(1970-04-26) April 26, 1970 (age 54) Novo Mesto, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia
Citizenship
Yugoslavia (1970–1991) Slovenia (1991–present) United States (2006–present)
Spouse
Donald Trump
(m. 2005)
Children
Barron Trump
Parents
Amalija Knavs
Viktor Knavs
Residence
Mar-a-Lago
Signature
Melania Trump's voice
Trump on her family's departure from the White House Recorded January 18, 2021
Melania Trump (born Melanija Knavs;[a] April 26, 1970) is a Slovenian-American former model who served as the first lady of the United States from 2017 to 2021 as the wife of President Donald Trump. She is the first naturalized citizen to become first lady and the second foreign-born first lady after Louisa Adams.
Melanija Knavs was born in Slovenia (then part of Yugoslavia) where she began working as a fashion model at the age of 16. She changed the spelling of her name to Melania Knauss, and she traveled to Milan and Paris to seek modeling work until she met Paolo Zampolli, who hired her and sponsored her immigration to the United States in 1996. She continued working as a model in Manhattan, where Zampolli introduced her to the real estate developer Donald Trump in 1998. They began dating, and she began adjusting to a more lavish lifestyle. He worked to get her more modeling jobs, and she supported him during his 2000 presidential campaign. Melania and Donald Trump married in 2005, and they had a son, Barron Trump, the following year. She dedicated most of her time to Barron during his infancy, spending less time working or accompanying her husband at events. She started her own jewelry brand, Melania, in 2009.
After encouraging Donald to run for president in the 2016 presidential election, Melania only made rare campaign appearances, opting to help Donald strategize over the phone. She received major press coverage during the campaign when erotic photos from her modeling years were uncovered and published, and again when a speech she gave at the 2016 Republican National Convention was found to be plagiarized from a similar speech by Michelle Obama. In the month leading up to the election, she was forced to respond to the Access Hollywood tape that had caused a scandal for her husband.
Trump stayed in Manhattan for the first months of her tenure as first lady, allowing Barron to finish school and allowing Melania to negotiate her prenuptial agreement. Her stepdaughter Ivanka Trump fulfilled some of the first lady's traditional duties, causing a rivalry between the two. She kept to minimal activity after moving into the White House, often staying in the residence instead of her office in the East Wing, and she held fewer events than previous first ladies. 2018 saw several challenges for Melania, including allegations of extramarital affairs by her husband, surgery for kidney disease, and a tour of Africa that was overshadowed by scandals. Trump prioritized children's issues during her tenure as first lady, launching the Be Best campaign to promote children's welfare and making many visits to children's hospitals. She opposed her husband's family separation policy and convinced him to end the practice. She was a close advisor to her husband, being the only person from whom he accepted frank advice, and he frequently asked her opinion. In the final months of her tenure, Trump endorsed her husband's false claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election. She has stayed out of public view since leaving the White House.
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MelaniaTrump (born Melanija Knavs; April 26, 1970) is a Slovenian-American former model who served as the first lady of the United States from 2017 to...
estate. Donald Trump, his third wife Melania, and their son Barron were the first family for the duration of his presidency. Trump's father Fred was...
MelaniaTrump was the subject of extensive media attention and public interest during her tenure as first lady of the United States from 2017 to 2021...
Lady of the United States MelaniaTrump was replaced, or was sometimes replaced, by a body double, and that the "real" Melania was either dead, refusing...
A wooden statue of MelaniaTrump, sculpted by Aleš "Maxi" Župevc, was installed in her hometown of Sevnica, Slovenia in 2019. The wood carving was commissioned...
interview in which McDougal detailed the affair and apologized to MelaniaTrump. She said that Trump tried to give her money after they first had sex, that their...
2016 by a close friend and advisor to MelaniaTrump, named Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, whose staff stayed at the Trump International Hotel during the planning...
GQ's condescending MelaniaTrump profile goes too far". Fox News Channel. Retrieved December 21, 2016. "Why GQ's Profile of MelaniaTrump Was Really Just...
Rodríguez (born 2001), Spanish trampolinist Melania Tartabull (born 1955), Cuban volleyball player MelaniaTrump (born 1970), Slovene–American model and former...
Deal: The Untold Story of MelaniaTrump. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-9821-1340-7. "RNC halts Victory project work for Trump". Politico. October 8, 2016...
Slovenian-American woman who was the mother of MelaniaTrump, who is the wife of former US president Donald Trump and was the First Lady of the United States...
entertainment executive and former senior advisor to the first lady MelaniaTrump. Before her controversial role in politics, she produced various notable...
2016, Gershon parodied MelaniaTrump in a Funny or Die video "A Message from MelaniaTrump". Gershon additionally has played Trump on an episode of The...
States, MelaniaTrump from 2020 to 2021, after previously serving as her press secretary from 2017 to 2019. Grisham was a press aide to Donald Trump's 2016...
Ivanka and Eric, from Donald Trump's first wife, Ivana, and a younger half-brother, Barron, from Trump's third wife, Melania. Trump attended Viewpoint School...
met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada. At the time, Trump was the host of the reality TV series The Apprentice and was married to Melania Trump...
First Lady MelaniaTrump, which focuses on well-being for youth and advocating against cyberbullying. Five days before the 2016 election, Melania told a crowd...
February 2017, he agreed to settle a libel suit brought by U.S. First Lady MelaniaTrump for publishing a "false and defamatory" report In August 2016 alleging...
Killam's Trump debuted on the October 2015 sketch "A Message From Donald & MelaniaTrump", which also introduced Cecily Strong as MelaniaTrump. The message...
2019, Trump's resort and residence Mar-a-Lago has served as the primary residence for Donald and MelaniaTrump. The three-story penthouse at Trump Tower...
Jersey who alleged that Facebook had disabled her account for wishing MelaniaTrump a happy birthday. Habba wrote a letter to Facebook, which Facebook appeared...
marry his then girlfriend, Melania Knavs (MelaniaTrump), to make her First Lady. Critics questioned the seriousness of Trump's campaign and speculated that...
George W. Bush; Michelle Obama, married to Barack Obama; and MelaniaTrump, married to Donald Trump. The most recent first lady to die was Rosalynn Carter,...
Winston Wolkoff about her time spent working for and her friendship with MelaniaTrump, the then-First Lady of the United States. It was published on September...
(February 3, 2020). "MelaniaTrump to start raising campaign cash for her husband". Politico. Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is Donald Trump Jr.'s girlfriend, was...
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