Melania Trump, the Slovenian-born next first lady of the United States, rarely hit the campaign trail with her husband as he busied himself knocking off 16 contenders for the GOP nomination and then Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. She’s going to stay out of the spotlight as first lady as well, as she will not move into the White House with her husband, instead choosing to stay in New York so their son Barron can continue his education there.
So for those of you wondering — who is Melania Trump? — here are five facts:
She will set a precedent with several firsts
In addition to becoming the first Slovenian-born FLOTUS, first non-native English-speaking first lady and the first to be born and raised in a communist nation, Melania will be the first third wife of a president. Melania will not, however, become the first first lady to have been born abroad — that honor is owned by English-born Louisa Adams, wife of President John Quincy Adams.
She will be a ‘traditional’ first lady
Speaking with GQ in a highly-publicized feature in April, Melania says she would model herself after Jackie Kennedy. She would be “traditional,” like Kennedy, and become involved in “many different charities involving children, involving many different diseases.” Included in the April feature is a quote by family friend and stylist Phillip Bloch who agrees, saying, “She’d be great at picking out the china patterns; she’d be a classic first lady.”
She is vaguely supportive of Trump’s views on immigration
Thought it may seem counter-intuitive, because she is an immigrant herself, Melania believes in the legal process currently in place to vet potential immigrants to the United States. “I follow a law the way it’s supposed to be. I never thought to stay here without papers. I had visa,” she said to Politico. “I travel every few months back to the country, to Slovenia, to stamp the visa. I came back. I applied for the green card. I applied for the citizenship later on after many years of green card. So I went by system. I went by the law, and you should do that.”
She’s not a socialite
In April, when a reporter questioned Melania over her husband’s positions, Melania told her, “Those policies are my husband’s job. Yes, I have opinion of course, but I’m not going public.” When the reporter revealed he had been digging through court documents in Slovenia regarding her father, who had a child — her half-brother — out of wedlock, she quipped, “My father is a private individual. Please respect his privacy.” And when pressed about how Donald’s politics differ from her own, Melania said: “I’m very political privately. I know what’s going on from A to Z. Nobody knows and nobody will ever know. Because that’s between me and my husband.” The reporter concluded: “She is a homebody. She’s rich, but not a socialite; she prefers family to the It set and retires early after events.”
She is active in several charities
Although much of her time is spent with Barron at the couple’s 30,000-square-foot luxury residence atop Trump Tower, Melania has made some time to do charity work. It is in this capacity we might expect her to be most publicly involved. Harper’s Bazaar pointed out in a major profile published back in January that she prefers being involved with the American Red Cross and the Boys’ Club of New York over red carpet events. For five years running, she was named honorary chairwoman for her time with the Boys Club of New York, and her biographystates that she’s also been active within the Police Athletic League and the Graham Dance Company.