Melania Trump became a household name following her husband Donald Trump's first stint as the President of the United States – and now she is back in The White House after he won the 2024 Presidential election.
Her worldwide recognition is a far cry from her humble beginnings in Slovenia, where she grew up in a village with a population of less than 5,000.
Melania, 54, is the second foreign-born First Lady following Louisa Adams and the second First Lady in history to serve two non-consecutive terms.
Her new abode at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is a far cry from the housing block she grew up in. Discover Melania's journey from model to First Lady below…
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Humble beginnings
Melania was born Melanija Knavs in April 1970 in Yugoslavia, now modern-day Slovenia, and has said in the past that she had a "beautiful childhood".
Her father Viktor Knavs managed car dealerships while her mother Amalija worked as a patternmaker for a children's clothing company. She has a sister, Ines, who is one year older.
The family grew up in a modest apartment in a housing block in Sevnica, a small town in the Lower Sava Valley. She went to primary school in her hometown, where her schoolmates remember her as a studious girl whose favorite lesson was geography.
In 1985, after finishing high school, Melania moved to Ljubljana to study at the Secondary School of Design and Photography. In the Slovak capital, she lived in an apartment her father had bought years before.
She enrolled at the University of Ljubljana but dropped out after one year to pursue her modeling career.
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Model ambition
Melania was introduced to modeling at a young age thanks to her mother's career in the fashion business.
"I was five years old when I did my first catwalk and did commercials at 16," she previously said. "I went professional after my studies. My mom loved fashion. We loved to travel and go to Italy and Paris."
She was spotted by photographer Stane Jerko at a fashion show in Ljubljana when she was 17. Her trial photoshoot with him marked the beginning of her modeling career and she signed to an Italian agency in Milan aged 18.
"I always looked for opportunities and knew how to seize them," she said.
Melania lived in Paris and then New York and graced the covers of GQ, Vanity Fair Italia, American Vogue Bulgaria and more. She also featured as a bikini model in a 2000 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
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The Trump effect
Melania met Donald when she was 28 and he was 52. They met at a party in 1998, but she wasn't blown away by him at first.
"We had a great connection, we had great chemistry, but I was not starstruck," she admitted. "And maybe he noticed that."
Melania made sure to keep the ball in her court and didn't give Donald her number, but she did take his.
"If I give him my number, I'm just one of the women he calls," she later recalled. "I wanted to see what his intention is. It tells you a lot from the man what kind of number he gives you. He gave me all of his numbers."
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Mr & Mrs Trump
After dating for seven years, Donald and Melania married on 20 January 2005, at Bethesda-By-the-Sea Church in Palm Beach, Florida, in an extravagant affair that reportedly cost $2.5 million.
Speaking about her "fantastic" wedding day, where she wore a $100,000 custom-designed, strapless Dior gown that took over 500 hours to create and weighed 60lbs, Melania told Larry King shortly after the nuptials: "We had a great time."
Guests were serenaded by the Michael Rose Orchestra, dined on caviar and tenderloin, and sipped Cristal before taking home miniature versions of the extravagant chocolate wedding cake, which cost a reported $50,000.
Melania gave birth to her and Donald's only child, Barron, in March 2006. She is also stepmother to his four children – Donald Junior, Ivanka, Eric and Tiffany.
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First Lady
Before Melania's first term as First Lady between 2017 and 2021, she admitted she wanted to "be very traditional like Betty Ford or Jackie Kennedy".
She also revealed that she isn't afraid to disagree with her husband. "I give him my opinions, many, many times. I don't agree with everything he says, but, you know, that is normal," she said in the past.
"I'm my own person; I tell him what I think. And I think that's very important in a relationship."
This time around, Melania's "first priority" is being a good mother to their son Barron.
"My first priority is, you know, to be a mom, to be a first lady, to be a wife. And once we are in on January 20, you serve the country," she said on Fox & Friends ahead of her husband's inauguration.
Though Melania will make The White House her main residence for the next four years, she revealed she will be splitting her time between Washington D.C., New York City, and Palm Beach, due to her various responsibilities.
She explained: "I will be in the White House. And when I need to be in New York, I will be in New York. When I need to be in Palm Beach, I will be in Palm Beach."
5 surprising Donald Trump facts
1. Pet hates
He is one of only three US presidents never to have had any presidential pets. When he assumed office in 2016, he was the first in 100 years not to have pets in the White House, with only James K. Polk and Andrew Johnson abstaining before then.
2. Man of convictions
He is the first ever convicted felon to become president of the United States after being sentenced on 34 different charges pertaining to his hush money case in New York City in 2024.
3. Till divorce do us part
He has been married three times: to Ivana Trump from 1977 to 1990, Marla Maples from 1993 to 1999, and current wife Melania Trump in 2005.
4. Lights, cameos, action
He has made a slew of cameos on popular TV shows and movies, such as Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Sex and the City, Two Weeks Notice, Zoolander, and The Nanny, among others.
5. Alcohol free
He claims never to have drunk alcohol in his life, inspired by older brother Fred “Freddy” Trump Jr who was an alcoholic and died in 1981 aged 42 from a heart attack linked to years of alcohol abuse.