On November 9, 2016, Donald Trump of the Republican Party
surprised the world when he defeated Hillary Clinton of the Democratic Party to
win the United States presidential election. He will be formally sworn in as
the 45th President of the US on January 20, 2017.
On the same day, his wife, Melania Trump, will assume the
role of the First Lady of the US, becoming the first foreign-born woman to hold
the position since Louisa Adams, the British-born wife of John Quincy Adams who
served from 1825 to 1829.
The Office of the First Lady of the US is an entity of
the White House Office, part of the Executive Office of the President. The
First Lady has her own staff that includes the Chief of Staff, White House
Social Secretary, Press Secretary, White House Chief Floral Designer and White
House Executive Chef.
Meanwhile, First Lady-designate Melania is in a way
different from previous first ladies who had held the position: She is the only
first lady to have posed nude.
Born on April 26, 1970 in Slovenia (formerly Yugoslavia),
Melania is 46 — meaning that there is a 24-year age gap to her 70-year-old
husband — she was raised by her Communist party member father, Viktor Knavs,
who managed car dealerships for a state-owned vehicle manufacturer, and her
mother, Amalija Ulnik, a pattern maker at a textile factory.
The First Lady-designate’s original name was Melanija
Knavs, but she found fame as a model under the name, Melania Knauss. After
attending the Secondary School of Design and Photography in Ljubljana, the
Slovenian capital, Melania enrolled in the University of Ljubljana, but dropped
out a year later to pursue a career in modelling at the age of 16. When she was
17, renowned fashion photographer, Stane Jerko, spotted her in Ljubljana as he
left a fashion show and invited her for a trial photoshoot.
Her shoot with Jerko catapulted her into the spotlight,
leading to a contract with an Italian modelling agency in Milan, Italy. Since
then, Melania has worked across Europe and has graced the world’s catwalks and
magazines.
In 1995, Melania posed nude alongside for a French men’s
monthly magazine. The “bombshell” photo set, obtained by the New York Post,
shows her lying naked in a bed alongside Scandinavian model, Emma Eriksson.
Courtesy: Punch Nigeria Newspaper.
