Melania Trump

Born April 26, 1970, Melania Trump is a former model and the third, current wife of businessman and 2016 U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump.

After growing up in a modest apartment in southeastern Slovenia, Melania signed with a modeling agency in Milan, Italy, at age 18 before moving to New York City with a work visa in 1996. She became a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. in 2001.

The model met Donald Trump at a party in 1998, while he was separated from second wife Marla Maples. Melania dated Donald for several years before the two married in 2005. In 2006, she gained citizenship and gave birth to their son, Barron William Trump.

Melania encouraged her husband’s presidential campaign, and she delivered a speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention in support of him. She faced scrutiny about this speech afterward with claims that she and her writers plagiarized Michelle Obama, who had delivered a speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention that was almost word-for-word identical in one specific paragraph.