Melania Trump The Lady of the House

Needless to say, in sharp contrast to the rise of the Obamas, the Trump ascension was not as vociferously supported locally. But there is great merit to be found, objectively, in the story of a man who, with no experience in government or service to the military, will now sit in the highest office in the land.

Who else could we have thought of, to nearly selffund a campaign, as a virtual political outsider, with little support (and major criticism) from the Establishment? No doubt women everywhere mourned the inability of Clinton to break that final hardened ‘glass ceiling’, but as we are coming to terms with the revolutionary election of an outsider, WMN takes a look at his wife, (and soon to be First Lady), who’s even more of an outsider than the President-elect himself.

Melanija Knavs was born in Sevnica (which is now Slovenia, but was then part of Yugoslavia) to a father who, as a Communist party member, managed car dealerships for a state-owned vehicle manufacturer.

Her ascension to First Lady would ironically start in modeling, at the age of 16 under the name Melania Knauss. She was spotted by a well-known photographer, Stane Jerko, who’s photo-shoot with her landed her in the modeling high ground, resulting in a contract with a major Italian modeling agency.

Soon, she was seen worldwide on catwalks and in magazines including a shoot on Trump’s Boeing 727 and the now legendary cover of British GQ, where she posed, in a first for a First Lady, naked.

She is however, not the first former model to accompany her husband to the White House – with both Betty Ford and Pat Nixon being former models.

Neither is she the first foreign-born First Lady – with that title going to Louisa Adams – the English born wife of the sixth US President John Quincy.

In her extensive travels, she continued informal education and she will therefore represent one major first for a First Lady – the first to be fluent in five languages – Slovenian, German, French, Serbian and English. She is also simply not acting at the behest of her brash husband’s wishes. She told Anderson Cooper directly in one CNN interview, “People really don’t know me. I’m very strong. I can handle everything. Do not feel sorry for me.” She also noted in another interview on CNN, this time with Larry King, “To marry a man like Donald, you need to know who you are. You need to be very strong and smart.” This sure-footedness is easily encapsulated in their first meeting in 1998 at a party in Manhattan. Donald asked for her number; she refused, given that he was there with a date. She instead asked for his. “If I give him my number, he’s just one of the many women he calls,” she recounts. “I wanted to see what his intention is. It tells you a lot from the man what kind of number he gives you,” she says with a smile.

The Donald gave her all of his numbers.

She waited a week to call him, just to make him sweat a bit and shortly thereafter they began dating, but she broke up with him temporarily a few months later in 2000 when he first toyed with the idea of running for President. Nonetheless, the couple married five years later, with the bride wearing a ?140,000 dress by John Galliano and then becoming a US citizen in 2006. They welcomed their only child together Barron William Trump also in that same year.

So, what kind of First Lady will she be? The irony is that she will likely be a very traditional one, contrary to her popular image on social media. She may closely be likened to Laura Bush – a First Lady who supports her husband diligently, in spite of the fact that he is the most powerful man in the world.

In an interview in 2000, she stated she would imitate predecessors such as Betty Ford or Jackie Kennedy if she ever had to. She has often repeated that she seeks to be a mother first and always, to her son and also in her own way as stepmother to Trump’s children from his two previous marriages.

Ultimately, though women everywhere will be disappointed that they have not have broken the glass ceiling so desperately sought after as an act of rebellion and continued demonstration in favour of women’s equality. But there is still some merit to be found in the act of a woman who steadfastly supports her family, runs her own business, supports her husband (and his previous children), who created her own luck via her career choices and reached high for a spot as close to that glass ceiling as possible. And history will judge her accordingly.

Just one request Melania: please keep Michelle’s White House vegetable garden – we’re certain she won’t mind sharing something she created with her own hands.

This writer will sorely miss Michelle Obama however, who represented a powerful, independent, educated, stylish, relevant and modern First Lady to young women everywhere. Weigh in on the new FLOTUS on our Twitter @newsday_WMN.