Controversy

After Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president back in early June, Melania received condescending media coverage. So, controversies are inevitable.

On October 31, a report from the New York Daily News revealed that Donald Trump’s ex-wife Ivana Trump heavily criticized her ex-husband’s third wife, Melania, at a party in New York City. The New York Daily News was told that 66-year-old Ivana, who was married to the bombastic businessman from 1977 to 1992, laughed and said, “Yes, but the problem is, what is he going to do with his third wife?” She was referring to Melania. “She can’t talk, she can’t give a speech, she doesn’t go to events, she doesn’t want to be involved,” Ivana also told the Daily News’s source that she would be a better first lady than Melania.

On 20 November, the former model finally broke her silence in order to support her husband, giving a sit-down interview with Barbara Walters for ABC's 20/20. Melania started out defending herself after Barbara Walters wondered whether the revealing photoshoots of Melania's past - such as posing topless on the cover on British GQ - may be a 'liability' to Trump's campaign. “I think people will always judge, and maybe they will say, Oh, the past that you have, the way you were modeling, (but) that's part of the job that I was doing,” Melania said in the interview. She then continued saying: “I was a very successful model and I did some photo shoots. Yes, there were a little risky, (but) nothing more than you see each year in Sports Illustrated.” If Donald Trump is elected president, Melania would be the only known first lady who once posed nude. She was photographed for British GQ on a bearskin rug on Trump's private jet back in 2000.