Happy Birthday, Melania!

Melania Trump, née Melania Knauss, {original name Melanija Knavs}, was born April 26, 1970, in Novo Mesto, Yugoslavia [now in Slovenia]. She grew up in Sevnica, Yugoslavia, where her father sold cars and her mother worked in the textile industry. She attended the Secondary School of Design and Photography in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. She then studied Architecture and Design at the University of Ljubljana for one year before leaving to pursue a modeling career. 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.  Melania is fluent in Slovene and English, and also speaks Italian, French, German and Serbo-Croatian.

Knauss first met Donald 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. In 2006 Melania gave birth to Barron William Trump, her first child and Donald’s fifth. In that year she also became a U.S. citizen. During this time, Melania 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. Melania strongly believes in women equality and stands for it.

In 2015 Donald announced that he was entering the U.S. presidential race. When he made immigration a central issue, the details of Melania’s own immigration history were scrutinized, including allegations that she worked in the United States before acquiring the appropriate visa. Although Melania 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 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 was elected president of the United States, defeating Hillary Clinton; he took office on January 20, 2017.

Melania 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. In 2018 she launched the Be Best initiative, which focused on children. Its main objectives included ending cyberbullying. In May 2018 she underwent an embolization procedure for a benign kidney condition. During her husband’s reelection campaign in 2020, Melania 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.

The Controversies

The Photos

When Donald announced his intentions to make a 2016 presidential bid for the White House, the normally private Melania was pushed into the national spotlight along with her past modeling work, some of which was considered racy. One of the first controversial images that began circulating online was her 2000 British GQ spread that had her lying naked on a fur blanket.

Not long after, more controversy followed. On July 30, 2016, the New York Post published nude photos of a then 25-year-old Melania, including one in which she lay in bed with another woman. Many of the photos were published for a men’s French magazine that is no longer in circulation.

Discussing the nude photos, Donald told The Post, “Melania was one of the most successful models and she did many photo shoots, including for covers and major magazines. This was a picture taken for a European magazine prior to my knowing Melania. In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common.”

The Speech

While Donald Trump was campaigning for the 2016 presidential elections, Melania Trump gave a speech on July 18, 2016, at the Republican National Convention. The speech became controversial after it was found to be partly similar to Michelle Obama’s speech given at the Democratic National Convention in 2008. According to the Biography website, a staff writer took responsibility for the mistake:

Shortly thereafter, Melania staff writer Meredith McIver took responsibility for the gaffe, claiming she accidentally included part of Obama’s speech in Melania’s talking points. McIver issued the following statement explaining what transpired:

“In working with Melania on her recent first lady speech, we discussed many people who inspired her and messages she wanted to share with the American people. A person she has always liked is Michelle Obama. Over the phone, she read me some passages from Mrs. Obama’s speech as examples. I wrote them down and later included some of the phrasing in the draft that ultimately became the final speech.”

The LanguagesMelania Trump is a multi-linguist with good command over Slovene, English, German, French, Italian, and Serbo-Croatian. {Britannica}According to Stephanie Winston Wolkoff (“Melania and Me”) and Mary Jordan (“The Art of her Deal”), nobody has ever heard her speak anything but English and Slovenian, except for “Bonjour” and a few such basic expressions. {Imdb}

The Degree

She was embroiled in a controversy regarding her degree in architecture and design from the University of Ljubljana. This alleged false claim was mentioned on her official website. After this was highlighted by the media, it was removed.

Imdb made a larger issue with the claim:

On July 29, 2016, USA Today reported that Melania Trump’s personal website was taken offline. Previously, Melania’s bio-statement stated there that she received a “degree in design and architecture at University in Slovenia.” However, a biographer questioned the veracity of that claim by suggesting that Melania never completed her studies. At http://www.archive.org, the WayBack Machine has preserved a 2012 snapshot of Melania’s website, where she printed the now-disputed statement.

The Books

An early attempt to use the first lady platform for public good generated attention for the wrong reasons: In September, Melania sent a package of Dr. Seuss books to one deserving school in each state as part of National Read-a-Book Day. However, the gift was spurned by a Massachusetts elementary school librarian, who decried both the selection of her school and the choice of Dr. Seuss as a “tired and worn ambassador for children’s literature.”

The Unnamed Family Friend Revealing Secrets

The following month, the secretive first lady was profiled in Vanity Fair. According to the article, it was Melania who pushed a waffling Donald into announcing his candidacy for president, knowing that he would regret the missed opportunity if he didn’t. On the flip side, she supposedly never expected to find herself in the White House. “This isn’t something she wanted and it isn’t something he ever thought he’d win,” said one longtime friend of the couple. “She didn’t want this come hell or high water. I don’t think she thought it was going to happen.”

(I cannot believe she “pushed” him into something she didn’t want and never thought he would win.)

Personal Quotes

[on the accusations against her husband] I believe my husband. This was all organized by the opposition. Did they ever check the background of these women? They don’t have any facts. (…) That never happened. [Oct.2016]

My husband is real. He’s raw. He tells it like it is. [Oct.2016]

Don’t feel sorry for me. I can handle everything. [Oct.2016]

[about the attacks on her husband] The opposition doesn’t want to talk about WikiLeaks and the Emails and Benghazi and all the rest of the stuff – they don’t want to talk about it. So, they said: ‘Let’s do something to hurt his campaign’. [Oct.2016]

[defending her husband’s attacks on the Clintons] They’re asking for it. They started it. They started from the beginning of the campaign, putting my pictures from the modeling days [into the newspapers]. That was my modeling days and I’m proud of what I did. I worked very hard. [Oct.2016]

[on the media bias against Donald Trump] When did we hear or read any great stories about my husband – or about me? The true stuff. The facts. The real stuff. We never read the New York Times. They are bashing, bashing, bashing. [Oct.2016]

Sources: Biography, Brittanica, Imdb

In my opinion, Melania has only gotten more beautiful as time has passed.  Her look is softer somehow and she is by far the most gorgeous First Lady we’ve ever had.