At the side of her 79-year-old husband, President Donald Trump, Melania Trump has remained a silent, enigmatic figure despite years of political upheavals, personal betrayals, and the merciless spotlight.
The 55-year-old former modelโs decision to remain was never a mystery to those who know her well, despite the fact that her cold quiet and unyielding immobility have sparked endless speculation.
A Longtime Friend Shares What She Saw
Melania, who was then a model dating Donald Trump, was first introduced to novelist, former adviser, and close friend Stephanie Winston Wolkoff in 2003 while she was employed at Vogue. A deep bond was formed between the two. Stephanie stated, โWe shared a lot over 15 years,โ in an interview with ABC News in 2020.
Stephanie was hired to assist in organizing the inauguration after Donald won the 2016 election, and she later worked as an unpaid advisor to the First Lady. She had a close-up look into Melaniaโs personal life from that vantage point during the transition and the early days of the administration.
When the โAccess Hollywoodโ tape, which showed Donald making crude and obscene remarks about women, was made public by news organizations at a critical juncture in the campaign, that intimate knowledge became even more illuminating. The outcry was quick and severe, and many people made predictions about Melaniaโs possible reaction.
Stephanie recalled meeting Melania for lunch that day, expecting someone distraught. โShe was radiant, she was smiling,โ she recalled. โIt was as if nothing happened.โ
Trying to break the tension, Stephanie cracked a joke: โI said to her, โHow many times have you heard the words โpโ-โ and โpresidentโ in the same sentence?โ And we burst out laughing.โ Stephanie added, โShe knows who she marriedโฆ She knew what she was getting into, and so did he.โ
Stephanie praised the First Ladyโs ability to keep things under control, even though she eventually felt deceived by Melania. She described the First Lady as someone whose quiet confidence was continuous and even comforting to people around her.
A Former Aide Offers Her Perspective
Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham provided a unique look into Melaniaโs thoughts and the reasons for her decision to remain in her current position in May 2024.
The former press secretary admitted to CNN that Melania may feel humiliated by the mediaโs attention to Donaldโs personal troubles, but she has no plans to quit.
Still, she made it clear: Melania is staying. โBut yeah, she knew who she married,โ the former aide added.โSheโs happy, sheโs got a very good life. Sheโs not going anywhere; thatโs been proven.โ
Sources Point to Her Continued Withdrawal from Politics
Melania deliberately keeps her distance from politics. A CNN story from 2021 stated that, despite her husband winning a second term, she had no plans to return to public life, according to a number of people close to her.
โBeing first lady again is not what she wants,โ one source told the news outlet. โFor her, it was a chapter โ and itโs over, and thatโs that.โ
The report detailed her well-known reluctance to attend campaign appearances. A political operative from the 2016 Trump team said, โWe just stopped asking altogether,โ after repeated refusals to attend events.
Melania kept a low public profile as First Lady, allowing no print interviews and less than five on-camera interviewsโan unprecedented degree of secrecy for someone in that position.
Melaniaโs life was characterized by regularity, seclusion, and modest aspiration long before the White House put her under continual scrutiny. Reports revealing unique insights on her pre-Donal dating life first appeared on October 13, 2025.
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She has said she prefers to keep her life private, even if sheโs no stranger to the spotlight. โIโm not shy of the media. Iโm not shy about the camera. Thatโs my business. Thatโs my modeling career. But it sometimes could be very tricky and unpleasant, unfair,โ she once admitted.
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Melania led a modest life in New York while she was single, emphasizing discipline and good health. According to reports, she followed a rigorous skincare regimen, ate at least seven pieces of fruit every day, and walked with ankle weights.
She avoided nightclubs since she wasnโt into the party scene. On a normal night out, you would eat supper at Cipriani around 10 p.m. and get home by 1 a.m.
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Her preference for guys was for hard-working, rich Europeans. Those close to her said she occasionally dated playboys and Italian guys, but their excursions were usually limited to supper, and she would return home shortly after.
Melania followed her daily schedule, which included swimming, working out, and unwinding in the sauna. She liked to stay in unless she had a modeling job or errands to run. She had a modest style back then. She has upgraded her wardrobe and is frequently spotted wearing her trademark Manolo Blahnik heels now that she has access to high fashion and luxury labels.
What Friends Said About Melania Trump
โShe was reserved; the first party she ever came to with me was the one she met Donald [Trump] at,โ said her friend Edit Molnar. Paolo Zampolli, president of ID Models โ the agency that discovered her and brought her to New York in 1996 โ also described her as a โhomebody.โ
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โShe never dated anyone in New York before Donald. She only went to movies by herself and to the gym,โ he added. Still, a few men have claimed to be part of Melaniaโs romantic past before Donald โ and hereโs what we know about them.
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The Alleged First Boyfriend, Peter Butoln
A man named Peter Butoln once claimed he was Melaniaโs first boyfriend, sharing memories from her teenage years in Slovenia, including how they met. โIt was my first love,โ Peter admitted to Inside Edition. โMy first real love.โ
Born in the 5,000-person hamlet of Sevnica, Melania supposedly met Peter when she moved to Ljubljana at the age of 17 to attend a prestigious high school.
He claimed that after seeing Melania strolling through the city center, he went up to her because he was immediately mesmerized by her breathtaking beauty. But when he enlisted in the military, their romance ended, and they never saw one another again.
The last contact Peter had with Melania was through a postcard she sent in 1987, shortly after their split. โI send you this postcard with nice warm regards from the seaside,โ she reportedly wrote on the card. He kept it with him through the years.
A representative for the First Lady made it clear that Peter was never Melaniaโs lover, despite his fond memories of her.
Her Last Slovenian Boyfriend, Jure Zorcic
Jure Zorcic, Melaniaโs ex-boyfriend, also talked about their relationship in public, telling ABC News that she was unique even as a young woman. โShe wanted to live abroad, in Italy, France, a life of fashion,โ he stated. โShe was very fashionable.โ
The two met in 1991 in Slovenia. At the time, Jure was riding a motorbike and noticed her walking down the street. โI had a moment and thought, โWow, who is this girl? She is so beautiful, I must turn back and follow her,’โ he said, describing the first time they met, as if it were straight out of a Hollywood movie
He brought her out for coffee after pausing to chat. They dated for a few months and frequently hung out with their pals on the Croatian coast.
When she abruptly departed Slovenia to pursue her modeling career, Jure claimed he was taken aback. She later lived in Milan and Paris before relocating to New York.
In 2000, the two reconnected. He remembers being taken aback by her use of English and inquired as to if she had forgotten her Slovenian heritage. In the end, Melania wed Donald in 2005.
โI think her marriage to Trump was fate,โ Jure said. โNobody believed 20 years ago that she would live at the top of the world, on Fifth Avenue in Trump Tower โ even her!โ
Author Stephanie, who is friends with Melania, said in her book โMelania and Meโ that the model had a boyfriend while she was living abroad in Paris and Milan, but she did not elaborate on the relationship beyond Peter and Jure. She also occasionally went on casual dates.
Why Her Marriage to Donald Trump Works
In the end, Melania claimed that Donald was the ideal companion. The First Ladyโs upbringing is the reason their marriage works, according to Vladimira Tomsic, a woman who is close to her parents and went to the same school.
Melania is Donaldโs ideal wife; they are a perfect match who help and encourage each other.
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Melania refuted allegations in one interview that she dated her 53-year-old billionaire lover for money, stating that you canโt โtalk withโ or โhugโ beautiful things.
Melania also once joked that the secret to her lasting marriage with Donald was having separate bathrooms. She has also addressed her critics: โThey donโt know me,โ she said, while describing Donald as โvery kindโ and โvery charming.โ
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The story of Melaniaโs rise from a small Slovenian hamlet to the position of First Lady of the United States is one of mystery, ambition, and self-control. Although a lot has been stated about her past, she has remained quiet and only occasionally revealed who she really is.
She has consistently demonstrated discipline and focus, qualities that continue to characterize her. Melaniaโs tale is one of quiet strength and solid control over how the world perceives her, regardless of whether she is chastised for her quietness or complimented for her elegance.
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