In 1998, Donald Trump, already
fabulously wealthy and charismatic but possessed of a still
ordinary-looking head of hair, was probably used to getting a phone
number when he asked.
But when the property mogul tried it on
that year with a young model, at a party in New York, he couldn't quite
close the deal. "I am not giving you my number," countered 28-year-old
Melania Knavs. "You give me yours, and I will call you."
Fast-forward
seven years and the pair tied the knot in a star-studded bash at his
Florida estate. Fast-forward again and Mrs Trump is a candidate to
become the next First Lady of the United States. But who is she?
A 'traditional' First Lady
Glamorous
and entirely devoted to her husband and his success, Mrs Trump has been
cast as a kind of retro presidential spouse, a modern-day Jackie
Kennedy. Like the former Mrs Kennedy, Mrs Trump, now 46, speaks four
languages: Slovenian, French, German, and English.
When Mr Trump
first hinted at tilting for the top office, in 1999, she told reporters:
"I would be very traditional, like Betty Ford or Jackie Kennedy."
But
there are ways in which she is a less-than-traditional candidate for
the job. If Mr Trump is elected, she will be the first First Lady to
have posed nude for a magazine.
Supporters of Ted Cruz seized on
her work as a model, overlaying an image of her posing naked with the
warning: "Meet Melania Trump, your next First Lady. Or you could vote
for Ted Cruz on Tuesday."
Earlier this year, a lewd phone interview with Mr
and Mrs Trump by shock-jock radio presenter Howard Stern resurfaced, in
which Mr Stern quizzed Mrs Trump about what she was wearing ("almost
nothing") and how often she had sex with Mr Trump ("every night,
sometimes more"), and described her to Mr Trump as "that broad in your
bed". The interview prompted accusations of misogyny.
Now
Mrs Trump is suing the Daily Mail and a US blogger for $150m (£114m),
her lawyer says, over articles she claims infer that she was a sex
worker in the 1990s. Both the blogger and the Daily Mail have retracted
their articles.
Mrs Trump has used her social media accounts to
hit back and her treatment has been compared by some commentators to
"slut-shaming" - the practice of attacking women over certain ways of
dressing or acting.
From Slovenia to New York
Mrs
Trump was born Melanija Knavs in Sevnica, a small town about an hour's
drive from Slovenia's capital Ljubljana, to a relatively well-off
family. Her father Viktor worked for the mayor of nearby Hrastnik before
becoming a successful car salesman. Her mother, Amalija, designed
prints for a fashion brand.
Melania studied design and
architecture in Ljubljana. It was claimed on her professional website
that she held a degree, but later emerged that she dropped out during
her first year. The website has now been scrubbed entirely and redirects
to Mr Trump's business site.
At 18, she signed with a modelling
agency in Milan and began flying around Europe and the US, appearing in
high-profile ad campaigns. It was at a party at New York Fashion week
that she met Mr Trump.
Like her husband, she never drinks,
according to reports, and shies away from late-night parties. She has
her own branded jewellery business and is reportedly involved in the
design process.
The pair married in 2005 and had a son, Barron, in
2011. Her parents spend a significant amount of time in New York,
helping care for Barron, though they do not speak English, according to
reports.
Mrs Trump has apparently squared her background with her
husband's attacks on immigration - declaring that she did everything by
the book.
"It never crossed my mind to stay here without papers,"
she told Harpers Bazaar. "You follow the rules. You follow the law.
Every few months you need to fly back to Europe and stamp your visa."
'Policies are my husband's job'
Mrs
Trump has largely steered clear of the political fray, confining her
appearances to standing by her husband's side. "I chose not to go into
politics and policy," she said in an interview with GQ. "Those policies are my husband's job."
Her
one big moment of the campaign came when she took centre stage on the
first day of the Republican National Convention in July for the
traditional spousal speech, and it did not go well.
Commentators
quickly noticed remarkable similarities with Michelle Obama's convention
speech in 2008, and the ensuing plagiarism scandal overshadowed what
she had to say.
Mrs Trump's lawsuit against the Daily Mail has put
her in the spotlight once again, but she remains something of an
unknown quantity compared with her predecessors. She does advise her
husband, she told GQ, but she remains tight-lipped about it what she
says.
"Nobody knows and nobody will ever know," she said. "Because that's between me and my husband."
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