There's a new first lady in the White House. 7 facts about Melania Trump
Donald Trump, who was re-elected as US President, has returned to the White House with his family. His wife Melania Trump has again received the status of first lady for another four years. What is known about the wife of Donald Trump - in the material "Izvestia".
Fact 1. polyglot from a small town
- Melania Trump (maiden name Knavs) was born in 1970 in the Slovenian city of Novo Mesto. Melania grew up in Sevnica, near Ljubljana.
- After Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, local businesses in Sevnica began producing products in honor of the first lady: cake, wine, and even clothing.
- Melania Trump became the second first lady of foreign origin in the history of the United States. Before her, such a situation was only in the XIX century with Louisa Adams - the wife of the sixth head of state John Quincy Adams. However, she was half American.
- Melania speaks several languages. In addition to her native Slovenian, she speaks Serbian, French, German, Italian and English.
- However, she does not have a higher education. She graduated from a professional school of photography and design, then entered the University of Ljubljana at the Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, specializing in design, but dropped out after the first year.
Fact 2: She has modeled and done nude shoots
- Melania Trump started her modeling career when she was 17 years old. In 1992, she signed a contract with a Milan modeling agency, and in 1996 she moved to the United States on the advice of Metropolitan Models co-owner Paolo Zampolli, a friend of Donald Trump.
- She is the only US First Lady the electorate has ever seen nude. In 1996, Melania starred in a candid photo shoot for the French publication Max. In 2016, the US tabloid New York Post found the images and put them on the cover of the July issue with the caption "Melania Trump as you've never seen her before".
- Melania met the future 45th and 47th president of the United States in 1998 at the Kit Kat Club at a party during New York Fashion Week.
Fact 3: Younger than her husband by almost half her age
- The year they met, Donald Trump was not yet officially divorced from his second wife Marla Maples. At the time, the future president was 52 years old and Melania was 28.
- Trump proposed to Melania in 2004, and a year later they married. The couple has one child in common - son Barron, born in 2006. Another four children of the spouse (Donald Trump - Jr., Ivanka, Erica and Tiffany) Melania is a stepmother.
- When Donald Trump first became President of the United States, Barron was only 10 years old. He is now 18 years old. After Trump's inauguration in 2017, Barron finished school in New York and moved to the White House to live with his father. While in Washington, Barron attended St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Maryland.
- After Trump left the presidency, the family moved to Florida and Barron transferred to a private school in Palm Beach. He graduated from high school last spring and is now a freshman at New York University's Stern School of Business. He will again be given a place to stay at the White House and will be able to visit whenever he wants. Melania Trump has also promised to visit her son while he studies.
Fact 4- Engaged in business, social projects and writing
- Donald Trump's wife is quite good at business. She has launched her own line of jewelry and watches, as well as a cosmetics line.
- At the same time, Melania Trump launched a program " Be Best" ("Be Best"), aimed at developing a healthy lifestyle in children, the proper use of social networks and the fight against the abuse of opioids.
- In October 2024, she released a memoir titled Melania. They soon became a bestseller according to The New York Times. In the book, she recounted the highlights of her life, from moving to the U.S. to the assassination attempt on her husband last summer in Pennsylvania.
Fact 5: Constantly justifies her husband's antics
- Melania Trump has repeatedly been accused of forgetting too quickly that she herself is a newcomer and not a Native American. She has been advised to show understanding to those who also want to come to the US. However, she has always emphasized that she did not break the law when she emigrated to America.
- Commenting on her husband's "insults against Mexicans", she repeatedly emphasized that it is "illegal migrants" that Donald Trump speaks harshly about.
- In October 2016, The Washington Post released an audio recording from 2005 in which Trump made a series of disparaging remarks about women. His wife called the comments unacceptable and offensive, primarily to her. However, she expressed hope that people would accept her spouse's apology.
Fact 6: Unconventional clothing choices
- Despite working in the fashion industry, Melania Trump's style has often been criticized. For example, during a trip to Kenya, she chose light-colored pants, a white shirt and a white hat in the form of a cork helmet, which resembled a colonizer's costume, which angered the locals. Another wave of negativity followed over a jacket she wore to Texas to meet migrant children. On the back was the inscription: I really don't care. Do U?".
- Melania Trump also caused a stir with her outfit at her husband's inauguration at this year's US inauguration. Despite the elegance of the costume, the first lady in the former Soviet Union is compared to the old woman Shapoklyak from the cartoon about Cheburashka because of the similarity of their hats, and in other countries just wonder why she decided to completely hide her eyes under the headdress.
Fact 7: Her sad facial expression is often discussed
- Despite her husband's defense in interviews, the media suspects that Melania Trump is not very happy in her marriage, because at many events, especially lately she has a sad or unhappy face.
- This phenomenon has been actively discussed in social networks under the hashtag #SadMelania (sad Melania) since 2017. According to users who often created memes on this topic, the wife of the US President is not at all happy about what is happening around her. Some even fantasize about the fact that she may need help.
