Melania Trump, from model to US first lady — her rapid rise to the White House
FROM a teenage catwalk queen to marrying one of America’s richest men, this is Melania Trump’s rapid rise to the White House.
World
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ON her application for a Green Card for US citizenship, a young Slovenian immigrant Melania Knauss recorded she was a “model of extraordinary ability”.
Just what that ability was when she made that declaration in 2001 remained unknown but perhaps was realised last night as she stood as the incoming First Lady of the White House.
It has been an extraordinary journey for Melania Trump from when she was a 16-year-old model on the catwalks of Paris and Milan to when she met one of America’s richest men who pursued her with vigour in the late 1990s, two years before he first began campaigning to become the US president.
But despite her rapid rise to the steps of the White House, not enough is known about Melania and certainly not her political views as she was noted for her absence during much of Trump’s long bid to become the most powerful man in the Free World.
She was advised to be at his side when required but often not to speak, allowing instead his son Donald Junior (from Trump’s marriage to Czech-American businesswoman Ivana) and their daughter Ivanka to take centre stage.
Melania and Donald married in January 2005 at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, a year later she gave birth to their son Barron William. It was his welfare she would later say saw her drop from the limelight as she wanted to focus on motherhood and direct all her energies to him.
But that could all be about to change with Trump to become president and Melania a powerful player in his term; just last week she was prompted to speak publicly and angle toward creating her “cause” that all wives chose when their husbands become president.
Melania came to prominence during her husband’s presidential ambitions when interviewed by the US press and she likened her future role to that of Jackie Kennedy. She seemed to drop from the limelight after that but came out again publicly to support Trump’s 2015 campaign and took credit for encouraging him to make another bid as she said she recognised his potential.
She would make headlines again for the wrong reasons when her CV was analysed and her claims to have degrees in architecture and design were found to be false.
When she gave a speech at the Republican National Convention in July this year she was attacked by the media again after whole slabs of her speech were close to or in some instances exactly the same as what Michelle Obama had said eight years earlier.
Initially she said she had written it then a Trump staffer took the wrap and admitted an error was made in the preparation of the address.
Last month she again made a rare public appearance on the campaign trail but this time she showed the public she stood for something as she pledged to combat online bullying if her husband was elected to the White House.
The move was ironic given Trumps famed use of social media to bully detractors in the media and women but none-the-less was positively received. It was a highly personal speech that referenced their young son and her immigrant past and the privilege she felt when given a Green Card to live in the land of the free.
“We need to teach our youth American values: kindness, honesty, respect, compassion, charity, understanding, co-operation,” she said in a moment that helped humanise her husband amid claims of his anti-women attitude.
She concluded: “America was the word for freedom and opportunity. America meant: If you could dream it, you could become it.”
No doubt becoming First Lady was one of her dreams.
Originally published as Melania Trump, from model to US first lady — her rapid rise to the White House
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