Her story, although short, is full of exciting details. From her childhood until she entered the White House, Melania Trump lived an extraordinary life.
The daughter of Slovenia began her professional life as a model at the age of five, before moving to work in the United States and meeting her husband, one of the major real estate investors, Donald Trump, who brought her into the White House as the country’s first lady.
Melania before Trump
On April 26, 1970, Melania Canvas was born into a relatively well-off family, living in the small town of Vsevnica on the banks of the Sava River in central Slovenia.
Her mother, Amelia, worked for a fashion brand as a print designer, while her father, Victor, served as mayor in a neighboring town before deciding to switch to the car business and succeed in it.
Melania was exposed to the spotlight as a child when, at the age of five, she participated in children’s fashion shows.
At the age of sixteen, chance put her on the path of Slovenian fashion photographer Sten Jerko, who introduced her to the world of commercials.
Two years later, she signed a contract with a modeling agency in the Italian city of Milan, and from there her career began in fashion shows between Italy and France.
Until coincidence returned and in 1995 put her on the path of businessman Paolo Zampolli, co-owner of the Metropolitan Models agency specializing in fashion shows.
The Italian American Zampolli, who was living in New York at the time, encouraged Melania to come to the United States and promised to support her.
Indeed, Melania Canvas entered the United States in 1996 on a visitor visa, and then obtained a work visa, before applying for permanent residency in 2000, and six years later she obtained American citizenship.
Once again, coincidence changed Melania’s life again, this time in 1998, when she met her future husband, Donald Trump.
At the time, Trump was living in a tower named after him in Manhattan, New York, while Melania was sharing the rent of an apartment in the same neighborhood.
Melania Trump
Despite the large age difference between them, it seems that Melania (now 54 years old) and Donald Trump (currently 78 years old) share several characteristics, including not drinking alcohol, but what is certain is that ambition is a common trait between them.
A relationship began between the two that lasted for years before they married in January 2005. Melania became Trump’s third wife and the mother of his youngest son, Barron, who is currently eighteen years old.
Melania’s media appearance was limited to photos in which she appeared next to her businessman husband at an event or party, until Trump began in 1999 to express his ambition to become president of the United States.
At the time, Melania told reporters that she “would be very traditional, like Betty Ford or Jackie Kennedy,” but things did not go as Melania expected.
In the crossfire
In 2016, Donald Trump competed for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination.
During this competition, supporters of Ted Cruz, Trump’s rival to gain the confidence of the Republican Party to run for the presidency at the time, exploited old photos of Melania, in order to exclude her husband from the race.
These pictures go back to photo shoots in which Melania participated as a model. She appeared wearing pajamas in the January 1996 issue of “Max” magazine, a French men’s magazine that had stopped publishing. She also appeared completely naked, wearing only jewelry, on the cover of GQ magazine in January 2000, which is also a magazine. Popular for men.
The pictures were justified by Donald Trump when asked about them by saying, “Melania was one of the most successful models, and she did many photo shoots, including for the covers of major magazines… Pictures like these are very common in Europe.”
This year, years after the incident, Melania herself spoke in an audio recording she posted on her Instagram account about her controversial photos, and said, “The most pressing question is why did the media choose to scrutinize my celebration of human formation in a fashion photo shoot?”
Melania was in the spotlight again, in July of the same year, when she delivered a speech before the Republican Party convention.
Observers noticed a clear similarity between Melania’s speech and former First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech before the Democratic Party convention in 2008, a story whose consequences have haunted her for years.
But neither incident succeeded in excluding her husband, Donald Trump, from the race for the White House. He won the Republican nomination and ran in the elections against veteran Democrat Hillary Clinton, which ended with his victory and coronation on January 20, 2017, as President of the United States.
Melania entered the White House as the second First Lady of the United States born outside American soil, after former First Lady Louisa Adams, wife of President John Quincy Adams, who was born in London to an American father and a British mother.
But the media did not stop pursuing Melania, and her new status did not protect her.
Melania Trump sued the British newspaper, the Daily Mail, over an article that she claimed depicted her as if she had been a sex worker in the 1990s.
The newspaper agreed to pay compensation for the damage, and apologized to the US First Lady in 2017.
When her husband’s attack on immigrants began, Melania, being an immigrant, faced the fire of the counterattack.
But she explained that she complied with all the legal requirements to reside in the United States and then obtain citizenship.
She said in a press statement, “It never occurred to me to stay here without official documents. We must follow the rules and the law.”
She added that she used to travel to Europe every few months to renew her visa stamp.
In 2018, Melania sparked great controversy when she wore a coat that said, “I really don’t care,” during a visit to a detention center for migrant children.
Speculation and explanations abounded about what Melania meant, before she came out and declared to the American ABC News station that she wanted to express her lack of interest in the criticism that was following her.
Although she chose silence, and distanced herself from most of the political battles that her husband fought during and after his presidency, Melania did not avoid the flames.
Where is Melania?
Since allegations surfaced regarding a previous relationship between Donald Trump and pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels, the American press has asked: Where is Melania?
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This question became present, with Trump announcing his intention to run for a second presidential term, until Melania broke her silence and appeared in more than one meeting defending her husband, especially after he was subjected to an assassination attempt last July.
Melania stood by her husband in his race for the Republican Party nomination, and in his presidential race against Kamala Harris, which ended yesterday, Tuesday, with him announcing his victory for the presidency, according to what preliminary results showed.