Melania Trump, the wife of former United States Donald Trump, is one of the most famous female personalities in the country as a former first lady with an estimated net worth of $55 million.
She is known to spend most of her days with her husband at the couple's Mar-a-Lago resort located in Palm Beach, Florida. While Melania is now one of the wealthiest women in America, she had her humble beginnings as the daughter of a man who worked for a state-owned vehicle manufacturer and a woman who worked as a pattern-maker for a children's clothing brand.
Melania Trump's Net Worth
Melania developed her passion for the fashion runway when she was young and competed in fashion shows with other children. Later in her life, she started to work as a professional runway model at the young age of 16, posing for Stane Jerko, a fashion photographer.
In 1998, the former first lady won "The Look of the Year" with her looks attracting the attention of the top names in the fashion industry. At the age of 18, Melania signed up with a modeling agency in Milan, Italy, further solidifying her career, as per Finty.
During her early fashion career, Melania, born Melania Knavs, changed her name to Melania Knauss. She was featured on various cover pages of popular magazines, including Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, Front, Vanity Fair, and GQ.
According to Wealthy Gorilla, in 2003, Melania was seen as an actress in "Miss USA," in 2004 in her husband's reality show "Celebrity Apprentice," in 2016 in "One Nation Under Trump." Moving away from modeling, She started her own label of designer watches, jewelry, and skincare products.
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Melania's acting career includes the 2011 film "Zoolander" and she was a recurring personality on Trump's NBC reality series "The Apprentice" from 2004 to 2015. Despite having her own line of jewelry and skincare products, the Melania Skin Care Collection cut ties with her in 2017.
In 2016, a financial filing revealed that Melania's business ventures made $15,000 to $50,000 in royalties that year. While she became the first lady of the United States on Jan. 20, 2017, she did not move into the White House until June 11 because of her son's schooling at Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School.
The Former First Lady
Focusing on her role as the former president's wife, her first White House event was a March 2017 International Women's Day luncheon. At the event, she spoke about gender equality and her experiences as a female immigrant. She also focused her time as the first lady on the prevention of online bullying with her "Be Best" campaign.
The move earned criticism from many because of Trump's consistently hostile behavior on Twitter. Melania's husband helped plan an April 2018 state dinner that honored French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited the National Gallery of Art with his wife, Brigitte, the day before the event.
In terms of real estate, Melania paid $1.5 million in January 2016 for a 1-bedroom apartment located on the 33rd floor of Trump Tower. When she purchased the unit, the Trump family was already the owner of a huge penthouse that took up the 66th, 67th, and 68th floors of the building. Furthermore, there were rumors that Melania bought the 1,052 square-foot apartment to use as a library, as per Celebrity Net Worth.
