Melania Trump (born Melanija Knavs, Germanized to Melania Knauss; April 26, 1970) is a jewelry and watch designer and former model. She is married to American billionaire real estate developer and 2016 U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump. Born in Slovenia, she became a permanent resident of the United States in 2001 and acquired citizenship in 2006. Леся Українка Knauss was born in Sevnica, in Slovenia's Lower Sava Valley (then part of Yugoslavia) on April 26, 1970. Her father, Viktor Knavs, who managed car and motorcycle dealerships, was from the nearby town of Radeče; her mother, Amalija, a fashion designer, came from a village in the area surrounding Sevnica, within the confines of Sevnica Castle. She has an older sister, Ines. Леся Українка
Knauss grew up in a modest apartment in a concrete housing block. When she was a teenager, the family moved to a two-story house near Sevnica. She began her modeling career at age 16, and at age 18 signed with a modeling agency in Milan, Italy. She is fluent in English, French, Slovenian, Serbian, and German. Леся Українка
