11 Things You Didn't Know About Melania Trump

For someone married to the most polarizing man in the country, Melania Trump avoids the spotlight surprisingly well. Here's what the world knows about one of the most interesting First Ladies to ever step foot in the White House.

1: She started modeling as a child.

Born in then-Yugoslavia in 1970, Melanija Knavs walked her first catwalk at just 5-years-old. She got her start in fashion thanks to her mom, Amalija Ulčnik, who developed patterns for a clothing factory. Melania's seen here (second from the right) modeling some of the company's products in 1977. 

2: She quit design school to go abroad.

After a year of architecture classes at the local university, Melania started modeling full-time. She Germanized her name to Melania Knauss and worked in Milan and Paris until an agency owner (and friend of Donald Trump) brought her to New York. She later appeared in Vanity Fair, Vogue and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

3: Her wedding dress cost two hundred thousand dollars.

The couple reconciled within six months, and got engaged in 2004. Their winter wedding in Florida featured a star-studded guest list (including Katie Couric, Heidi Klum, Shaq, Barbara Walters, Simon Cowell, Billy Joel and yes, the Clintons), as well as a two hundred thousand dollars Dior dress that reportedly took over one thousand hours to make. 

4: She's a philanthropist.

She has served as a Goodwill Ambassador for the American Red Cross and as a member of the Police Athletic League.

5: She doesn't use a nanny.

Despite her glamorous lifestyle, Melania believes in being a hands-on parent when it comes to raising her son Barron. "I don't have a nanny," she told Harper's Bazaar in 2016. "I have a chef, and I have my assistant, and that's it. I do it myself. You know, those hours with your child are really important ones."

6: There's a reason she didn't have a second child.

When asked by ABC News in 2013 about the possibility of more kids, Melania said, "We are happy and my hands are full with my two boys — my big boy and my little boy!"

7: She knows an insane number of languages.

Besides her native Slovene, Melania speaks English, French and Italian fluently, and apparently some Serbo-Croatian and German as well, according to Vox. She recently put her Italian to use while visiting a children's hospital in Rome this spring. 

8: She's the first Catholic in the White House since the Kennedys.

After her visit to the Vatican, Melania's spokeswoman confirmed the First Lady practices Catholicism. She was apparently secretly baptized as a child, because the League of Communists of Slovenia controlled the country at the time.

9: She is the second foreign-born First Lady.

Louisa Adams, the wife of sixth president John Quincy Adams, was born in London. Melania became a permanent resident of the U.S in 2001, and a citizen in 2006.

10: Her Secret Service name is "Muse."

Per tradition, it begins with the same letter as her husband's alias, Mogul. Other First Ladies have gone by Renaissance (Michelle Obama), Tempo (Laura Bush) and Evergreen (Hillary Clinton).  

11: She's one of the tallest First Ladies.

Given her former career, you would think Melania took the top spot but her 5-foot-11 frame actually stands even with Michelle Obama and Eleanor Roosevelt, according to CBS. She holds others superlatives though, like the first naturalized U.S. citizen to become First Lady and the only one born in a communist country.