US First Lady Melania Trump was born as Melanija Knavs on the 26th April 1970, in Novo Mesto, Slovenia – then Yugoslavia – and is a former model, but now undoubtedly best known as the wife of American President and businessman Donald Trump. Melania’s modelling career began in the mid-1980s.
Have you ever wondered how rich Melania Trump is, as of early 2017? According to authoritative sources, it has been estimated that Melania’s net worth is as high as $60 million, earned through her successful career as a model, in addition to which a significant amount of her wealth has come through her husband’s businesses.
Melania Trump Net Worth $60 Million
Melania Trump was a daughter of Viktor Knavs, who worked for a state-owned vehicle manufacturer, and was a member of the Slovenian Communist Party, and Amalija, who worked as a patternmaker at a children’s clothing manufacturer. Melania has a sister, Ines, and an older half-brother whom she never met. Trump grew up in a modest flat in Sevnica, but later moved to Ljubljana where she went to the Secondary School of Design and Photography, and later studied at the University of Ljubljana before dropping out after a year.
Trump started her modelling career in 1986 posing for Stane Jerko, a Slovenian fashion photographer, and two years later she signed a professional contract with a modelling agency from Milan, Italy. She subsequently worked with numerous fashion houses in Paris, and in 1992 she was a runner-up in the Jana Magazine “Look of the Year” contest. Trump obtained a US H-1B visa in 1996, and began working in New York City, including appearing on the covers of such magazines as Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair, In Style Weddings, New York Magazine, Vogue, Avenue, Allure, and GQ. In 2000, Melania featured as a bikini model in the prestigious 2000 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She later worked with Irene Marie Management Group and Donald Trump‘s Trump Model Management, as well as making a commercial for Aflac insurance in the 2000’s.
Regarding her personal life, Melania Trump’s career took a back seat when she married Donald Trump in 2005, and had a son with him named Barron, born in 2006. She first met Donald in 1998 at a Fashion Week party in New York City, and soon after they started dating, although he was still married. In 2004, they became engaged, and in January 2005 they married at The Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida, with guests including Heidi Klum, P. Diddy, Shaquille O’Neal, Kelly Ripa, then-Senator Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton. Melania wore the $200,000 dress made by John Galliano of the house of Christian Dior. She had received a green card and became a permanent US resident in 2001, and obtained US citizenship in 2006. She is known to speak at least five languages being, apart from the obvious, French and German.
The Apprentice (2004), Miss USA (2003), One Nation Under Trump (2016)
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[on the media bias against Donald Trump] When did we hear or read any great stories about my husband - or about me? The true stuff. The facts. The real stuff. We never read the New York Times. They are bashing, bashing, bashing. [Oct.2016]
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[defending her husband's attacks on the Clintons] They're asking for it. They started. They started from the beginning of the campaign, putting my pictures from the modeling days [into the newspapers]. That were my modeling days and I'm proud of what I did. I worked very hard. [Oct.2016]
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[about the attacks on her husband] The opposition doesn't want to talk about WikiLeaks and the Emails and Benghazi and all the rest of the stuff - they don't want to talk about it. So, they said: 'Let's do something to hurt his campaign'. [Oct.2016]
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Don't feel sorry for me. I can handle everything. [Oct.2016]
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My husband is real. He's raw. He tells it like it is. [Oct.2016]
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[on the accusations against her husband] I believe my husband. This was all organized by the opposition. Did they ever check the background of these women ? They don't have any facts. (...) That never happened. [Oct.2016]
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Fact
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Changed her surname Knavs to Knauss before Trump.
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Obtained her U.S. citizenship in 2006.
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Second foreign-born First Lady after Louisa Adams, the British-born wife of 6th US President John Quincy Adams.
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In the mid 1990s, before becoming Mrs. Trump, she roomed with Swede Victoria Silvstedt in Paris when both were struggling models.
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On July 29, 2016, USA Today reported that Melania Trump's personal website was taken offline. Previously, Melania's bio-statement stated there that she received a "degree in design and architecture at University in Slovenia." However, a biographer questioned the veracity of that claim by suggesting that Melania never completed her studies. At www.archive.org, the WayBack Machine has preserved a 2012 snapshot of Melania's website, where she printed the now-disputed statement.
$60 Million 
