First Ladies of the United States: Melania Trump

Melania Trump is the wife of the 45th President Donald J. Trump. Born Melanija Knavs in 1970 in Slovenia, then Yugoslavia, Melania Trump is the first foreign born First Lady since Louisa Adams, wife of President John Quincy Adams (1825-1829). She speaks the five languages of Slovenian, English, French, Serbian and German. Despite being married to Donald Trump, who has long been a public figure, and having spent years in the public eye as a model, Melania Trump has led a fairly private life resulting in relatively little information and insight into her background, values, or life perspectives.

Melania Trump is the daughter of Vicktor Knavs who managed a car and motorcycle dealership for a state owned manufacturer and Amalija Knavs who was a patternmaker for a state owned textile factory. Melania has one sister Ines and a half-brother Denis Cigelnjak whom she has never met. She grew up in a Communist apartment block in Sevnica. Melania attended the Secondary School of Design and Photography in Ljubljana and studied one year at the University of Ljubljana. During her childhood, she was interested in fashion and design and her friends remember Melania as always having perfect make-up and being perfectly dressed in clothes and jewelry she designed. Her childhood friends describe Melania as seeming on a plane above her peers and wanting something beyond her life in Slovenia.

At the age of 16, Melania met a photographer and began her modeling career. She has said that all she ever wanted to do was become a model. In 1992 Melania was runner-up in the Look of the Year contest by Jana Magazine and given an international modeling contract in Milan. A few years later in 1996, the now Melania Knauss received an H-1B visa to travel to New York City in hopes of becoming a super model. It is noted that questions have been raised whether she worked during a period when she was not legally permitted to do so under her visa. Melania appeared on a number of magazine covers of U.S. and international editions and in the 2000 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. She worked mostly as a model in print and was reasonably successful. Melania, like many models, eventually faced the challenges of aging in an industry focused on youth and often went on casting calls for alcohol and cigarette ads that younger models could not do. She received her Green Card to be a permanent resident in 2001 and became a U.S. citizen in 2006.