Born Melanija Knavs
April 26, 1970 (1970-04-26) (age 40)
Sevnica, Slovenia
Nationality Slovene
Spouse(s) Donald J. Trump (2005-present)
Children Barron Trump
Website
Melania Trump Official Website
Knauss was born the daughter of Slovene parents in Sevnica, Slovenia (then part of Yugoslavia) in 1970. After obtaining a degree in design and architecture at University in Ljubljana, Knauss-Trump started working as a model both in Milan and Paris. After settling in New York in 1996, she was on the cover of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Ocean Drive, In Style, New York Magazine, Avenue, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, Allure, Vanity Fair, Self, Glamour and Elle. Her notoriety was raised a few notches after appearing on the Howard Stern show with Trump. This led to a layout in British GQ magazine, including the cover shot in January 2000. As Knauss' relationship with Trump grew she continued to model, but also became involved with the social set of New York. Their relationship received increasing publicity after the launch of Trump's successful business-oriented reality television show, The Apprentice.
Trump and Knauss became engaged in 2004, and married on 22 January 2005 at The Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida, followed by a reception at Trump's Mar-A-Lago estate. Their wedding ceremony was widely covered by the media, with the fact that Knauss wore a $200,000 dress made by the house of Christian Dior frequently noted. The cake at the reception was a 50-pound orange Grand Marnier cake with a Grand Marnier buttercream filling, covered with 3,000 roses, constructed by the chef at Mar-A-Lago.
Recently, Knauss has appeared in a comic TV advertisement for Aflac insurance, in which she and the Aflac mascot, a duck, voiced by comedian Gilbert Gottfried, exchange personalities via a Frankenstein-like mad experiment. In February 2010, Knauss-Trump announced the launch of jewelry collection with QVC. She has appeared as a guest host on The View.
On 27 September 2005, the Trumps announced that Melania was pregnant with Donald Trump's fifth child. On 20 March 2006 Knauss-Trump gave birth to a boy, whom the couple named Barron William Trump. Donald Trump made the announcement via phone on the Imus in the Morning show about 20 minutes after birth, stating that "everyone's perfect."
Trump's fifth child, Barron William Trump, was also featured on The Apprentice's seventh season.
