Melania Trump: From Yugoslavia to the White House

Melania Trump, the third wife of Donald Trump, who unlike other members of the President-elect's family had little presence in his political campaign, will soon become the 'First Lady' of the United States and is likely to celebrate her 47th birthday next spring somewhere in the White House. Melania is the second 'First Lady' in U.S. history to be born outside the country. Louisa Adams, wife of the sixth U.S. President, John Quincy Adams, was English, and Melania is from former Yugoslavia. Her father's surname was 'Knauss.' Melania was born in Novo Mesto, which in Persian is similar to 'Nooshahr,' now located in southwestern Slovenia. She grew up in a not-so-large apartment in one of the complexes built during the communist era in Eastern and Central Europe. Her family later moved to a house in 'Sonica,' and finally, when she entered high school, she settled in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Melania Knauss, at seven years old, is among those who were born and raised in former Yugoslavia and speak several different languages. The citizens of Yugoslavia were made up of people from various ethnicities, religions, and languages. However, Melania Trump is likely several steps ahead of all of them, and probably most people in the world. In addition to Serbo-Croatian, which is a South Slavic language, she speaks English, French, Italian, and German, plus her native language, Slovenian. At 18, Melania signed a work contract with a modeling agency in Milan, although her modeling career began two years earlier. Her beauty became famous at a young age. In the early 1990s, she was one of the models from around the world who won the title of 'Face of the Year' in the Elite Model Look competition. In September 2003, she went to Milan and Paris with Donald and immigrated to the U.S. in 1996, settling in New York. Soon after, billionaire Donald Trump began dating Melania. This relationship culminated in Trump’s third marriage in 2005. Ten years before Trump entered the race to lead the strongest military and the largest economy in the world, Hillary and Bill Clinton were guests at Donald and Melania's wedding. The fashion and clothing journal 'GQ' reported that the sewing of the wedding dress took 550 hours and cost $100,000. A year later, Melania gave birth to Barron, Trump's teenage son, who is seen in a picture from Trump’s victory night with his mother and father. During the presidential election campaign, Melania did not engage much - unlike Ivanka, Trump's daughter from his first wife. Nonetheless, her speech on Trump’s victory in the intra-party competitions, part of which was taken from Michelle Obama's speech, was one of her few activities. She later gave several interviews and speeches; criticized hate speech and harsh language on the internet, and when the controversial tape of her husband and his remarks about women in 2005 was released, she firmly defended him. Trump himself has said that he has changed since that year and is now a different person. Melania, the wife of one of the most controversial presidential candidates in U.S. history, says she often gives her husband political advice. Trump himself, during his campaign, said that Melania and his daughter Ivanka have often told him to 'act like a president.' This refers to Trump's controversial statements that are described as unprecedented in contemporary American political history. Melania is also considered a supporter of strict policies against immigrants. In an interview with MSNBC, she stated that laws must be respected: 'I myself, if I did not have legal documents (residency), would never stay here (in America).' In Melania's view, her husband's statements against illegal immigration do not target 'Mexicans' but rather refer to 'illegal immigrants.' Melania, the wife of one of the most controversial presidential candidates in U.S. history, also does not have an easy path ahead. Her husband, like his electoral rival Hillary Clinton (if she had won), will lead a divided country. The Washington Post and ABC News reported last summer that their polls show she has the least popularity since Hillary, the First Lady during Bill Clinton's presidency, as the wife of a presidential candidate in America. All of this may change starting next January... although it is hard to predict the direction of that change from now. In an interview with CBS, she said she sometimes tells her husband he has 'crossed the line': 'I tell him. I think he hears my voice. But in the end, he does whatever he wants. After all, he is an adult. He knows the consequences of his actions. I express my opinion to him. And he can do whatever he wants.'