She previously held the role from to She is the first naturalized citizen to become first lady, the second foreign-born first lady after Louisa Adams wife of John Quincy Adams , second Catholic first lady after Jacqueline Kennedy wife of John F.
Kennedy , and the second first lady to serve two non-consecutive terms after Frances Cleveland wife of Grover Cleveland. Melanija Knavs was born in SR Slovenia βthen part of Yugoslavia βwhere she began working as a fashion model at the age of 16 [ 6 ].
She changed the spelling of her name to Melania Knauss , and she traveled to Paris and Milan to seek modeling work before meeting Paolo Zampolli , who hired her and sponsored her immigration to the United States in She continued working as a model in Manhattan, where Zampolli introduced her to the real estate developer Donald Trump in Melania and Donald began dating shortly afterward. He worked to get her more modeling jobs, and she supported him during his presidential campaign.
Melania and Donald Trump married in , and they had a son, Barron Trump, the following year. She dedicated most of her time to Barron during his infancy, spending less time working or accompanying her husband at events.
She started her own jewelry brand, Melania, in After encouraging Donald to run for president in the presidential election , Melania only made rare campaign appearances, opting to help Donald strategize over the phone. She received major press coverage during the campaign when erotic photos from her modeling years were uncovered and published, and again when a speech she gave at the Republican National Convention was found to be plagiarized from a similar speech by Michelle Obama.
