President-elect Donald Trump’s wife Melania stepped into the spotlight last week as her husband eased his way towards the presidency.
So, with Melania still somewhat of a mystery to the US and the world, what is her agenda likely to be?
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. She is the third wife of Trump.
Melania speaks Slovenian, English, French, Serbian and German, if you want to know. That linguistic prowess could come in handy at White House functions, but it has been suggested her thick accent is the reason she makes few public speeches alongside her immigrant-bashing husband.
“There was a collective gasp across the nation going, ‘Have you met your husband Donald?'” said Alice Stewart, a former Cruz campaign official, on CNN’s The Lead on Thursday.
While preparing a profile of the incoming first lady for GQ, reporter Julia Ioffe made a startling discovery – Melania’s father, Victor Knavs, who she describes as traditional and hardworking, fathered a secret son before marrying the model’s mother.
Melania initially said the reports were false but later, confronted with court documents, claimed she had misunderstood the question and had known about her half-brother “for years”.
Three years before she met Donald Trump, 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.
“Melania Trump’s popularity is lower than nearly any other recent candidate’s spouse during an election year,” the National Post says. “The most popular spouse was Barbara Bush, George H W Bush’s wife. Michelle Obama was also viewed fairly positively at about this stage of 2012, though a little worse four years earlier, when she wasn’t as well known.”
She was equally unfazed when pressed about Donald’s comments on “criminals” crossing the border into the US. “I don’t feel he insulted the Mexicans,” she said. “He said ‘illegal immigrants’.”
During a rally in Arizona, Donald told the crowd both his wife and his eldest daughter, Ivanka, don’t entirely approve of his behaviour.
“My wife and my daughter said to me, ‘Act presidential. Act presidential,'” he said.
Asked what habit she would like to see her husband give up, Melania didn’t have to ponder her answer for long. “The tweeting,” she said.
Ten-year-old junior Trump Barron apparently loves wearing a suit and tie and playing golf with his dad. He is also said to share his father’s love of bossing people around.
“He fired nannies, fired housekeepers,” Melania said in a 2011 interview, adding that he quickly hired them back.
Donald has described his wife as an “incredible” mother. “She loves her son, Barron, so much and I have to say, she will make an unbelievable first lady,” he said prior to his election.
Insiders warn Melania should not be underestimated. Jackie Kennedy biographer Pamela Keogh told the Daily Mail that, just like JFK’s iconic wife, Melania is “beautiful, smart and keeps her own counsel”.
As far back as 2000, Melania told the New York Times that if she were ever first lady, she would be “very traditional – like Betty Ford or Jackie Kennedy”.
Even though her husband has won the presidency, Melania is the “real winner”, says Celia Walden at the Daily Telegraph. “After all, the American dream Melania’s been living for two decades now will just keep on getting better.”
