Melania Trump

Melania Trump, born as Melanija Knavs is a Slovene American who is a former model and is most famously known as wife of American Businessman and President Elect of United States, Donald Trump. She is born in Slovenia and she became a permanent resident of the United States in 2001 and citizen in 2006. She played a huge role in promoting Donald Trump in the Presidential elections and she is expected to assume the role of First Lady of United States in January 2017.

Melania Trump (born Melanija Knavs) was born on April 26, 1970 in Novo Mesto, Slovenia (then part of communist Yugoslavia). Her father was a car dealer and her mother was a designer for children's clothing. She grew up in a modest home with her younger sister and later discovered she had an older half brother, whom her father had from a previous relationship. At 16 Trump began modeling and two years later, signed on with an agency in Milan. Although she attended the University of Ljubljana, she dropped out after one year to pursue her modeling career.In her early days of modeling, Trump worked in Milan and Paris, before moving to New York in 1996. There she gained steady work, working with well-known photographers like Patrick Demarchelier and Helmut Newton and landing covers on magazines such as Harper's Bazaar (Bulgaria), Vanity Fair(Italy), GQ and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.After moving to New York City in 1996,Trump met her future husband Donald at a Fashion Week party in New York City in September 1998, while he was still married to, but separated from, Marla Maples. Donald attended the event with another date, Celina Midelfart, and Melania initially refused to give Donald her phone number. Melania broke off the relationship shortly after it began, but the couple reconciled after a few months. Their relationship gained attention after a 1999 interview on The Howard Stern Show.In 2000, Melania appeared with Donald while he campaigned for that year's Reform Party presidential nomination. Their relationship gained additional publicity after the 2004 launch of Donald's business-oriented reality television show, The Apprentice. 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. 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.In March 2006, Trump gave birth to Barron William Trump. Trump suggested his middle name, and her husband his first name 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.

When Donald Trump announced his intentions to make a 2016 presidential bid for the White House, the normally private Melania was pushed into the national spotlight along with her past modeling work, some of which were considered racy. 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. But the controversy didn't stop there. In July 2016, Melania Trump gave a speech at the Republican National Convention, which in some parts, were found to be identical to Michelle Obama's 2008 Democratic National Convention speech. Initially claiming she wrote the speech, Trump was lambasted by the media and the public for plagiarism. In November, Melania Trump 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,” said Trump. News outlets were quick to point out the irony that her husband is known for his use of the social media platform Twitter to insult and taunt opponents and critics. That same month, her husband won the election.She played a huge role in promoting Donald Trump in the Presidential elections and she is expected to assume the role of First Lady of United States in January 2017.