Melanija Knavs (April 26, 1970) is a Slovenian-American former model and businesswoman who served as the first lady of the United States from 2017 to 2021, as the wife of President Donald Trump.
Melania was born in Novo Mesto, Yugoslavia, to Viktor Knavs and Amalija Ulčnik. She has an older sister, Ines, who is an artist and her "longtime confidant", and an older half-brother—whom she reportedly has never met—from her father's previous relationship. She grew up in Slovenia (then part of Yugoslavia), and worked as a fashion model through agencies in the European fashion capitals of Milan and Paris, before moving to New York City in 1996. When she began working as a model, she adapted the Slovene version of her last name "Knavs" to the German version "Knauss". She was represented by Irene Marie Models and Trump Model Management.
In September 1998, Melania 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 two became engaged in 2004, and got married in 2005. On March 20, 2006, she gave birth to their son, Barron William Trump. Later that year, she became an American naturalized citizen. Melania is the second naturalized woman, after Louisa Adams, and the first non-native English speaker to become First Lady. She assumed the role of first lady of the United States on January 20, 2017, continuing to live in Manhattan at the Trump Tower with their son, until the end of his 2016–2017 school year at Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School. She and Barron moved into the White House in Washington, D.C., on June 11, 2017. As First Lady, Melania 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
Since the end of her husband's presidency, Melania has resorted to a more private life, according to those close to her.