Melania Trump is a Slovenian-American former model and businesswoman who served as the First Lady of the United States from 2017 to 2021, as the wife of President Donald Trump.
43 Facts About Melania Trump
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Melania Trump grew up in Slovenia, and worked as a fashion model through agencies in the European fashion capitals of Milan and Paris, before moving to New York City in 1996.
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Melania Trump was represented by Irene Marie Models and Trump Model Management.
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In 2005, she married the real estate developer and TV personality Donald Trump and gave birth to their son Barron in 2006.
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Melania Trump's mother Amalija was born on July 9,1945 and came from the village of Raka and worked as a patternmaker at the children's clothing manufacturer Jutranjka in Sevnica.
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Melania Trump's father was in the League of Communists of Slovenia, which espoused a policy of state atheism.
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Melania Trump attended the Secondary School of Design and Photography in the city, and studied architecture and design at the University of Ljubljana for one year before she dropped out.
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Melania Trump arranged for her to share an apartment with photographer Matthew Atanian in Zeckendorf Towers in Union Square.
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Melania Trump posed nude for the January 2000 UK edition of GQ magazine, appearing on the cover naked except for diamond jewelry, reclining on fur, aboard Trump's custom-fitted Boeing 727.
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In 2010, Melania Trump launched her own line of jewelry, Melania Trump Timepieces and Jewelry, for sale on QVC.
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Melania Trump marketed a Melania Marks Skin Care Collection at high-end department stores.
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In March 2001, while she was dating Donald Melania Trump, she was granted permanent residency under the EB-1 program for people with "extraordinary abilities".
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Melania Trump chose his middle name, while her husband chose his first name.
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Melania Trump has another stepdaughter, Tiffany Trump from his second marriage to Marla Maples.
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Melania Trump played a relatively small role in the campaign, which is atypical of spouses of presidential candidates.
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In 2016, Melania Trump told CNN her focus as first lady would be to help women and children.
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Melania Trump said she would combat cyberbullying, especially among children.
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On July 18,2016, Melania Trump gave a speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
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Melania Trump was again accused of plagiarizing Michelle Obama's speeches when, as part of her "Be Best" campaign in 2018, she gave a speech that appeared to closely echo remarks by Michelle Obama in 2016 and distributed a written pamphlet that was nearly identical to one published by the Obama administration in 2014.
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Melania Trump's claim raised potential ethical questions with its implication that she intended to profit from being first lady.
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Melania Trump is the second foreign-born woman to hold the title of first lady, after Louisa Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams, who was born in 1775 in London to a father from Maryland and an English mother.
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Melania Trump is the first naturalized citizen to hold the title, and the first whose native language is not English.
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Melania Trump spoke to an audience of women about her life as a female immigrant, and about working towards gender equality both domestically and abroad, noting the role of education as a tool against gender inequality.
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On March 13,2018, Melania Trump scheduled a March 20,2018 meeting with policy executives from technology companies, including Amazon, Facebook, Google, Snap, and Twitter, to address online harassment and Internet safety, with a particular focus on how those issues affect children.
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Melania Trump's office has avoided the use of the term "cyberbullying", and Melania Trump has come under criticism for championing Internet civility while her husband's Internet behavior has been noted as uncivil.
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Melania Trump attended the roundtable event, focusing on how children are affected by modern technology.
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Melania Trump said: "I am well aware that people are skeptical of me discussing this topic", but "that will not stop me from doing what I know is right".
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On June 17,2018, Melania referred to the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy at the border with Mexico, where children were being separated from their parents.
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Melania Trump stated that she "hates to see children separated from their families" and wants there to be "successful immigration reform".
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Melania Trump attended a roundtable with doctors, medical staff, social workers and other experts at Upbring New Hope Children's Shelter.
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In October 2018, Melania Trump took a four-nation, solo tour of Africa, without her husband, focusing on conservation and children and families, visiting Ghana, Malawi, Kenya, and Egypt.
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On November 13,2018, Melania Trump issued an "extraordinary" public statement calling for the firing of Deputy National Security Advisor Mira Ricardel.
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Melania Trump had reportedly been privately pushing for her ouster for weeks.
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Melania Trump ended her tenure by agreeing with Donald that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 election, despite his loss.
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Melania Trump did not contact incoming first lady Jill Biden to make transition arrangements or provide her the traditional tour of the White House.
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Melania Trump never felt comfortable in Washington, reported The New York Times, citing people who knew her.
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In September 2022, Melania Trump claimed that the audiotapes were edited to strategically make people believe that her duties in the White House were not important to her.
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On May 7,2018, Melania Trump formally started the Be Best public awareness campaign, which focused on well-being for youth and advocated against cyberbullying and drug use.
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In Gallup's annual poll of the most admired women, Melania Trump ranked in the top ten each of her years as first lady, but never topped the list.
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Melania Trump joins Bess Truman and Lady Bird Johnson as the only American first ladies who have never been named the most admired woman in this survey since Gallup began conducting the annual survey in the 1940s.
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Melania Trump finished her tenure in 2021 as the least popular first lady ever polled, according to polling by CNN, SRSS, and Gallup.
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Melania Trump was the first Catholic to live in the White House since President John F Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline and was the second Catholic first lady of the United States.
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In October 2020, both Donald and Melania Trump tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and immediately quarantined.