From a modest home to becoming the future First Lady of the United States of America Meet Melania

Young Melania 

Some have chosen not to accept her as their First Lady.  Model and wife to President Elect Melania Trump has come a long way.  You know what she had always dreamed of a lavish and rich lifestyle, and by the way going to the White House won't be her first taste of the good life she has been a billionaire's for over 18 years now.  Check her out as she transitions. She was destined to be the first Lady .

School friends remember Melania as a studious girl who preferred her books to playing – a long way from the woman who would pose for photos in a magazine wearing the skimpiest outfits aboard 'Trump Force One' – her husband's customised Boeing 727 (which he has since upgraded to a 757).

Melania's humble home

childhood of young Melania Knavs in the sleepy industrial town of Sevnica – now part of Slovenia – in the 1970s and 80s was unlike that of any previous First Lady.

Her father Viktor was a Communist Party member under Yugoslav dictator Marshal Tito, and as Melania grew up the family lived in a string of modest apartments.

But Viktor also displayed the capitalist ambitions which rubbed off on the daughter who would one day complete her extraordinary journey by taking up residence in Washington as the President's wife.

Melania and father

A car parts salesman, Viktor drove a Mercedes, and by the time young Melania was 16 he had built the house in the small town of Sevnica – population 4,500 – as a weekend retreat for the family. The property is on the banks of the River Sava.

Meanwhile, Melania's mother Amalija worked as an executive in a textile factory. She would come back from business trips to Milan and Paris with tales that would inspire her daughter to make her name in international fashion – first as a designer before embarking on the modelling career that would lead to her meeting Donald Trump.

Melania and husband Trump

School friends remember Melania as a studious girl who preferred her books to playing – a long way from the woman who would pose for photos in a magazine wearing the skimpiest outfits aboard 'Trump Force One' – her husband's customised Boeing 727 (which he has since upgraded to a 757).

The White House