The story of Melania Trump, America's most enigmatic First Lady

Although she grew up in the spotlight as a model, Melania Trump was one of America's most enigmatic First Ladies. Maybe it's because the Slovenian model had a different idea in mind when she dreamed of becoming famous. This is the story of Melania, the most enigmatic of America's former First Ladies.

Melania was born in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, on April 26, 1970. She is the second of the two daughters of Amalija Ulcnik and Viktor Knavs, a surname later Germanized into Knauss. The parents of the future first lady belonged to the working class and worked in the same textile factory: her mother was a seamstress, and her father was a driver.

The Knauss family lived in Sevnica in a two-bedroom apartment, purchased through the housing plan of the factory where they worked. That environment was difficult for young Melania and she soon moved to the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana.

One of young Melania's goals was to study architecture. Admission to the University of Ljubljana was conditional on passing a certain number of entrance exams. While there is data indicating that he actually signed up for these exams, it is unknown whether or not he completed them.

What we know is that she has been lucky in her modeling career. At just 17 years old she attracted the attention of a photographer who asked her to pose for him.

In the photo: Melania Trump together with top model Heidi Klum

In an interview with Univision, the photographer recalls that he immediately noticed Melania for her beautiful figure and long legs and that he was convinced that she would have a future as a model.

Soon, however, the photographer changed his mind and said that Melania "lacked energy and charm". In any case, his opinion did not represent a setback for the young girl.

If at just 7 years old she had already walked the catwalks with the models of the textile factory where her mother worked, it was only in 1992 that she began her career as a professional model and at that juncture managed to place second in the "Face of the year" competition.

After winning this award, Melania Trump opted for a modeling career in Europe, although there is not much news from that period. In an October 2020 Art documentary, her ex-boyfriend recalls that "she was always very chic in a time when there was nothing. [...] She was beautiful, as if she was from another planet."

In those years a man crossed Melania's path and completely changed her life: Paolo Zampolli (in the photo), at the time the owner of a modeling agency in New York. The tycoon was looking for European models to include in his team.

It was thanks to Zampolli that Melania met Donald Trump, who was very close to the Italian entrepreneur, so much so that he subsequently appointed him director of international development of the Trump Organization.

As for the love sphere, in Europe Melania was linked to Jure Zorcic when she was 21, before moving to Milan and Paris to work as a model. But it would be in the United States that she would meet the most important man in her life: Donald Trump.

Donald Trump and Melania Knauss met for the first time at New York Fashion Week in 1998, when they began dating.

The two married in 2005 and, a year later, in 2006, welcomed Barron, Melania's only child and Donald's fifth.

In addition to marriage, a child and an extended family, Melania's relationship with Trump helped her become a very powerful woman, first in the world of fashion, then in the White House.

Melania Trump is the second First Lady in history not to be born in the United States. Louisa Catherine Johnson, wife of John Quincy Adams (president in 1820), had been the first.

Everything surrounding the figure of Melania Trump seems to be shrouded in mystery, even her own personality, apparently so distinct from that of her husband. As Mary Jordan, journalist for the Washington Post, recounts in her biography "The Art of Her Deal", Ivanka Trump nicknamed Melania "The Portrait" because she rarely spoke, underlining her extreme reserve.

Her confidentiality, however, did not prevent her from engaging in and promoting a campaign called "Be Best" against cyberbullying. But, apart from other rare occasions, such as the presentation of the annual Christmas decorations at the White House, she has always kept a rather low profile, at least as regards the political aspect of her role.

Her name, in fact, seems to be almost more linked to fashion than to her role as First Lady. We remember that she was photographed by Mario Testino and Helmunt Newton and appeared on the covers of magazines such as Vogue, Harpers, Bazaar, Vanity Fair and GQ. For the latter magazine, she posed in an Eva dress. All this, of course, happened before she got to the White House.

Much has been speculated on the relationship that Melania maintains with her husband today, especially in light of Trump's latest legal affairs and the recent guilty verdict in the Stormy Daniels case trial (pictured).

Unlike what she had done in the previous electoral campaign, in fact, Melania seemed to have disappeared from the radar or at least that was the case for a long period.

She reappeared alongside her husband only at the end of March, the first time to go to vote in the primaries in Florida. She is also alongside Donald Trump at a fundraiser in Palm Beach, Florida, in early April (pictured).

At the time of her absence, a source close to her told People Magazine: "Melania publicly supports her husband, but privately prefers a life with total privacy and without media attention." Given the latest events and Trump's conviction, it is very likely that it will be difficult for her not to be in the spotlight.

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