“Angel” is not a word many would associate with Donald Trump, but this is how one long-time friend describes his 45 year-old wife, Melania Trump.
Mirjana Jelancic grew up with Melania Trump, formerly Melanija Knavs, and she is now principal of the grade school in Central Slovenia which they both attended in the 1970s and 1980s. They also lived in the same apartment block.
Jelancic has fond memories of reading, playing and knitting with Melania. “She was an Angel,” she told ABC news recently. She described the controversial GOP presidential candidate’s wife as “a good student” whose favorite subject was geography. In later years, she says that Melania became interested in fashion and design.
Melania’s family left the small town of Sevnica for the capital, Ljubljana, when she was in high school. After finishing school, she briefly studied architecture. Her studies came to an end when she was scouted by a modelling agency at 18.
Melania’s modelling career took off, launching her into New York’s exclusive social circles where she met Donald Trump. They married in 2005 at Trump’s Palm Beach resort, Mar-a-Lago.
Jelancic has not seen her old friend for many years, but Melania Trump has not cut ties with her home country completely. She donated $25,000 to a clinic, much of which went towards maternal care, shortly after giving birth to her son Barron in 2006.
Her family still have a house on the river Sava in their old industrial town, but they are said to reside mainly in the United States.
Should the seemingly impossible come to pass in November, and Trump is elected as president, Melania would become just the second first lady to be born outside the United States. John Quincy’s wife, Louisa, was the first in 1925. Quite an interesting irony considering Trump’s strong views about foreigners.
One can only hope that Melania Trump has retained some of the lovely qualities which Jelancic remembers her friend possessing, and that she has some influence over her rather hot-headed husband.
Image via: ABCNews
