Melania keeping low profile for Trump candidature

Donald Trump’s wife Melania finally looks set to step into the spotlight after keeping a fairly low profile throughout the presidential campaign.

With one week to go before the election, the Republican nominee is to “deploy” his wife on the campaign trail in a “last-ditch effort to improve his standing with women”, says The Times.
Melania is due to give two or three speeches, including one in the suburbs of Philadelphia on Thursday.

“She’s amazing when she speaks. She’s amazing – and it’s not what she does,” Donald said. “I think it’s going to be big speeches, important speeches.”

Melania seemed “surprised” by his announcement, responding with a “startled ‘oh'”, says the Times.

The last time she made a public speech was at the Republican national convention in July, when portions of her address were found to have been plagiarised. Michelle Obama gave a remarkably similar speech at the Democratic national convention eight years before.

The former Melania Knauss started dating Donald Trump in 1998, married him in 2005 and gave birth to their son, Barron, the following year. Before Melania, Donald was married for a few years in the 1990s to Marla Maples, a television personality, former beauty queen and mother to their daughter Tiffany Trump.

The couple met while the businessman was still with his first wife, Czechoslovakian Ivana Zelnickova, who he had married in 1977. They have three children – Ivanka, Eric and eldest child Donald Trump Jr, who, at 38, is eight years younger than his stepmother Melania.

Ivana and Donald were leading socialites in New York during the 1980s, but their marriage ended with a very public divorce in 1992. Absolutely Fabulous star Jennifer Saunders says some of the inspiration for the show’s fashionista Patsy Stone, played by Joanna Lumley, came from Ivana, who often sports a high blonde beehive.