When Donald Trump's Niece Revealed the First Awkward Family Meeting With Melania Trump

Mary L. Trump, the niece of former president Donald Trump released an explosive memoir in 2020 titled Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.  Her book detailed the life of Trump and gave a rare insight into their dysfunctional family. The Republican leader's niece revealed the first instance when Melania Knauss was introduced during a Father's Day family gathering. According to the book, in June 1998, Trump invited the 28-year-old supermodel to a family get-together at Trump Tower. “Melania was five years younger than I was. She sat slightly sideways next to Donald with her ankles crossed,” Mary wrote. “I was struck by how smooth she looked.”

As per The US Sun, Trump's brother Robert reportedly remarked when Mary implied that Knauss's lack of English proficiency was the reason for her silence. “No, she knows what she’s here for,” he responded. Trump was married to Marla Maples, his second wife, at the time of the incident, but they were not together; they divorced in June 1999. As per Cosmopolitan, Trump met the Slovenian model at a fashion week party hosted at Manhattan's Kit Kat Club, the elite socialite reportedly won over the billionaire businessman by refusing to give him her phone number and instead asking for his. Later that month, the two are seen together at a movie premiere. 

The couple then briefly broke up and reunited again in 2000, Knauss obtained her Green Card, granting her citizenship in the United States, and settled into the Trump Tower penthouse. Trump proposed the model at the 2004 MET Gala with a $1.5 million engagement ring."We're together five years, and these five years for whatever reasons have been my most successful," Trump told the press at the time. "I have to imagine she had something to do with that." Knauss exclusively told the New York Post, "It was a great surprise. We are very happy together." 

In a grandiose ceremony, the pair got married in January 2005. Up to $2.5 million was spent on the wedding, with Melania's custom-designed Dior gown costing a mere $100,000. Following the religious ceremony, the newlyweds and their entourage of 350 people returned to Trump's Mar-a-Lago club to celebrate in the recently refurbished ballroom. In 2006 the power couple welcomed their son Barron. In 2015 Melania celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary with a sweet snapshot from their wedding. As per CNN, the former first lady is set to revive Trump's campaigning after their son graduates from high school in Florida. “She’s a private person, a great person, a very confident person, and she loves our country very much,” Trump said on NBC’s Meet the Press in September 2023. “And honestly, I like to keep her away from it. It’s so nasty and so mean.”