At the end of January, a new film about Melania Trump, 55, the first lady and wife of US President Donald Trump, is set to hit theaters. Beyond the certainty that we will be booking VIP seats to savor every moment, the release offered an excuse to take a deep dive into the life of the world’s most intriguing woman.
From her modeling career, through the Vogue cover she always wanted but never got, to her highly unconventional relationship with Donald Trump.
She was born Melania Knauss in Novo Mesto, Slovenia. Her father worked as a car dealer, and her mother was a fashion designer. She began modeling at 16. Two years later, she had already signed with a modeling agency in Milan.
Melania studied design at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia but never completed her degree and never received a diploma. She modeled in Milan and Paris, and in 1992 placed second in Slovenia’s national beauty pageant. She moved to New York in 1996, and two years later met the man who would transform her from an unknown model into the first lady of the United States, Donald Trump.
A trivia note: Melania speaks five languages, English, French, German, Serbian and Slovenian.
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, once Melania’s close friend and a White House aide, was later fired and fell out with the first lady. That rupture led her to publicly disparage Melania, claiming she was “nothing before Trump.” We will return to those accusations shortly.
“Donald asked for my number, but he was on a date with another woman, so of course I didn’t give it to him,” Melania said.
In 1998, Paolo Zampolli, a former modeling agent, hosted a New York Fashion Week party where Melania first met Donald Trump. At the time, Trump was separated from his second wife, Marla Maples, and arrived at the party with another woman. “He asked for my number, but he was on a date with someone else, so of course I didn’t give it to him,” Melania recalled in a 2016 interview with Harper’s Bazaar. “I told him, ‘I’m not giving you my number. You give me yours, and I’ll call you.’ I wanted to see what number he would give me, whether it would be a business number.”
Trump responded by giving her every number he had, his cell phone, his office line and his home number in New York. It took her a few days, but Melania eventually called. “I was amazed by his energy,” she said.
Trump’s divorce was finalized in 1999, and his relationship with Melania began to deepen, until a brief split in 2000. That year, Trump tested the political waters, a move Melania apparently disliked. The couple separated.
“She’s an amazing woman, a wonderful woman,” Trump told The New York Times that year. “I’ll miss her very much.” A month later, in February, Trump dropped out of the race and Melania returned.
Who could refuse a 25-carat emerald-cut diamond?
In 2004, during the Met Gala, Trump got down on one knee and proposed. The ring featured a 25-carat emerald-cut diamond valued at $4 million. “It was a wonderful surprise,” Melania told the New York Post at the time. “We are very happy together.”
“The wedding was a fantastic event. We enjoyed it very much.”
Jewelry expert Maxwell Stone weighed in: “Melania’s engagement ring is nothing short of breathtaking. The diamond perfectly reflects her sophisticated taste and timeless elegance. For comparison, the average engagement ring in the UK weighs just one carat, highlighting how Donald spared no expense.”
Melania’s wedding band was also far from modest. According to reports, it includes 15 emerald-cut diamonds set in platinum, weighs 13 carats and is valued at approximately $250,000.
In January 2005, the couple married in Palm Beach, Florida, followed by celebrations at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. “It was a fantastic event. We enjoyed it very much,” the bride said.
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Melania Trump, Donald Trump and the engagement ring
(Photo: Evan Agostini/Getty Images)
Trump had four children from previous marriages, Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump and Eric with Ivana Zelníčková, and Tiffany with Marla Maples. Melania wanted a family of her own, and in 2006 they welcomed Barron. “We want to start a family. We want a baby together,” Melania said after the wedding. Trump added, “There’s nothing like a good marriage and nothing like children. I have four great kids. If you have money, kids are great. I know Melania. I won’t be changing diapers or cooking. I’ll barely see the kids. She’ll be a fantastic mother. I’ll be a good father, but I’ll be closing deals.”
Six months after the wedding, they learned they were expecting.
'He came home and I told him he was going to be a father,” Melania recalled. “At first, he had to take it in. It was a real surprise, but he was very happy.'
Barron was born in March 2006, once a cute baby and now a sharp, witty young man with a passion for fashion and a dry sense of humor. Melania has fiercely protected his privacy, though “close friends” have shared glimpses. “Barron is shy and reserved, and Melania is a very devoted mother. Her focus is on Barron and her family.”
Nathan Pearce, CEO of Pearce Bespoke, described Barron in an interview with Women’s Wear Daily. “He’s incredibly intelligent. It’s fascinating to talk to him. He’s mature, knowledgeable about history, witty and warm. If you put him in a room full of sharp businesspeople, he’ll hold his own.”
To say Donald and Melania have lived happily ever after would be inaccurate. Financially, they are well off. As of June 2025, Trump’s net worth is estimated at $5.1 billion, while Melania’s stands at $70 million.
As for happiness, Melania has never pretended. Since Trump was elected the 45th president in 2017, she has delivered countless viral moments, fueled by her visible coldness toward him.
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'Too bad she never looks at her husband like that.'
(Photo: Andrew Parsons/ Getty Images)
In August 2019, cameras captured Melania blowing a kiss toward Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trump stood beside her, unaware. Brigitte Macron, nearby, appeared stunned. Social media erupted. “Funny how she never looks at Trump like that,” one user wrote.
Another awkward moment came at Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, when he tried to kiss Melania on the cheek and was thwarted by her wide-brimmed hat. The clip spawned countless memes. “She won’t even let him kiss her,” one user tweeted. Another added, “This will go down in history,” attaching a GIF captioned “Don’t touch me.”
Donald and Melania Trump, the kiss that never happened
That was without revisiting the many occasions she pulled her hand away from his in public.
Melania Trump rebuffs Donald Trump
Returning to Winston Wolkoff, she detailed their fallout in her book, ‘Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship With the First Lady.’ The book followed a scandal over $26 million spent on Trump’s 2017 inauguration. Wolkoff was blamed and fired, though she claimed her company received just $482,000 and that she had no authority over expenditures.
“All lies,” she wrote. “One headline destroyed my life.”
She accused Melania of abandoning her to save herself. “She twisted the line because she didn’t want to cross it. I refused to cooperate with a false story.” Wolkoff dismissed Melania’s image as calculated. “She’s not a mystery. The hand-slapping is all part of the act.”
'Donald created her according to the image he wanted to build for himself. He turned her into a model who attended all the most prestigious events, events that he himself organized.'
On the marriage, she was blunt. “They both knew what they were getting. She wasn’t a successful model before Donald. He created her.” She added that Melania alone speaks to Trump without fear and confronts him directly. On his infidelities, Wolkoff said Melania’s mantra was simple. “Boys will be boys. This is how it is.”
Another biography, ‘The Art of Her Deal,’ detailed Melania’s reaction to Trump’s infamous 2005 Access Hollywood recording. According to the book, Trump feared her response more than public fallout. “You could have destroyed everything,” she reportedly told him.
When Melania was 25, long before the White House, she posed nude for a French men’s magazine. The photos resurfaced during the 2016 campaign, alongside additional nude shoots for GQ. Trump dismissed the images as fashionable. In September 2024, Melania addressed them directly. “I proudly stand behind my nude modeling work,” she wrote. “Why is the media fixated on celebrating my body? Can we no longer appreciate the beauty of the human form?” She added, “We must honor our bodies and embrace art as a powerful means of self-expression.”
Opinions on Donald Trump may be deeply divided. On one thing, there is little debate. Melania Trump is a force. And we unapologetically enjoy figures like her.