NEW YORK
Melania Trump began campaigning on behalf of her husband on Thursday, in what has been seen as a last-ditch attempt to appeal to women voters — a sector of society overwhelmingly hostile to Donald Trump.
Glamorous and accomplished, it is hoped she can shine a positive light on Trump. She is effusively praised by her husband as an excellent mother to their ten-year-old son, Barron, and portrayed as an elegant businesswoman destined to be the perfect First Lady.
But the Slovenian model, 46, is known to be happier on the sidelines. She shies away from the spotlight, preferring to remain a behind the scenes — especially since her previous foray into politics, introducing her husband at the Republican National Convention, was ridiculed when it turned out her speech was plagiarised from Michelle Obama.
When her brash husband announced in a joint interview last week on Good Morning America that she would do “two or three speeches” before the election, she appeared to gasp — before recovering her composure — saying her priority was her son, but of course she would do whatever was necessary to help her him.
Reluctant to be in the spotlight — but devoted to her husband. What does this tell us about how she would see her role as First Lady, if Trump wins on Tuesday?
She would certainly break the mold, being the first third wife to occupy the White House, the first non-native speaker of English, and the first fluent in five languages — Slovenian, German, French, Serbian and English.
Similarities, differences
Contrary to popular belief, she would not be the first foreign born — that was Louisa Adams, the English wife of sixth president John Quincy, who served from 1825 to 1829.
Nor would she be the first model — both Betty Ford and Pat Nixon worked as models, with Nixon using those skills to become the first First Lady to appear publicly in trousers, and model them for a national magazine.
Trump would, however, certainly be the first First Lady to have posed naked — the now famous 2000 GQ photo shoot has been widely reproduced, with the then-girlfriend of Trump reclining naked on a fur blanket inside his private jet, and posing in a bra and thong with a gun.
Yet despite having a past that would make Barbara Bush blush, Trump vows to be a traditional First Lady.
“She’d be great at picking out the china patterns; she’d be a classic First Lady,” said stylist Phillip Bloch, who has worked with both of the Trumps and attended fashion shows with her.
One of the roles of the First Lady is to turn the White House into their home, with the help of a team of interior designers and the Committee for the Preservation of the White House — on which the First Lady automatically sits.
The current issue of Architectural Digest heaps praise on Michelle Obama’s choice of striking modern art for the private presidential quarters — given Trump’s fondness for opulent gold, marble and chandeliers, it would certainly be interesting to see how she approaches the project.
Perhaps surprisingly, given her beauty and low profile, Trump has the worst favourability ratings of any prospective First Lady Gallup has measured since 1992. Her -4 net favourability score is significantly lower than the next-lowest one: Teresa Heinz Kerry’s +12.
Trump herself has said she will steer clear of policy decisions — unlike such figures as Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosalynn Carter and Ellen Wilson.
She is also unlikely to play the Rottweiler role of Nancy Reagan — who was famous for turning on White House staff she felt were not acting in her husband’s best interests.
Unlike Obama and Hillary Clinton, however, Trump is not expected to chafe at the constraints of the post.
But she will have to take up some causes close to her heart.
In October, in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, she gave the first sense of what that could be.
“I see now in 21st century, the social media, it’s very damaging for the children,” she said. “We need to guide them and teach them about social media, because I see a lot of negativity on it and we need to help them.”
Trump, who said she had opted to refrain from engaging in social media herself, identified bullying as a persistent issue for children.
Some noted the irony of Trump’s commitment to protecting children from abuse on social media, when her husband was so adept at hurling insults at his own adult foes online.
Asked what she would change about her husband, she replied: “His tweeting.”
Yet Trump knows what to expect from her spouse of 11 years. “Don’t feel sorry for me,” she told Cooper, with a flash of inner steel.
Asked about accusations that her husband groped numerous women and the recording of him boasting about sexual assault, she replied: “People talk about me like, ‘Oh, Melania, oh poor Melania.’
“People don’t really know me. I’m very strong. I can handle everything.”
Childhood dreams
Trump was born Melania Knavs in the town of Sevnica, around an hour outside the Slovenian capital, to Amalija, who worked developing patterns at a children’s clothing factory, and Viktor, the chauffeur for a nearby town’s mayor.
The family grew up in Communist Yugoslavia, but were more worldly than most — holidaying in France, Italy and Germany, and devouring European fashion magazines.
A studious, quiet girl she got her break as a model in Slovenia, before moving to New York to follow her dream in 1996. But she was not a party girl.
“She was reserved,” said Edit Molnar, a former model who was the then-Miss Knauss’s friend. She had Germanicised her name from Knavs for modelling work.
“The first party she ever came to with me was the one she met Donald at.”
She became a permanent US resident in 2001, and a citizen in 2006 — she married Donald in 2005, at a wedding attended by Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Trump, now 46, would not be the youngest First Lady — Jackie Kennedy was 15 years younger.
“I chose not to go into politics and policy,” she said. “Those policies are my husband’s job.”
— The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2016
