Melania Trump: 12 things you should know about the first lady

By Jillian Schenfeld 8:20am PDT, Apr 24, 2017

The world knows a whole lot about President Donald Trump, but not nearly enough about first lady Melania Trump! So in celebration of Melania's 47th birthday on April 26, 2017, Wonderwall.com is filling you in on some key things you should know about the newest FLOTUS. Read on!

1. She's the second foreign-born first lady

Melania Trump is the first foreign-born first lady since Louisa Adams, the London-born wife of John Quincy Adams, our sixth president. She was born Melanija Knavs and raised in Novo Mesto, Slovenia — then a communist nation.

2. She used to be a model

Not so shocking is that Melania Trump once had a successful modeling career. Melania began modeling at 16 and was signed with an agency in Milan by the time she was 18. In 1996, she moved to New York City — where she would soon meet Donald Trump — with a new Germanized spelling of her name, Melania Knauss. The first lady has landed magazine covers for international editions of publications including GQ and Vogue and has appeared in countless others including the 2000 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

3. She's always loved fashion

Melania Trump has always been attracted to fashion. Her mother was a children's clothing designer and The New York Times reported that Melania enjoyed knitting her own sweaters as a child. Melanie told People, "I always loved fashion. My mother was a fashion designer so it was always in my blood." Having creative aspirations, she even studied architecture and design at the University of Ljubljana, but it was modeling that really drew her in.

4. She played hard to get with Donald Trump

Melania Trump and Donald Trump have been married for 12 years, but their first encounter was not ideal. The businessman spotted Melania at a fashion party in 1998 — but he'd brought along his then-girlfriend, Norwegian heiress Celina Midelfart. Melania told Harper's Bazaar, "He wanted my number, but he was with a date, so of course I didn't give it to him. I said, 'I am not giving you my number. You give me yours and I will call you.'" Melania said Donald gave her all of his phone numbers: "the office, Mar-a-Lago, home in New York, everything." And clearly, she called!

5. She can laugh at herself

Melania Trump has not always been treated nicely by the media, but she's thick-skinned enough to shake it off. Cecily Strong's parody portrayal of Melania on "Saturday Night Live" in the sketch "Melania Moments" even makes her laugh. She told Harper's Bazaar, "It's kind of an honor, actually, to have someone play you like that in a fun way. We laugh a lot about that. It's funny to see how people see you."

6. She had skincare and jewelry lines

In 2010, Melania rolled out a jewelry line for QVC with pieces priced from $30 to $200. Although she no longer works with QVC, you can find some pieces on Craigslist and eBay. She also launched a caviar-infused skincare line in 2012 — she even made appearances on "The Apprentice" and "Good Morning America" to promote the lavish products — but it never truly came to fruition due to legal drama with her skincare company partner, New Sunshine LLC.

7. She's an advocate against cyberbullying

Melania Trump voiced her concern for cyberbullying throughout Donald Trump's presidential campaign. At a Trump rally in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, in November 2016, Melania addressed the crowd and said, "Our culture has gotten too mean and too rough, especially to children and teenagers. It is never okay when a 12-year-old girl or boy is mocked, bullied or attacked. It is terrible when that happens on the playground and it is absolutely unacceptable when it's done by someone with no name hiding on the internet." She vowed to make cyberbullying a key issue in her role as first lady.

8. She's a devoted mother

Barron Trump, 11, is Donald Trump's fifth child and Melania Trump's first and only. Because Melania didn't want to uproot her son during the school year when his father entered the Oval Office, she and Barron have stayed in New York City throughout the presidency thus far — but White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham told Town and Country in April 2017 that the first lady "still plans to move to Washington, D.C., sometime this summer."

9. She had her baby shower at FAO Schwarz

In a scenario that could only exist for the incredibly wealthy, Melania Trump held her baby shower at the esteemed New York City toy store FAO Schwarz. At the shower, all of the gifts and money spent at the store went to charity.

10. Her wedding was star-studded

In true Trump fashion, Melania Trump and Donald Trump's wedding was one for the history books. Billy Joel, Elton John, Paul Anka and Tony Bennett all performed at the 2005 nuptials. Casual, right? The president and first lady married in Palm Beach, Florida, at the Episcopal church Bethesda-by-the-Sea and had an extravagant reception at Mar-a-Lago. Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, Diddy and Anna Wintour were also in attendance.

11. She speaks five languages

Melania Trump speaks a whopping five languages: Slovene, English, French, Serbian and German.

12. She posed nude for a magazine

To add to the list of "firsts" for this first lady, Melania Trump is the only FLOTUS who's ever posed nude for a magazine. In 1995 when she was still Melania Knauss, she posed nude for a French men's monthly magazine. The shots resurfaced in the New York Post in July 2016. Donald Trump told the newspaper, "Melania was one of the most successful models and she did many photo shoots, including for covers and major magazines. This was a picture taken for a European magazine prior to my knowing Melania. In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common." Good to know.