Melania Trump

1970–present

Latest News: Melania Trump Resumes Duties as First Lady

Melania Trump is the first lady once again. The 54-year-old’s husband, Donald Trump, was sworn in as the 47^th president by Chief Justice John Roberts during his inauguration on January 20. Making headlines with her boater-style hat, Melania stood next to Donald in the Capitol rotunda as he took the presidential oath of office.

In an interview on Fox & Friends a week prior, the former model shared she will be living at the White House full-time during her husband’s second term. While Melania didn’t move into the executive mansion until several months after Donald first took office in 2017, she said “it’s very different” this time around. “I already packed. I already selected the, you know, furniture that needs to go in,” Melania said.

The delay in 2017 was on account of the couple’s son, Barron. Melania and Donald chose to let then-12-year-old finish out the school year at the private New York City prep school where he was enrolled, so Melania stayed with Barron until they moved to Washington D.C. that June. “My first priority is, you know, to be a mom, to be a first lady, to be a wife,” Melania told Fox & Friends.

The first lady plans to build upon the Be Best initiative she created during her previous tenure in the role. The campaign focuses on child wellbeing and anti-cyberbullying efforts.

Melania Trump is first lady of the United States and the wife of the 45^th and 47^th President Donald Trump. Born and raised in present-day Slovenia, Melania started out as a model and eventually graced the covers of several international magazines. She and Donald met after she moved to New York in the 1990s. The couple married in 2005 and share a son, Barron. As the first foreign-born U.S. first lady since Louisa Adams in the 1820s, Melania has championed children’s well-being as well as curbing online bullying and opioid abuse. She released a self-titled memoir in October 2024.

FULL NAME: Melanija Knavs Trump
BORN: April 26, 1970
BIRTHPLACE: Novo Mesto, Slovenia
SPOUSE: Donald Trump (2005-present)
CHILD: Barron
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Taurus

Melanija Knavs, germanized as Melania Knauss, was born on April 26, 1970, in Novo Mesto, Slovenia (then part of communist Yugoslavia). Her father, Viktor, was a car dealer, and her mother, Amalija, was a designer for children’s clothing.

Melania grew up in a modest home with her younger sister, Ines, and later discovered she had an older half-brother, Denis, whom her father had in a previous relationship. Melania moved to Ljubljana (today, Slovenia’s capital city) as a teenager where she attended high school. It was then that she started developing an interesting modeling.

In 1996, Melania’s modeling career prompted her to moved to the United States. She was granted a green card for permanent residency in March 2001 through the EB-1 program, nicknamed the “Einstein visa” due to its allocation to top academics, business leaders, Oscar-winning actors, and others who demonstrate “extraordinary ability.” She officially became an American citizen in 2006.

In early 2018, as her husband Donald Trump’s administration sought to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws, some critics questioned whether Melania was deserving of her past participation in the EB-1 program. That August, it was reported that Melania’s parents, Viktor and Amalija, had been granted U.S. citizenship and that the first lady had sponsored them for their green cards, a process at odds with the president’s proposal of a “merit-based” system that sought to curb sponsorship for family members.

Melania Trump’s success as a model landed her at many fashion weeks with influential designers like Karl Lagerfeld.

Melania began modeling at age 16, and two years later, she signed on with an agency in Milan. She enrolled at the University of Ljubljana but dropped out after one year to pursue her modeling career full-time. In her early days of modeling, Melania—who stands at 5 feet, 11 inches tall—worked in Milan and Paris, before moving to New York in 1996. Through her travels, Melania picked up more than a few new languages, including English, French, Italian, and German.

Once in the United States, she gained steady work with well-known photographers like Patrick Demarchelier and Helmut Newton. The model also landed covers on magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar Bulgaria, Vanity Fair Italia, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, and British GQ, for which she posed nude in January 2000. In 2005, she appeared in an Aflac commercial and co-hosted an episode of The View.

Nude Photo Scandal

As her husband ran for president in 2016, Melania’s nude modeling experiences from decades earlier stirred fresh controversy. 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. That July, 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’s no longer in circulation.

Discussing the nude photos, Donald Trump 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 model defended herself in September 2024 by saying she was proud of her nude modeling work and chastising media outlets for the increased scrutiny. “Are we no longer able to appreciate the beauty of the human body?” Melania said in a video on social media as she promoted her memoir. “We should honor our bodies and embrace the timeless tradition of using art as a powerful means of self-expression.”

Melania and Donald Trump have been married for nearly 20 years.

Melania met her future husband, Donald Trump, at a New York fashion party in 1998. Although she refused to date him at first, they eventually established a relationship the following year before briefly breaking up in 2000. The couple soon got back together and were engaged in April 2004.

Melania and Donald—then 34 and 58, respectively—married in a lavish ceremony in Palm Beach, Florida, in January 2005. Their celebrity guests included Shaquille O’Neal, Barbara Walters, Kelly Ripa, Matt Lauer, and Katie Couric. Following their wedding, Melania Knauss officially changed her name to Melania Trump.

In March 2006, Melania gave birth to a son she and her husband named Barron. Barron is Donald’s fifth and youngest child and Melania’s only kid. She was a very hands-on mother as her son grew up in New York City and Washington D.C.

Melania and Donald have weathered reports of infidelity, most notably an alleged affair between Donald and adult film star Stormy Daniels that became public in January 2018. Daniels has said they had consensual sex in a hotel room in July 2006, but Donald has denied this. When news of the alleged affair and a hush-money payment to Daniels broke, Melania canceled a trip with her husband to the World Economic Forum and kept a low profile for several days. She did attend Donald’s 2018 State of the Union address later in January. Melania hasn’t publicly commented on the scandal.

Throughout their marriage, Melania has supported her husband’s endeavors. In 2013, she appeared on his reality show Celebrity Apprentice. Two years later, Donald Trump’s decision to run for U.S. president thrust the normally private Melania into the national spotlight on a whole new level. Vanity Fair later reported it was Melania who pushed a waffling Donald into announcing his presidential bid.

Although Melania Trump prefers to keep a low profile, she joined Donald Trump at the 2016 Republican National Convention and delivered a partially plagiarized speech.

After Donald joined the White House race in July 2015, Melania caught flack for her racy modeling work. A year later, controversy blossomed after she gave speech at the Republican National Convention and some passages in her remarks were found to be identical to Michelle Obama’s 2008 Democratic National Convention speech. Initially claiming she wrote the speech, Melania was lambasted by the media and the public for plagiarism.

Shortly thereafter, staff writer Meredith McIver took responsibility for the gaffe and said she included parts of Obama’s speech in her notes after Melania read them to her as examples. “I wrote them down and later included some of the phrasing in the draft that ultimately became the final speech,” McIver said.

In November 2016, Melania delivered a rare speech on the campaign trail outlining how fighting cyberbullying would be a priority for her if she were to become first lady. “We need to teach our youth American values: Kindness, honesty, respect, compassion, charity, understanding, cooperation,” she said. News outlets were quick to point out the irony that her husband was known for his use of the social media platform Twitter (now X) to insult opponents.

Not long after her speech, Donald was elected the 45^th president of the United States in a stunning defeat of Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton. Reporters zeroed in on the impact his election had on Melania. Citing an unnamed friend of the Trumps for a November 2017 article, Vanity Fair reported the then–first lady 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,” the friend said. “She didn’t want this come hell or high water. I don’t think she thought it was going to happen.” Elsewhere, Michael Wolff wrote in his explosive January 2018 book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House that Melania broke down in tears the night her husband was elected. The author also described her as an unwilling participant in his campaign. Angered by the account, Melania instructed her staff to push back against the book’s claims.

Melania Trump is one of two former first ladies who were born outside the United States.

As Donald Trump took office in January 2017, Melania became the first foreign-born U.S. first lady since Louisa Adams, John Quincy Adams’ wife, who was born in London. Melania and then-12-year-old Barron initially stayed in New York City so her son could finish the school year, but they eventually joined the president in the White House in June 2017.

In her first term as first lady, Melania used her platform to focus on several issues, including education, bullying, and immigration. As part of National Read-a-Book Day, Melania sent Dr. Seuss books to a deserving school in each state in September 2017. The following month, she made a visit with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to a suburban Detroit middle school as part of the #NoOneEatsAlone initiative. “I always believe that you need to treat each other with respect, and kindness and compassion,” she told the students.

Be Best Initiative

Melania hired a policy director in January 2018 to help roll out her official platform as first lady. A key component of this was her “Be Best” campaign, which focused on child well-being, fighting opioid abuse, and advocating against cyberbullying. Curbing cyberbullying became a particular interest for the first lady after her son experienced online attacks in late 2016.

“As a mother and as first lady, it concerns me that in today’s fast-paced and ever-connected world, children can be less prepared to express or manage their emotions and oftentimes turn to forms of destructive or addictive behavior such as bullying, drug addiction, or even suicide,” she said while unveiling her initiative in May 2018. “I feel strongly that as adults we can and should be best at educating our children about the importance of a healthy and balanced life.”

Border Enforcement

In June 2018, the first lady weighed in on the controversial issue of children being separated from their parents after illegally crossing the Mexican border. The practice began as part of a new zero-tolerance policy toward preventing illegal entry into the United States. “Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform,” a spokesperson for the first lady said. “She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws but also a country that governs with heart.”

A few days later, Melania made an unannounced visit to Upbring New Hope Children’s Shelter in McAllen, Texas, to tour the facility and meet with children and staff. However, the visit itself was eclipsed by her decision to wear a jacket emblazoned with the message “I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?” Her spokesperson downplayed the significance of the jacket, insisting there was no hidden message, but the president said it was directed at the “fake news media” in a social media post. In her 2024 memoir, Melania confirmed the jacket was aimed at the “skewed narratives” and “negativity” of journalists.

While her husband’s presidency came to a tumultuous close with the deadly U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, Melania sought to wind down her days as first lady on a positive note. “The promise of this nation belongs to all of us,” she said in a farewell message and later added, “Together, as one national family, we can continue to be the light of hope for future generations and carry on America’s legacy of raising our nation to greater heights through our spirit of courage, goodness, and faith.”

Return to the White House

After the Trumps left the White House in January 2021, Melania kept a relatively low profile for several years. She was largely absent from her husband’s 2024 presidential campaign, though she issued a statement calling for “unity” following a July 2024 assassination attempt on Donald that left him with an injured ear. Melania made a rare appearance at the Republican National Convention days later. She was also by her husband’s side as he declared victory over Democratic challenger Kamala Harris in the November general election.

Melania resumed her post as first lady of the United States in January 2025 as her husband was sworn in as 47^th president. She plans to continue and build upon her Be Best initiative from her previous stint as first lady.

In early October 2024, Melania released a self-titled memoir that covered her childhood, modeling career, marriage to Donald, and experience as first lady. “Writing this memoir has been a deeply personal and reflective journey for me,” she said in a video promoting her book. “As a private person who has often been the subject of public scrutiny and misrepresentation, I feel a responsibility to clarify the facts.”

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As of August 2024, Melania has an estimated net worth of $50 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. In addition to modeling, Melania has had a few business endeavors that have contributed to her wealth. In 2010, she launched a now-defunct jewelry line with QVC called Melania Timepieces & Jewelry. Melania also created a skin care collection in 2016, but the manufacturer cut ties with her a year later. The first lady currently sells jewelry, ornaments, and digital collectibles on her website.

In May 2018, Melania underwent surgery at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center near Washington D.C. to treat a benign kidney issue. She left the hospital after five days but continued to lie low in the following weeks, sparking more concern about her well-being. In June, her spokesperson confirmed she wouldn’t join her husband at the G7 summit in Canada and had “no plans” to travel to Singapore to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un later that month.

On October 2, 2020, the president said he and Melania had both tested positive for COVID-19. Their son, Barron, initially tested negative, but a second test confirmed he was also sick with the highly contagious coronavirus. Donald was treated with an experimental drug combination and hospitalized as a precaution. All three family members soon recovered.

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