Melania Trump turned 48 on Thursday, April 26.
Days before Melania's birthday, Donald sent out an email praising her role in the Trump
family and asking supporters to sign a birthday card for her.
"Melania is my rock and foundation," the president wrote, "and I wouldn’t be the man I am today
without her by my side. She’s the cornerstone of our family, and an incredible mother to
our son, Barron. I’m so proud of her accomplishments, and I hope you’ll wish her well on her special
day." Since entering the White House, Melania has
played a somewhat different role than her predecessors. Melania lived in New York with
her son Barron until June, and is generally sparser in her public appearances than, say,
first ladies like Michelle Obama or Hillary Clinton were.
But there's a lot more to Melania than meets the eye. Here are some lesser-known facts
about the first lady.
Melania only revealed in that she was Catholic in 2017, after meeting with Pope Francis at
the Vatican. This makes her the first Catholc to live in the White House since John F. Kennedy
and Jackie Kennedy Onassis (Former Vice President Joe Biden is also Catholic, but the vice president
doesn't live in the White House).
Candidates for president and vice president
all receive Secret Service nicknames, and so do their spouses. Melania's nickname is
"MUSE," while her husband's is "MOGUL." It's standard for married couples to be given nicknames
that begin with the same letter.
Melania was born in Novo Mesto, a small town in what's now the country of Slovenia. But
in 1970, when she was born, Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia, a Communist country that encompassed
several other regions that are now independent countries. Yugoslavia collapsed in the early
'90s, and Slovenia formally declared independence in 1991.
Melania attended University of Ljubljana in
Slovenia, where she studied design and architecture. Although her personal website once stated
that she received a degree from the university, the official White House website now says
that she "paused her studies to advance her modeling career in Milan and Paris." A professor
at the university later said that, although he believed Melania's "IQ was very high,"
she didn't complete her studies at Ljubljana.
In 2005, Melania starred in a commercial for
Aflac Insurance. In the ad, a pair of mad scientists undertake an experiment to swap
Melania's voice with that of the Aflac "spokesduck," so that the duck can "tell the world the benefits
of Aflac with sex appeal!" The spot ends with the duck giving the Aflac pitch in Melania's
voice.
Melania speaks no fewer than six languages:
Slovenian, French, Serbian, German, Italian and English.
The first was Louisa Adams, John Quincy Adams'
wife, who was born in England.
It's often reported that the first lady's
maiden name is Melania Knauss. But that wasn't her birth name: She was born Melanija Knavs,
but changed her last name to Knauss during her modeling career and ditched the "J" in
her first name. Then, after marrying Donald in 2005, she changed her last name to Trump.
This is the first birthday Melania celebrated while living in the White House. With Donald
set to serve his first term out and his intention to run again in 2020, it likely won't be her
last.