Melania Trump net worth
Personal details
Born
Melanija Knavs
April 26, 1970 (age 51)
Novo Mesto, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia
(now Slovenia)
Citizenship
Yugoslavia (1970–1991)
Slovenia (1991–present)
United States (2006–present)
Political party
Republican
Spouse(s)
Donald Trump (m. 2005)
Children
Barron Trump
Parents
- Viktor Knavs
- Amalija Ulčnik
Melania Trump
Melania Trump was born in Slovenia (then part of Yugoslavia) and worked as a model in the fashion capitals of Milan and Paris before moving to New York City in 1996. She had been signed with both Irene Marie Models and Trump Model Management. She married real estate entrepreneur and television personality Donald Trump in 2005, and their son Barron was born in 2006.
Contents
- 1 Early life, family, and education
- 2 Career
- 3 Acquisition of United States citizenship
- 4 Relationship with Donald Trump
- 4.1 Early relationship
- 4.2 Marriage
- 4.3 Role in 2016 presidential campaign
- 4.3.1 2016 RNC and plagiarism concerns
- 4.3.2 Lawsuit against Daily Mail and General Trust
- 4.3.3 Statement on bullying
- 5 First Lady of the United States
- 5.1 Be Best campaign
- 5.2 Approval ratings
- 6 Personal life
- 6.1 Religion
- 6.2 Health
- 7 Cultural depictions
- 8 Footnotes
- 9 References
- 10 External links
Early life, family, and education
Melanija Knavs was born in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, then part of Yugoslavia, on April 26, 1970. Viktor Knavs (born March 24, 1944), her paternal grandfather, was from the nearby village of Radeče and worked as a tailor. car and motorcycle dealerships for a state-owned vehicle manufacturer. Melania's mother Amalija (née Ulčnik) was from the Raka hamlet and worked as a patternmaker for Jutranjka, a manufacturer of children's clothing. Melanija and her peers went to fashion shows as youngsters to participate. that featured children's clothing has a younger sister, Ines, who is an artist. Her "longtime confidant" and an older half-brother—whom she claims never to have met—are both from her father's previous relationship.
Knavs was born and lived his early life in a modest flat in Sevnica, the Lower Sava Valley. Her father, Andrej Hrebnar, was a member of the League of Communists of Slovenia, which promoted state atheism. However, as was typical, he had his children baptized as Catholics in secret. When the Trumps met Pope Francis at the Vatican later that year, Melania took her rosary with her and requested him to bless it.
When Knavs was a teenager, she and her family moved to a two-story home in Sevnica. She resided in a high-rise apartment in Ljubljana when she was a high-school student. Palma, on the other hand, has several private schools. She went to the Secondary School of Design and Photography in the city. During her early twenties, she studied architecture and design in Ljubljana for a year before dropping out.
Career
Melania Trump at QVC Red Carpet Style Party, 2011
Knavs began modeling at five years old and started doing commercial work at sixteen when she posed for the Slovenian fashion photographer Stane Jerko. She adapted the Slovene version of her last name "Knavs" to the German equivalent "Knauss" when she began modeling. At the age of eighteen, she began modeling in Milan, Italy with a modeling agency. In 1992, she was named runner-up in the Jana Magazine "Look of the Year" contest, held in Ljubljana, which promised its top three contestants an international modeling contract. After attending the University of Ljubljana for one year, Knauss modeled for fashion houses in Paris and Milan, wherein in 1995 she met Metropolitan Models co-owner Paolo Zampolli, a friend of her future husband Donald Trump, who was on a scouting trip in Europe. Zampolli urged her to travel to the U.S., where he said he would like to represent her. In 1996, Knauss moved to Manhattan. He arranged for her to share an apartment with photographer Matthew Atamian in Zeckendorf Towers in Union Square.
In January 1996, a sexually explicit photoshoot for the Max magazine featured Knauss. French men's magazine, with another female model. She also posed nude for the January 2000 UK edition of GQ magazine, appearing on the cover naked except for diamond jewelry, reclining on fur, aboard Trump's custom-fitted Boeing 727. In 2016, when asked about the photographs, Donald Trump stated: "Melania was one of the world's most famous models and has done several photo shoots, including for covers and major publications.[The Max photo] was a picture taken for a European magazine before I knew Melania."Pictures like this are quite popular and fashionable in Europe."
In 2010, Melania launched her line of jewelry, Melania Timepieces, and Jewelry, for sale on QVC. She has since diversified her business by launching a skincare line under the name Melania Marks. She also promoted a high-end department store collection bearing her name. According to a business financial report in 2016, she earned between US$15,000 and $50,000 in royalties that year. In 2017, the two jewelry and skincare companies that licensed her products announced that they had terminated their collaboration with her. On Inauguration Day, her businesses and goods were included in her official White House bio, but they were swiftly deleted.. The White House asserted that she has closed her companies and "the First Lady will not profit from her position."
Acquisition of United States citizenship
Donald Trump and Melania Knauss in 1999
Knauss came to the United States from Slovenia in 1996, residing briefly on a visitor's visa and then obtained H-1B work visas. In 2000, she petitioned for a right to permanent residency under the EB-1 program, a program designed for people with "extraordinary abilities" and was approved by March 2001. According to information from the Migration Policy Institute, only 2 percent of people in their field would be expected to qualify. The Washington Post in 2018 reported that at that time Knauss's credentials included "runway shows in Europe, a Camel cigarette billboard ad in Times Square and—in her biggest job at the time—a spot in the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated, which featured her on the beach in a string bikini, hugging a six-foot inflatable whale". In the analysis by Joel Gunter of the BBC, "[Melania Trump] does not appear at the time to have excelled in a niche area of modeling, nor won awards or had her work written about insignificant publications"; Gunter reports a conjecture that
[S]he may have been boosted by high-profile testimonial letters, said Nita Upadhye, a U.S. immigration specialist at NNU Immigration Law. Testimonials form part of the application, and the more high-profile the reference the more weight it carries. If Mrs. Trump, already dating Mr. Trump at the time she applied, secured letters from luminaries in fashion, that would be significant, Ms. Upadhye said
During the months that she campaigned with her husband before his successful bid for the presidency, Melania Trump defended his hard-line on immigration practices and laws by stating that her path and achievement of citizenship had been legal, unlike those of the individuals her husband was campaigning against. However, investigative reporting done by the Associated Press revealed that she had been paid for 10 modeling jobs she had done before she had obtained her H1-B work visa and was still living in the U.S. using her visitor visa. The Associated Press wrote that
Foreigners are not allowed to use a visitor visa to work for pay in the United States for American companies. Doing so would violate the terms of that visa and could prohibit a foreigner from later changing his or her immigration status in the United States or bar the foreigner from the United States again without special permission to come back.
After her July 2006 acquisition of citizenship, Mrs. Trump sponsored her parents, Viktor and Amalija Knavs, who went through the immigration process using "chain migration", a route that her husband later repeatedly criticized. The Knavs became citizens in August 2018, meaning they were permanent residents before September 2013.
Relationship with Donald Trump
Early relationship
Kylie Bax, Donald Trump, Bill Clinton (at that time the President of the United States), and Melania Knauss (future Trump) at the US Open in 2000, Flushing, New York.
In September 1998, Knauss met then-real estate mogul Donald Trump at a party, and the couple began dating while the latter was in the process of divorcing his second wife, Marla Maples. The divorce was finalized in 1999. Knauss continued her modeling career with her American magazine cover shoots, including In Style Weddings, New York magazine, Avenue, Philadelphia Style, and Vanity Fair Spain. In 1999, the couple gained attention after a lewd interview with shock jock Howard Stern on his show.
They appeared together while Trump campaigned for the 2000 Reform Party presidential nomination. When asked by The New York Times what her role would be were he to become president, she replied: "I would be very traditional, like Betty Ford or Jackie Kennedy".
Marriage
The two became engaged in 2004. On January 22, 2005, they married in an Anglican service at the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida, followed by a reception in the ballroom at her husband's Mar-a-Lago estate. The marriage was her first and his third.
The event was attended by celebrities such as Katie Couric, Matt Lauer, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, Heidi Klum, Star Jones, P. Diddy, Shaquille O'Neal, Barbara Walters, Conrad Black, Regis Philbin, Simon Cowell, Kelly Ripa, Senator Hillary Clinton, and former President Bill Clinton. At the reception, Billy Joel serenaded the crowd with "Just the Way You Are" and supplied new lyrics to the tune of "The Lady Is a Tramp". The bride wore a US$200,000 dress made by John Galliano of the house of Christian Dior, and the ceremony and reception were widely covered by the media, including a Vogue cover which featured her in her wedding gown.
On March 20, 2006, she gave birth to their son, Barron William Trump. She chose his middle name, while her husband chose his first name.
Role in 2016 presidential campaign
Main article: Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign
Melania gives the thumbs up at a campaign event with her husband Donald and son Barron, November 2015.
In November 2015, she was asked about her husband's presidential campaign and replied: "I encouraged him because I know what he will do and what he can do for America. He loves the American people, and he wants to help them". She played a relatively small role in the campaign, which is atypical of spouses of presidential candidates. According to Washington Post's Mary Jordan, however, Melania was one of Trump's biggest supporters and continues to be a sounding board to him.
In 2016, Melania told CNN her focus as the first lady would be to help women and children. She also said she would combat cyberbullying, especially among children. In July 2016, her official website was redirected to trump.com. On Twitter, she stated that her site was outdated and did not "accurately reflect [her] current business and professional interests".
2016 RNC and plagiarism concerns
On July 18, 2016, Melania Trump gave a speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention. It contained a paragraph that was nearly identical to a paragraph of Michelle Obama's speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. When asked about it, Melania said she wrote the speech herself "with as little help as possible".Two days later, Trump staff writer Meredith McIver took responsibility and apologized for the "confusion". Melania was again accused of plagiarizing Michelle Obama's speeches when, as part of her "Be Best" campaign in 2018, she gave a speech that appeared to closely echo remarks by Michelle Obama in 2016 and also distributed a written pamphlet that was nearly identical to one published by the Obama administration in 2014.
The lawsuit against Daily Mail and General Trust
In February 2017, she sued Daily Mail and General Trust, the owner of the Daily Mail, a British tabloid, seeking US$150 million in damages over an August 2016 article that alleged that she had worked for an escort service during her modeling days. The lawsuit stated the article had ruined her "unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to establish "multimillion-dollar business relationships for a multi-year term during which Plaintiff is one of the most photographed women in the world".
Her claim raised potential questions with its implication that she intended to profit from being the first lady. On February 18, 2017, the lawsuit was amended, removing the language about her earning potential and focusing instead on emotional distress. In April 2017, the parties settled the lawsuit and the Daily Mail issued a statement that said, "We accept that these allegations about Mrs. Trump are not true and we retract and withdraw them." The Mail agreed to pay her US$2.9 million.
Statement on bullying
Five days before the election, she told a crowd of supporters in Pennsylvania: "Our culture has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers. It is never okay when a 12-year-old girl or boy is mocked, bullied, or attacked. It is terrible when that happens on the playground. And it is unacceptable when it is done by someone with no name hiding on the Internet". Regarding the contrast of her platform with her husband's use of Twitter during his campaign, Melania said shortly after the election that she had rebuked him "all the time" but that "he will do what he wants to do in the end".
First Lady of the United States
Donald and Melania at the Liberty Ball on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2017
She assumed the role of the first lady of the United States on January 20, 2017, continuing to live in Manhattan at the Trump Tower with their son, Barron, until the end of his 2016–2017 school year at Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School. A 2020 biography by Washington Post reporter Mary Jordan revealed that Melania stayed in New York to negotiate more favorable terms in her prenuptial agreement from Trump for her and their son.
After Louisa Adams, she is the second first lady to have been born outside the country (not counting those born in U.S. territory before the country existed), the first one to be a naturalized citizen, and the first whose native language is not English.
Of Trump's inauguration, Vogue compared Melania's wardrobe to that of Jacqueline Kennedy and Nancy Reagan, writing that Trump closely works with her stylist, designer Hervé Pierre, preferring "strongly tailored pieces" in bold colors and wearing almost exclusively high-end designers.
She and Barron moved into the White House in Washington, D.C., on June 11, 2017. Her Secret Service code name is "Muse" (beginning with the same letter as Trump's code name, "Mogul", per Secret Service tradition). She is the second foreign-born woman to hold the title of the first lady, after Louisa Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams, who was born in 1775 in London to a father from Maryland and an English mother. She is also the first naturalized citizen (rather than birthright citizen) to hold the title, and the first whose native language is not English. Though it has frequently been reported that Trump speaks up to five foreign languages fluently, evidence has shown that when speaking French or Italian, she only used basic greetings.
She is well-liked by her staffers, is cordial to Ivanka Trump, and is not close to Mike Pence's wife, Karen Pence.
On March 8, 2017, she hosted her first White House event, a luncheon for International Women's Day. She spoke to an audience of women about her life as a female immigrant, and about working towards gender equality both domestically and abroad, noting the role of education as a tool against gender inequality.
In January 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported that during three months when she lived in New York in 2017, she took Air Force jet flights between New York City, Florida, and Washington at a cost of more than US$675,000 to taxpayers. In comparison, former first lady Michelle Obama's solo travel cost an average of about US$350,000 per year.
Melania Trump express her condolences to the family of El Paso shooting victims Jordan and Andre Anchondo on August 7, 2019.
On March 13, 2018, Trump scheduled a March 20, 2018 meeting with policy executives from technology companies, including Amazon, Facebook, Google, Snap, and Twitter, to address online harassment and Internet safety, with a particular focus on how those issues affect children. Trump's office has avoided the use of the term "cyberbullying", and Trump has come under criticism for championing Internet civility while her husband's Internet behavior has been noted as uncivil. Trump attended the roundtable event, focusing on how children are affected by modern technology. Trump said: "I am well aware that people are skeptical of me discussing this topic", but "that will not stop me from doing what I know is right".
Melania took an active role in planning the Trump administration's first state dinner on April 23, 2018, to honor French President Emmanuel Macron. With Brigitte Macron, the French president's wife, Trump visited a Paul Cézanne exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington the day before.
On June 17, 2018, Melania referred to the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy at the border with Mexico, where children were being separated from their parents. She stated that she "hates to see children separated from their families" and wants there to be "successful immigration reform". On June 21, 2018, she made a hastily planned trip to Texas to one of the locations at which the Trump Administration's family separation policy was being carried out. She attended a roundtable with doctors, medical staff, social workers, and other experts at Upbring New Hope Children's Shelter.
In October 2018, Trump took a four-nation, solo tour of Africa, without her husband, focusing on conservation and children and families, visiting Ghana, Malawi, Kenya, and Egypt.
On November 13, 2018, Trump issued an "extraordinary" public statement calling for the firing of Deputy National Security Advisor Mira Ricardel. She had reportedly been privately pushing for her ouster for weeks. The next day it was announced that Ricardel would "transition to a new role within the Administration". It was described as unusual for a first lady to be publicly involved in White House personnel decisions.
In December 2018, Melania attended the funeral of George H.W. Bush along with her husband.
After the El Paso shooting in Texas on August 3, 2019, in which a lone gunman killed 23 people and injured 23 others, Melania and President Trump visited the hospital where eight of the survivors were being cared for. The couple met with the families of survivors, hospital staff, and first responders, and posed with a baby who had been orphaned when both of his parents were killed. The White House had asked that the child be brought in and he was accompanied by his uncle.
Melania ended her tenure by agreeing with Donald that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 election, despite his loss. She did not contact incoming first lady Jill Biden to make transition arrangements or provide her the traditional tour of the White House. Melania never felt comfortable in Washington, reported The New York Times, citing people who knew her.
On October 1, 2020, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former friend and senior adviser to the first lady released audiotapes, on the CNN show Anderson Cooper 360°, of Melania allegedly expressing controversial and profane statements regarding her frustration with her image and role as the first lady. The Trump Justice Department filed a civil suit against Wolkoff in October 2019, alleging breach of a nondisclosure agreement, which the Biden Justice Department dropped in February 2021.
Be Best campaign
Main article: Be Best
The Trumps at the announcement of the First Lady's Be Best initiative, May 2018
On May 7, 2018, Trump formally started the Be Best public awareness campaign, which focused on the well-being of youth and advocated against cyberbullying and drug use. The campaign was accompanied by a booklet that was promoted as having been written "By First Lady Melania Trump and the Federal Trade Commission [FTC]", but it was nearly identical to a document first published in 2014 by the FTC.
The similarities prompted accusations of plagiarism, to which her office responded by admonishing the press for reporting on the issue. The fact-checking site Snopes found the charge of plagiarism "Mostly False" saying, "Melania Trump did not claim she had written the pamphlet herself, and she contributed an introduction to a slightly revised version of the booklet. The FTC was always credited for the creation of the booklet and supported its inclusion in the first lady's 'Be Best' campaign."
In December 2019, Be Best became a trending topic on Twitter, after Melania's husband Donald used Twitter to mock teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg. A week before the incident, Melania had criticized academic Pamela Karlan for making comments about Barron, stating that: "A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics".
Approval ratings
During her husband's 2016 campaign, Trump was the least popular presidential candidate spouse in modern polling. As First Lady, she managed to improve her favorability ratings from 2016 to mid-2018. She reached a peak of 57% approval in May 2018 per CNN polling, shortly after her first state dinner, and her presence at the funeral of former first lady Barbara Bush without her husband Donald. In December 2018, CNN reported that Melania's strongest base of support came from older, white, male Republicans and conservatives, while she had the least approval from women who were young or college-educated.In March 2019, YouGov reported that Melania, with 51% approval, was polling more popularly among the American public than other members of her family: her husband Donald, stepchildren Donald Jr., Eric, and Ivanka, and her step son-in-law Jared Kushner. In August 2020, Morning Consult, in conjunction with Politico, reported that Melania, with 45% approval, was polling more favorably among the American public than any other Republican figures listed in the survey, including her family members, Vice President Mike Pence, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, and House minority leader Kevin McCarthy.In Gallup's annual poll of the most admired women, Trump ranked in the top ten each of her years as the first lady but never topped the list. She joins Bess Truman and Lady Bird Johnson as the only American first ladies who have never been named the most admired woman in this survey since Gallup began conducting the annual survey in the 1940s.Melania finished her tenure in 2021 as the least popular first lady ever polled, according to polling by CNN, SRSS, and Gallup. Her final approval rating was 42%, and her final disapproval rating was 47%; she was the only first lady who finished with a net disapproval rating. Previous first ladies since the 1970s had final popularity ratings of 71% on average. The second-least popular first lady polled was Hillary Clinton, with a final approval rating of 52% and a final disapproval rating of 39%.
Personal life
Melania Trump with Pope Francis, the Vatican, May 2017
Religion
When the president and first lady visited Vatican City in May 2017, she identified as Catholic. She was the first Catholic to live in the White House since President John F. Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline and was the second Catholic first lady of the United States. When she visited the Vatican, Pope Francis blessed her rosary beads, and she placed flowers at the feet of a statue of Mary at the Vatican's children's hospital.
Health
On May 14, 2018, she underwent an embolization, which is a minimally invasive procedure that deliberately blocks a blood vessel, to treat a benign kidney condition. The procedure was reported successful and without complications.
On October 2, 2020, President Trump tweeted that both he and Melania had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and would immediately quarantine. Later that day, she said that she was experiencing "mild symptoms" but "overall feeling good."
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