First Lady Melania Trump is often portrayed as a successful fashion icon and hard-working mother — but she wasn’t always living the American dream.
In fact, it’s her childhood that most defined her — and untold story of survival and perseverance trapped behind the Iron Curtain in communist Slovenia.
Born Melanija Knavs in Sevnica, Slovenia, Melania had big plans from an early age.
“Even as a child, she dreamed of moving,” Mirjana Jelancic, a childhood friend of Melania’s, said. “I think I can say Sevnica was too small for her.”
According to Jelancic, Melania was a hard-working, ambitious girl, eager to overcome the strict communist society she grew up in. She wanted to redefine what it meant to be a woman — that she could be both a successful professional and a loving mother.
Despite frequent fuel and food shortages and other hardships, Melania took extra classes and learned four new languages so she could get ahead.
She didn’t let her humble roots hold her back from becoming one of the most prestigious and influential roles in the world – America’s favorite first lady.
Sandi Gorisek, author of “Melania Trump: The Slovenian Side of the Story” praised her patriotic nature and its influence. In the book she wrote, “the future of the USA and its population will be partly tailored by the patterns and principles leaned from the people of a small, proud nation situated on the sunny side of the Alps.”
Although the repressive communist regime Melania was raised under discouraged individuality, the future-Mrs. Trump would not be stopped from reaching her dream job: international supermodel.
Melania began young, and quickly made a name for herself in the modeling world at just 17-years-old.
But neighbors say she always stayed humble and was committed to her family — a character trait that is amplified by her life role as first lady.
Throughout her husband’s campaign, Melania fiercely defended Donald from the strong criticisms hurled at him, all while raising their young son Barron.
She has accepted the role of first lady with incredible courage and pride, values Gorisek says Melania’s parents instilled in her from a young age.
Even in a society where physical punishment was the rule for breaking norms, Melania and her mother would proudly dress fashionably and colorfully.
“To go against the popular opinion that the only proper color was gray was and still is courageous,” Gorisek writes.
The class that Melania has brought to the White House speaks volumes about her character.
She has never played the victim — despite nasty criticism about accent and relationship with her husband Donald from so-called “tolerant” liberals.
Instead, Melania is committed to her family and the American people, and her success serves as proof that strong and courageous people can achieve the American dream.
— The Horn editorial team