A new statue of US First Lady Melania Trump has been put up in Sevnica, Slovenia, over the weekend, and it's had very mixed reactions! The statue was created by US artist Brad Downey, who hired a local chainsaw artist, Alec Zupevc, to carve the design out of a tree trunk, and it features the same coat that Melania wore at her husband's presidential inauguration. The sculpture has divided the locals, with some branding it "ridiculous" while others believe it's good for further marketing the village. "Why not, Sevnica is famous around the world," one said, while another argued: "This is ridiculous, they just did it for money."
Melania Trump has had a brand new statue made in her honour
Sevnica has already been well known with people around the world since Donald was elected as the US president in 2016. Melania used to live in the village, and tourists often travel to the area to get an insight into her early years. Residents have sold merchandise inspired by the First Lady, with products ranging from cake to slippers.
The new Melania Trump statue has got everyone talking
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Melania married Donald in 2005, and is the second first lady after Louise Adams to be born outside of the USA. She is also the first one to be a naturalised citizen of the country. The 49-year-old is the mother to Donald's youngest child, son Barron, and while she prefers for him to be kept out of the public eye, the teenager has made several public appearances, most recently during the 2016 elections. However, these were kept to a minimum because Melania wanted to keep him out of the spotlight. He made three in total, including at Donald's RNC acceptance speech and presidential victory speech.
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Melania has previously spoken about motherhood, saying it is the "most important and joyous role" she has ever had. The former model gave a speech during a luncheon at the US Mission to the United Nations in September 2017, and said: "The most important and joyous role I ever had is to be a mother to my young son. What could possibly be a more essential focus in everyone's life than that of loving, educating and bringing up our next generation to be happy, productive and morally responsible adults."
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