Melania Trump’s Stunning Transformation Before Becoming FLOTUS: Modeling Career Revisited

Melania Trump came from humble beginnings.

Melania is one of the most popular women today being the first lady of the United States. However, things were not easy for her back then.

Melania was discovered by photographer Stane Jerko when she was just 16 in 1987. According to Jerko, he spotted Melania while she was waiting for a friend after a fashion show. But he had a hard time convincing her to be a model at the time because her priority was school.

Eventually, Melania had a change of heart and agreed to have a photoshoot with Jerko. However, he did not have shoes for her because the FLOTUS had a very big feet but he assured her, “When you live on big feet, you live big,” Jerko said in an interview with GQ about the first lady.

When Melania was 18, she signed a contract with a modeling agency in Milan forcing her to drop out of architecture school. She won second place at Jana Magazine’s Slovenian Face of the Year contest in 1992 and found success in Paris and Milan.

Melania set her dreams in the fashion capital of the United States, New York. However, things didn’t go as she expected. It even came to a point when her big plans were fading almost as quickly as her modeling contract.

“[It's] a frustrating age for models, the late 20s. It's not a friendly industry,” Melania’s roommate, Matthew Atanian, said. “She wasn't working every day, she was going to castings every day and not succeeding... She said things were very different in Europe, that she had been more successful. She aired frustration over the work issue.”

Melania didn’t give up and went on casting calls for alcohol and tobacco ads which her under-age competitors couldn’t be hired for. Atanian also recalled how Melania took a two-week vacation and was more buxom when she returned. She didn’t deny it and said she had it done to get more lingerie jobs.

In 2000, Melania graced the infamous British GQ cover in nude. When she was asked about it, the former model acknowledged her past career.

“I think people will always judge. That’s part of the job that I was doing; I was [a] very successful model. Nothing more than you see every year in Sports Illustrated,” Melania told Barbara Walters in 2015.

At present, Melania is the FLOTUS and many praised her for the way she carries out her role. Some even considered her the “no. 1 first lady of all time.”