Melania Trump

Melania Trump

Trump in 2016
Born Melanija Knavs
(1970-04-26) April 26, 1970
Novo Mesto, SFR Yugoslavia
(now Slovenia)
Occupation Model, fashion designer
Years active 1986–present
Spouse(s) Donald Trump (m. 2005)
Children Barron Trump
Donald Trump, Jr. (stepson)
Ivanka Trump (stepdaughter)
Eric Trump (stepson)
Tiffany Trump (stepdaughter)
Website Official website

Melania Trump (née Knauss, born Melanija Knavs,[1][2] April 26, 1970; Germanized to Melania Knauss) is a Slovene-American jewelry and watch designer and former model.[3] She is married to American billionaire real estate developer and 2016 U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump.[4] Born in Yugoslavia (now Slovenia), she became a permanent resident of the United States in 2001 and a citizen in 2006.[5]

Early life

Knauss was born in Novo Mesto[6] in southeastern Slovenia (then part of Yugoslavia) on April 26, 1970.[7] Her father, Viktor Knavs, a member of the Slovenian Communist Party[7] who managed car and motorcycle dealerships for a state-owned vehicle manufacturer,[8][7] came from the nearby town of Radeče. Her mother, Amalija Ulčnik,[7] came from the village of Raka[9] and was a patternmaker at the childrens' clothing manufacturer Jutranjka in Sevnica.[7][10] She has an older sister, Ines,[11] and an older half-brother from her father's previous relationship.[7]

Knauss grew up in a modest apartment in a concrete housing block in Sevnica, in Slovenia's Lower Sava Valley.[1] When she was a teenager, the family moved to a two-story house near Sevnica[12] and used a high-rise apartment in Ljubljana.[7] She began her modeling career at age 16, and at age 17 posed for Slovenian fashion photographer Stane Jerko.[13] At 18 she signed with a modeling agency in Milan, Italy.[14] Knauss was named runner-up in the 1992 Jana Magazine "Look of the Year" contest, held in Ljubljana, which promised its top three contestants an international modeling contract.[7][6] She is fluent in Slovenian, English, French, and Serbo-Croatian.[15]

Career

Modeling career

Knauss studied design at the High School of Design in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, and architecture at the University of Ljubljana,[4][16][17][7][6] dropping out after her first year.[7][6] She then worked as a model for fashion houses in Milan and Paris, France before relocating to New York City in 1996,[4] her contract and visa negotiated by Italian businessman Paolo Zampolli.[7] Working with photographers including Helmut Newton, Patrick Demarchelier, and Mario Testino,[16][8] Knauss subsequently appeared on the covers of Harper's Bazaar (Bulgaria), Ocean Drive, In Style Weddings, New York Magazine, Avenue, Allure, Vanity Fair (Italy) and Vogue (following her marriage to Trump), Self, Glamour, GQ (U.K.),[18] Elle, FHM, and was featured as a bikini model in the 2000 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.[19][20][21] As a model, she was associated with several well-known modeling agencies including Donald Trump's Trump Model Management.[15]

Career pre-marriage

In 2000, Melania appeared with Trump while he campaigned for the Reform Party 2000 presidential nomination,[22] and several years later, Knauss appeared in an advertisement for Aflac insurance, in which she and the Aflac mascot, a duck, voiced at the time by comedian Gilbert Gottfried, exchange personalities via a Frankenstein-like mad experiment.[14]

Charity work

She has been associated with various charity events, including of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.[23][24] 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 the title of Goodwill Ambassador.[14] In 2008, she rang the closing bell at NASDAQ to commemorate the Fifth Annual National Love Our Children Day and the beginning of National Child Abuse Prevention month.[8]

Marriage to Donald Trump

Melania and Donald Trump at the Oscar De La Renta Fashion Show in New York City, 2006

After moving to New York City in 1996,[25] Knauss met Donald Trump at a Fashion Week party in New York City in September 1998.[1][26] She broke off the relationship shortly after it began, but the couple reconciled after a few months.[7] Their relationship gained attention after a 1999 interview on The Howard Stern Show,[22] and additional publicity after the 2004 launch of Trump's successful business-oriented reality television show, The Apprentice. Donald Trump described their long courtship in 2005: "We literally have never had an argument, forget about the word 'fight' ... We just are very compatible. We get along."[26]

Trump in 2011

After becoming engaged in 2004, Donald Trump and Melania Knauss were married on January 22, 2005, at The Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida, followed by a reception in the 17,000-sq.-ft. ballroom at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.[27]

The event was attended by noted persons such as Katie Couric, Matt Lauer, Rudy Giuliani, Heidi Klum, Star Jones, P. Diddy, Shaquille O'Neal, Barbara Walters, Conrad Black, Regis Philbin, Simon Cowell, Kelly Ripa, and then-Senator Hillary Clinton and former president Bill Clinton.[27][28] At the reception, Billy Joel serenaded the crowd with "Just the Way You Are", and supplied new lyrics about Trump to the tune of "The Lady is a Tramp".[27]

The Trumps' wedding ceremony and reception were widely covered by the media.[25] Melania wore a $200,000 dress made by John Galliano of the house of Christian Dior,[27] and the cake at the reception was a 50-pound orange Grand Marnier chocolate truffle cake, with a Grand Marnier butter-cream filling, and covered with 3,000 roses created by the chef at Mar-a-Lago.[27]

In 2006, Melania gave birth to a son named Barron William Trump.[14] Donald suggested his first name, and Melania his middle name.[29] As an infant, Barron reportedly occupied his own floor in the Trumps' apartment in Trump Tower in Manhattan, but often slept in a crib in his parents' bedroom.[29] He plays golf with his father, and is also reported to be fluent in Slovenian.[30] He also speaks some French.[8] He is said to like wearing a suit and tie, and Melania's nickname for him is "Mini-Donald".[8]

Melania and Donald are often seen and photographed together at New York City society events and receptions.[31] Television personality Barbara Walters, impressed with Melania's intelligence when she met her, has said of her: "Maybe because she's so pretty, we don't expect her to be as smart as she is."[32]

In 2015, asked about her husband's presidential campaign, Melania said, "I encouraged him because I know what he will do and what he can do for America. He loves the American people and he wants to help them."[32] When asked by The New York Times what her role would be if Trump were to become president, Melania replied: “I would be very traditional. Like Betty Ford or Jackie Kennedy. I would support him.”[8]

During Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, an anti-Trump PAC published an attack ad featuring a nude photo of Melania Trump that was published in 2000 as part of a British GQ magazine photoshoot.[33] The photograph shows her handcuffed to a briefcase, lying on a fur blanket aboard Trump's private jet.[1][18][34]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Jordan, Mary (September 30, 2015). "Meet Melania Trump, a new model for first lady". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
  2. ↑ The Slovenian pronunciation is [mɛːlaˈnija ˈknaːws].
  3. ↑ "The Women of Billionaires". TheRedWire. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 Charles, Marissa (August 16, 2015). "Melania Trump would be a First Lady for the Ages". New York Post. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  5. ↑ Kuczynski, Alex (2016-01-06). "Melania Trump's American Dream". Harper's Bazaar. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Collins, Lauren (May 9, 2016). "The Model American". The New Yorker. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Ioffe, Julia (April 27, 2016). "Melania Trump on Her Rise, Her Family Secrets, and Her True Political Views: “Nobody Will Ever Know”". GQ. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Greenhouse, Emily (August 17, 2015). "Vitamins & Caviar: Getting to Know Melania Trump". Bloomberg Politics. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Tednik CELJAN". Celjan.si. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
  10. ↑ "Melania Trump: Slovenian Model Legend". 13 April 2016.
  11. ↑ "Donald Trump and Melania Knauss Marriage Profile". about.com.
  12. ↑ "Melania Trump's Past Took Her From A River Town In Slovenia To Trump Tower". The Huffington Post. February 12, 2016.
  13. ↑ Kocijančič, Filip (July 3, 2014). "Stane Jerko: Kako sem odkril Melanio Trump". SIOLnet (in Slovenian). Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Melanie Trump - "My World", melaniatrump.com. Retrieved August 17, 2015
  15. 1 2 "Melania Knauss". The FMD. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  16. 1 2 Trebay, Guy (September 30, 2015). "Melania Trump, the Silent Partner". The New York Times. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  17. ↑ Rushton, Christine (February 24, 2016). "Republican elites are accepting the idea of a Donald Trump nomination". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  18. 1 2 "The Future First Lady? See Melania Trump's Nude Photo Shoot". British GQ. March 4, 2016 [originally published in January 2000]. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Melania Knauss - Photos". The FMD. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  20. ↑ Holz, George. "Melania Knauss, FHM, December 1, 2000". Getty Images. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  21. ↑ "Photoshoots". melaniatrump.com. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  22. 1 2 Wadler, Joyce (December 2, 1999). "A Supermodel at the White House?". New Straits Times. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  23. ↑ Pace, Gregory. "Evelyn Lauder, Leonard Lauder and Melania Trump during The Breast...". Getty Images. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  24. ↑ "Melania Trump Photos - The Breast Cancer Research Foundation's Annual Hot Pink Party". Zimbio. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  25. 1 2 "Melania Knauss Biography". Star Pulse. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
  26. 1 2 King, Larry (May 17, 2005). "Interview with Donald, Melania Trump". CNN. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 Stoynoff, Natasha (January 23, 2005). "Donald Trump Weds Melania Knauss". People. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  28. ↑ Gillin, Joshua (July 21, 2015). "The Clintons really did attend Donald Trump's 2005 wedding". Politifact (Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald). Retrieved August 21, 2015.
  29. 1 2 Schneider, Karen S. (May 1, 2006). "Billion Dollar Baby: He Has Mom's Eyes, Dad's Lips, His Own Floor in Trump Tower and Doting Parents: Welcome to the World of Barron William Trump". People. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
  30. ↑ Katz, Celeste (September 3, 2015). "Trump still questioning Jeb Bush for using Spanish". Daily News (New York). Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  31. ↑ Navarro, Desiree. "Donald Trump Hosts the Opening Night Reception of Veranda: New York's Best at Trump Park Avenue". Getty Images. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
  32. 1 2 "Barbara Walters Is Shocked that Melania Trump Is Smart Because She's Also Beautiful", rushlimbaugh.com/daily, November 20, 2015. Retrieved November 22, 2015
  33. ↑ Ridge, Sophy (2016-03-23). "Naked photo row: Donald Trump's chest-beating macho politics can only have one winner". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2016-03-24.
  34. ↑ Baker, Debbi (March 24, 2016). "Trump threatens Cruz over naked Melania photo". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved March 24, 2016.

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