign, she spoke at the Republican National Convention in July 2016. Her speech initially drew praise but was later revealed to contain sentences and phrases similar to those spoken by Michelle Obama eight years previously. A speechwriter apologized for the seeming plagiarism. Melania Trump subsequently maintained a low profile until several weeks before the election, when she defended her husband after a series of women accused him of sexual assault and harassment. On November 8, 2016, Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, defeating Clinton; he took office on January 20, 2017.

Melania Trump initially made few appearances as first lady, and she did not move into the White House until June, after her son finished the school year. However, in 2018 she launched the Be Best initiative, which focused on children. Its main objectives included ending cyberbullying. During her husband’s reelection campaign in 2020, Melania Trump took a limited role, though she spoke at the Republican National Convention in August. Two months later both she and the president tested positive for COVID-19, but both recovered.

On November 3, 2020, Donald Trump was defeated by Joe Biden, though he contested the results, alleging voter fraud. On January 6, 2021, his supporters attacked the Capitol as Congress was meeting to certify Biden’s victory. Several days later Melania Trump released a statement in which she condemned the violence and complained about “unwarranted personal attacks” against her. Breaking from tradition, she did not host a “tea and tour” with incoming first lady Jill Biden before Donald Trump left office on January 20.

Later activities

Melania Trump was largely out of the public eye in the years after leaving the White House. In 2022 Donald Trump announced that he was running for president, and she appeared at the 2024 Republican National Convention, where he was officially selected as the party’s nominee. However, she did not speak at the event. Later that year she released the memoir Melania. In November 2024 Donald Trump was reelected president.

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