Melania Trump

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Melania Trump
Trump in 2016
Born
Melanija Knavs

(1970-04-26) April 26, 1970 (age 54)
Novo Mesto, Slovenia, Yugoslavia
Years active1986–present
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1]
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
​
(m. 2005)​
ChildrenBarron Trump (b. 2006)

Melania Trump (born Melanija Knavs;[2][a] April 26, 1970; Germanized to Melania Knauss) is a former model and the wife of American businessman and 2016 U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump. Born in Yugoslavia in the Socialist Republic of Slovenia (today the independent country of Slovenia), she became a permanent resident of the United States in 2001 and a citizen in 2006.

Early life

Trump was born in Novo Mesto in southeastern Slovenia (then part of Yugoslavia) on April 26, 1970.[3] Her father, Viktor Knavs, who managed car and motorcycle dealerships for a state-owned vehicle manufacturer,[4][5] and was a member of the Slovenian Communist Party, came from the nearby town of Radeče. Her mother, Amalija (née Ulčnik),[4] came from the village of Raka[6] and was a patternmaker at the children's clothing manufacturer Jutranjka in Sevnica.[4][7] She has a sister, Ines,[8] and an older half-brother, whom she reportedly has never met,[9] from her father's previous relationship.[4]

She grew up in a modest apartment in a concrete housing block in Sevnica, in Slovenia's Lower Sava Valley.[2] When she was a teenager, the family moved to a two-story house near Sevnica[10] and used a high-rise apartment in Ljubljana.[4]

Trump attended the Secondary School of Design and Photography in Ljubljana[11] and studied at the University of Ljubljana for one year before dropping out.[12][13][14]

She speaks five languages: her native Slovenian, Serbian, English, French, and German.[15]

Immigration to the United States

Trump at a 2011 fashion event

Trump, through her lawyer Michael Wildes, has indicated that she first entered the United States on a business visitor visa in August 1996. She obtained an H-1B visa in October 1996. After that, she regularly returned to Slovenia to obtain a series of four more one-year work visas because, at the time, one-year visas were all that were permitted under the U.S. agreement with Slovenia. She obtained a green card and became a lawful permanent resident in 2001, applying as a model of “extraordinary ability”. She obtained U.S. citizenship in 2006, the year after her marriage.[16][17][18]

Career

Melania Trump began her modeling career at age 16 and at age 17 posed for Slovenian fashion photographer Stane Jerko.[19] At 18, she signed with a modeling agency in Milan, Italy.[20] She 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.[4][21]

After attending the University of Ljubljana and leaving after her freshman year,[22] she worked as a model for fashion houses in Milan and Paris, before relocating to New York City in 1996,[20] her contract and visa negotiated by Italian businessman Paolo Zampolli.[4] She subsequently appeared on the covers of Harper's Bazaar (Bulgaria), Ocean Drive, In Style Weddings, New York Magazine, Avenue, Allure, Vanity Fair (Italy), Vogue (following her marriage to Donald Trump), and GQ (UK).[23] She was featured as a bikini model in the 2000 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.[24][25] As a model, she was associated with Irene Marie Management Group and Donald Trump's Trump Model Management.[26]

In the 2000s, she 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.[citation needed]

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,[27] Melania met Donald Trump at a Fashion Week party in New York City in September 1998, while he was still married to, but separated from, Marla Maples;[2][28] Donald attended the event with another date, Celina Midelfart, and Melania initially refused to give Donald her phone number.[21] Melania broke off the relationship shortly after it began, but the couple reconciled after a few months.[4] Their relationship gained attention after a 1999 interview on The Howard Stern Show.[29] In 2000, Melania appeared with Donald while he campaigned for that year's Reform Party presidential nomination.[29] Their relationship gained additional publicity after the 2004 launch of Donald's business-oriented reality television show, The Apprentice. Donald 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."[28]

After becoming engaged in 2004, Donald and Melania 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 ballroom at Donald's Mar-a-Lago estate.[30]

The event was attended by celebrities 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, then-Senator Hillary Clinton, and former president Bill Clinton.[30][31] 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".[30]

The Trumps' wedding ceremony and reception were widely covered by the media.[27] Trump wore a $200,000 dress made by John Galliano of the house of Christian Dior.[30]

In 2006, Melania gave birth to a son named Barron William Trump. Donald suggested his first name and Melania his middle name.[32] 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.[32] He plays golf with his father and is reported to be fluent in Slovene.[33] He is said to like wearing a suit and tie, and Melania's nickname for him is "Mini-Donald".[5]

Role in 2016 U.S. presidential election

Main article: Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016
Trump supporting the Donald Trump presidential campaign

In November 2015, when asked about her husband's presidential campaign, Trump 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."[34] When asked by The New York Times in 1999 what her role would be if Donald Trump were to become president, Trump replied: "I would be very traditional. Like Betty Ford or Jackie Kennedy. I would support him."[5]

An anti-Donald Trump PAC in March 2016 published an attack ad featuring a nude photo of Trump that was published in 2000 as part of a British GQ magazine photoshoot.[35] The photograph shows her handcuffed to a briefcase, lying on a fur blanket aboard Donald Trump's private jet.[2][23][36]

In July 2016, Trump's official website was redirected to Trump.com. On Twitter, she stated that her site was outdated and did not "accurately reflect [her] current business and professional interests."[37] This change came after it was widely noted by the media that the website had falsely claimed for more than 10 years that she had a degree in architecture and design from the University of Ljubljana.[38][39][40][41][42] Her biography in the 2016 Republican National Convention official program also incorrectly stated that she had obtained a degree in Slovenia.[14][43]

"Comparing Melania Trump's Speech in 2016 with Michelle Obama's in 2008"

On July 18, 2016, Trump gave a speech on the first day of the 2016 Republican National Convention. The speech contained a paragraph that was nearly identical to a paragraph of Michelle Obama's speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.[44][45][46] When asked about the speech, Trump said she wrote the speech herself "with as little help as possible".[47] Two days later, Trump staff writer Meredith McIver took responsibility and apologized for the "confusion".[48]

On September 1, 2016, her attorneys filed defamation lawsuits against British tabloid the Daily Mail and Webster Tarpley, a Maryland political blogger. Both had published allegations from other sources that she worked as an escort for a gentlemen's club in Italy in the 1990s. Tarpley published a retraction and an apology on August 22. The Daily Mail published a retraction and apology after the suit was filed.[49][50]

Notes

  1. ^ The Slovenian pronunciation is [mɛːlaˈnija ˈknaːws]

References

  1. ^ Trebay, Guy (September 30, 2015). "Melania Trump, the Silent Partner". Fashion & Style. The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 28, 2016. Retrieved September 1, 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ a b c d Jordan, Mary (September 30, 2015). "Meet Melania Trump, a New Model for First Lady". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
  3. ^ Lauren Collins (May 9, 2016). "The Model American: Melania Trump is the exception to her husband's nativist politics". The New Yorker.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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.
  5. ^ a b c Greenhouse, Emily (August 17, 2015). "Vitamins & Caviar: Getting to Know Melania Trump". Bloomberg Politics. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  6. ^ "Tednik CELJAN". Celjan.si. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
  7. ^ "Melania Trump: Slovenian Model Legend". April 13, 2016.
  8. ^ Louise Dewast, A Glimpse of Melania Trump's Childhood in Slovenia, ABC News (March 7, 2016).
  9. ^ Rapkin, Mickey (May 17, 2016). "Lady and the Trump". Du Jour. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
  10. ^ "Melania Trump's Past Took Her From A River Town In Slovenia To Trump Tower". The Huffington Post. February 12, 2016.
  11. ^ Jason Horowitz, Melania Trump: From Small-Town Slovenia to Doorstep of White House, New York Times (July 18, 2016).
  12. ^ Glenn Kessler & Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Fact-checking the second day of the 2016 Republican National Convention, Washington Post (June 19, 2016) ("the University of Ljubljana confirmed that Trump dropped out of college before obtaining a degree.").
  13. ^ Lauren Collins (May 9, 2016). "The Model American: Melania Trump is the exception to her husband's nativist politics". The New Yorker. Her Web site states that she obtained a degree in architecture and design from the University of Ljubljana when in fact she dropped out in her first year.
  14. ^ a b Joey Morona, Melania Trump didn't graduate from college as bio claims, reports say, Cleveland Plain Dealer (July 19, 2016) ("Her bio on her official website states she graduated with a degree in design and architecture from 'University in Slovenia.' It's a claim that's been repeated by the Trump campaign and the RNC itself, in the convention's official program. However, the Slovenian writers of her biography wrote that Trump actually dropped out from the University of Ljubljana after her freshman year. Politico's Julia Ioffe wrote the same thing in a profile of the presumptive Republican nominee's wife that appeared in GQ back in April."
  15. ^ Schultheis, Emily (March 24, 2016). "Five Things to Know About Melania Trump". CBS News. Archived from the original on July 28, 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ Times, Los Angeles (September 14, 2016). "The complicated immigration history of Melania Trump: Tourist visas, then work visas". latimes.com. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  17. ^ Lind, Dara (September 15, 2016). "How nude photos and bad fact checking created an immigration scandal for Melania Trump". Vox. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  18. ^ Schrekinger, Ben; DeBenetti, Gabriel (August 4, 2016). "Gaps in Melania Trump's immigration story raise questions (Editor's Note)". Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  19. ^ Kocijancic, Filip (July 3, 2014). "Stane Jerko: Kako sem odkril Melanio Trump" (in Slovenian). SIOLnet. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  20. ^ a b Charles, Marissa (August 16, 2015). "Melania Trump would be a First Lady for the Ages". New York Post. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  21. ^ a b Collins, Lauren (May 9, 2016). "The Model American". The New Yorker. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  22. ^ Wilkie, Christina (July 19, 2016). "Melania Trump's Claims She Graduated From College Are About As Credible As Her Speech Last Night". The Huffington Post. Retrieved July 20, 2016.
  23. ^ a b "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.
  24. ^ "Melania Knauss - Photos". The FMD. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  25. ^ Holz, George. "Melania Knauss, FHM, December 1, 2000". Getty Images. Retrieved November 17, 2015.[dead link]
  26. ^ "Melania Knauss". The FMD. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  27. ^ a b "Melania Knauss Biography". Star Pulse. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
  28. ^ a b King, Larry (May 17, 2005). "Interview with Donald, Melania Trump". CNN. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  29. ^ a b Wadler, Joyce (December 2, 1999). "A Supermodel at the White House?". New Straits Times. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  30. ^ a b c d Stoynoff, Natasha (January 23, 2005). "Donald Trump Weds Melania Knauss". People. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  31. ^ 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.
  32. ^ a b 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.
  33. ^ Katz, Celeste (September 3, 2015). "Trump still questioning Jeb Bush for using Spanish". New York Daily News. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  34. ^ Effron, Lauren (November 20, 2015). "Why You Don't See Donald Trump's Wife Melania Out on the Campaign Trail". ABC News.
  35. ^ Ridge, Sophy (March 23, 2016). "Naked photo row: Donald Trump's chest-beating macho politics can only have one winner". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved March 24, 2016.
  36. ^ Baker, Debbi (March 24, 2016). "Trump threatens Cruz over naked Melania photo". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved March 24, 2016.
  37. ^ Tynan, Dan (July 29, 2016). "Melania no more: why did Donald Trump take down his wife's website?". The Guardian. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
  38. ^ Lawler, David (July 29, 2016). "Melania Trump's website disappears after questions raised about university degree claims". The Telegraph.
  39. ^ Revesz, Rachael (July 29, 2016). "Melania Trump's website vanishes from internet after rumours swirl over her university degree". The Independent.
  40. ^ Horowitz, Jason (July 28, 2016). "With Degree Debunked, Melania Trump Website Is Taken Down". New York Times.
  41. ^ "Profile of Melania Trump". melaniatrump.com via the Internet Archive. March 8, 2006. Archived from the original on March 8, 2006. Retrieved July 29, 2016.
  42. ^ "Biography of Melania Trump". www.melaniatrump.com via the Internet Archive. May 29, 2016. Archived from the original on May 29, 2016. Retrieved July 28, 2016. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  43. ^ O'Donnell, Katy (July 18, 2016). "RNC program flubs Melania Trump's biography". Politico. "The RNC refers to a college degree, but Trump left college after one year."
  44. ^ Tumulty, Karen; Costa, Robert; Del Real, Jose (July 19, 2016). "Scrutiny of Melania Trump's speech follows plagiarism allegations". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
  45. ^ Bump, Philip (July 19, 2016). "Melania Trump's speech appears to have cribbed from Michelle Obama's in 2008". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
  46. ^ Haberman, Maggie; Rappeport, Alan; Healy, Patrick (July 19, 2016). "Melania Trump's Speech Bears Striking Similarities to Michelle Obama's in 2008". The New York Times. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
  47. ^ Stump, Scott (July 19, 2016). "Melania Trump On Convention Speech: 'I Wrote It with as Little Help as Possible'". Today. Archived from the original on July 19, 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  48. ^ Sullivan, Sean; Stanley-Becker, Issac (July 20, 2016). "Cruz Doesn't Endorse Trump in Convention Speech, Prompting Boos and Drama". Politics. The Washington Post. Retrieved August 4, 2016.
  49. ^ Alexander, Keith L.; Hsu, Spencer S. (September 2, 2016). "Melania Trump Files Defamation Lawsuit Against Blogger and British Tabloid". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 4, 2016. Retrieved September 4, 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  50. ^ Silva, Daniella (September 2, 2016). "Melania Trump Files Defamation Suit Against Daily Mail, Political Blog". NBC News. Archived from the original on September 4, 2016. Retrieved September 4, 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

External links

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