Melania Trump, now known as the First Lady of the United States through her marriage to President Donald Trump, never imagined herself living in America during her youth in Slovenia. Long before she became one of the most recognized women in the world, Melania Knauss had very different dreams for her future.
She first arrived in the United States in 1996 and became a naturalized citizen a decade later, in 2006. But according to her former boyfriend, Jure Zorc, the young model once envisioned a life in Europe, not America.
Zorc shared memories of their years together in an interview with ABC News, revealing that Melania’s ambitions were focused on the fashion capitals of Europe. “She wanted to live abroad, in Italy, France, a life of fashion. She was very fashionable,” he said. “I think it was very far from our minds at that time,” he added, referring to the idea of moving to the United States.
Zorc and Melania dated from around 1991 to 1996, a period when she was establishing herself in the European modeling scene. He described their first meeting vividly. “We met each other like in a movie,” he recalled. “I was on my motorbike, and she was walking down a street. As I passed by her, I had a moment and thought, ‘Wow, who is this girl? She is so beautiful, I must turn back and follow her.’”
He said he was immediately captivated by her elegance. “I was impressed by her beauty from the very first moment. She was very nicely dressed, and her behavior was classy. She was tall, had long hair across her face — I could hardly see her eyes — such style!”
Years later, Melania’s life would take a dramatic turn when she met Donald Trump in New York in 1998. At the time, she was 28 and a rising model, while Trump, then 52, was separated but not yet divorced.
The two met at a Manhattan nightclub, where Trump had originally been on a date with another woman. In a 2005 interview with Larry King, Trump recalled the moment that changed everything: “I went crazy. I was actually supposed to meet somebody else.
There was this great supermodel sitting next to Melania. They said, ‘Look, there’s so and so.’ I said, ‘Forget about her. Who is the one on the left? And it was Melania.’” Melania later agreed that their connection was instant. “It was a great chemistry and energy. We had a great time.
We started to talk. And, you know, something was there right away,” she said. Their meeting led to marriage in 2005, setting Melania on a path that would ultimately take her far from her original European dreams — and into the global spotlight as America’s First Lady.
