Melania Trump born Melanija Knavs ; [a] April 26, is a Slovenian-American former model who served as the first lady of the United States from to as the wife of former president Donald Trump , the 45th president of the United States. She is the first naturalized citizen to become first lady and the second foreign-born first lady after Louisa Adams.
Melanija Knavs was born in Slovenia then part of Yugoslavia where she began working as a fashion model at the age of She changed the spelling of her name to Melania Knauss, and she traveled to Milan and Paris to seek modeling work until she met Paolo Zampolli , who hired her and sponsored her immigration to the United States in She continued working as a model in Manhattan, where Zampolli introduced her to the real estate developer Donald Trump in They began dating, and she began adjusting to a more lavish lifestyle.
He worked to get her more modeling jobs, and she supported him during his presidential campaign. Melania and Donald Trump married in , and they had a son, Barron Trump , the following year. She dedicated most of her time to Barron during his infancy, spending less time working or accompanying her husband at events.
She started her own jewelry brand, Melania , in After encouraging Donald to run for president in the presidential election , Melania only made rare campaign appearances, opting to help Donald strategize over the phone. She received major press coverage during the campaign when erotic photos from her modeling years were uncovered and published, and again when a speech she gave at the Republican National Convention was found to be plagiarized from a similar speech by Michelle Obama.
In the month leading up to the election, she responded to the Access Hollywood tape that had caused a scandal for her husband. Trump stayed in Manhattan for the first months of her tenure as first lady, allowing Barron to finish school and Melania to negotiate her prenuptial agreement. Her stepdaughter Ivanka Trump fulfilled some of the first lady's traditional duties, causing a rivalry between the two. She kept to minimal activity after moving into the White House, often staying in the residence instead of her office in the East Wing , and she held fewer events than previous first ladies.
