Melania Trump’s Ex-Roommate Reveals Key Reason Why Her Modeling Career Failed: “She Was Always…”
Melania Trump’s journey to become the First Lady of the United States is just as fascinating as her husband’s ascent to the presidency. Born in a small town in communist Slovenia, her love of fashion and elegance began at a very young age. Despite having started a degree in design at the University of Ljubljana, she dropped out to focus on modeling. Melania soon signed with an agency at the age of 16 and relocated to New York. She lived there in an apartment with photographer Matthew Atanian, who later commented about the challenges that prevented her from succeeding in her early modeling career.
Melania’s former roommate revealed that during her early days in New York, she often found herself stuck with second and third-tier modeling gigs. At the time, Atanian was working for Marie Claire Magazine, and he recalled Melania asking for his help to land a spot in the magazine. Despite her request, the photographer couldn’t shake the feeling that her chances were slim. As reported by Irish Star, he said, “She was always kind of a stiff person. That’s why she wasn’t a successful model because she couldn’t move.” Atanian asserted that when Melania met Donald Trump in 1998, her modeling career was struggling to gain momentum.
Her career took off after that, and she was featured in prestigious fashion magazines, including the renowned GQ cover. Atanian portrayed Melania as being intensely committed to her career in a prior interview with Vanity Fair. He stated that she preferred a rigorous schedule over socializing or the nightlife scene. The photographer revealed that she maintained a strict diet, eating five to seven servings of fruits and vegetables every day, and that she would wear ankle weights around the apartment. He added, “She drank a lot of water. She was looking to make money as a model.” Previously, former actress Quinn Cummings also criticized Melania’s modeling career.
She criticized Melania’s photos as amateurish, saying they were unlikely to catch the attention of agencies. She said, “These are the pictures your local photographer takes in your podunk Communist town which you send to a modeling agency, who never writes back.” Meanwhile, Melania wasn’t the only person drawn to the fashion industry as it ran in her family. As reported by The Sun, Melania’s mother, Amalija Knavs, was a children’s clothing designer when Melania was a child. Melania disclosed in 2016 that her love of fashion was ingrained in her from a young age, having been greatly impacted by her mother’s work.
The former First Lady has graced the lens of legendary photographers like Patrick Demarchelier and Helmut Newton and appeared on the covers of Harper’s Bazaar in Bulgaria and Vanity Fair in Italy. Her first encounter with Donald also took place at a New York party at the Kit Kat Club during Fashion Week in 1998, where she claimed she wasn’t impressed by his fame. Donald was a real estate entrepreneur and a rising star at the time thanks to The Apprentice. Melania and he were married in an extravagant ceremony in Palm Beach, Florida, the year after he proposed to her at the Met Gala in 2004.
