The Qualities That Made Trump Fall for Melania

Melania and Donald Trump have had a rough time of it during Donald’s first year in the White House. At least, that’s how it comes across to the public. Donald faces over 20 accusations of sexual misconduct, rumors of multiple affairs, and he and Melania lived separately for more than half the year.

Amidst all of the negatives that the media publicizes about their marriage, one might ask: How did Donald and Melania fall in love in the first place? These are the reasons the president married his third (and hopefully, final) wife, and the one quality he loves about her that he ended up hating about Ivana (page 7).

He thought she was the most beautiful woman at the party

Melania Trump caught his eye. | Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

Donald and Melania first met at a New York Fashion Week party in 1998 where Donald planned to meet another woman. “I went crazy … There was this great supermodel sitting next to Melania. I was supposed to meet this supermodel,” he recounted to Larry King in 2005. “They said: Look, there’s so and so. I said: Forget about her. Who is the one on the left?” Little did he know she’d become his wife.

Donald told Howard Stern a similar story years later. “… she was there along with other supermodels, and I greeted all of them, and I said, that’s the one that’s the most beautiful,” about Melania.

Donald finds it charming how other women think Melania is beautiful

Even the most beautiful people in the world find Melania to be stunning. | Stephen Lovekin

Melania first made a name for herself in America as a model. Her face has been plastered on billboards, magazine spreads, and featured in commercials. Donald had barely stepped foot into the oval office before media outlets speculated that Melania would be the “most beautiful first lady in American history,” despite the claim’s subjective nature.

If asked, Donald would probably agree to the claim. He told Stern how Melania “is considered beautiful by other girls … really considered most beautiful.”

He fell for her kindness

There’s more to her than meets the eye. | Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

As he praised her beauty, Donald touched on why he loved Melania’s personality. “… she’s beyond beauty. She’s a nice person,” he told Stern. Donald and Melania broke up twice: Once a few months after they began dating and again for a brief period in 2000.

After the breakup, Donald still only spoke kind words about his future wife. He told The New York Times that “Melania is an amazing woman, a terrific woman, a great woman, and she will be missed.” A few months later, they got back together.

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He liked the chase required to win her over

She wasn’t easy to woo. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Trump admitted he didn’t “do well with [Melania] the first time” they met. “The whole thing was not working the first night,” he told Stern, but Donald didn’t let one off night ruin the chance of a relationship. He tried to ask her for her number, to which Melania replied “no” — and asked for his, instead.

“He wanted my number, but he was with a date, so of course, I didn’t give it to him,” she told Harper’s Bazaaryears later. “I said, ‘I am not giving you my number; you give me yours, and I will call you.’ I wanted to see what kind of number he would give me — if it was a business number, what is this? I’m not doing business with you.” Trump gave her “all of his numbers” including his office, personal phone, and extension at Mar-a-Lago.

He likes how low maintenance she is

According to her husband, the first lady isn’t demanding. | Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Donald has complained about many of the women in his life including his daughter, Ivanka, and his ex-wives, Ivana and Marla. Trump joked with Stern about how their kids were more “blue-blooded” than they were. “I think my daughter looks down on me,” Donald admitted.

His first two marriages failed for various reasons, however, Trump reportedly welcomed Melania’s low-maintenance attitude when they got together. “I’m not a nagging wife,” she has declared time after time. Donald described their marriage as tension-free as well. “We literally have never had an argument,” he told CNN in 2005, “We just are very compatible.”

He credits her for part of his success

He knows she’s vital to his success. | Al Drago-Pool/Getty Images

Donald later told gossip columnist Cindy Adams how happy he and Melania were together. “We are very happy together. She’s shown she can be the woman behind me. We’re together five years, and these five years for whatever reasons have been my most successful. I have to imagine she had something to do with that.”

When Trump was “exploring” running for president in 2000, Melania spoke about what kind of first lady she would be — little did she know she’d actually fill the role 16 years later. “I would be very traditional. Like Betty Ford or Jackie Kennedy. I would support him.”

Donald told Howard Stern he loved Melania’s accent — but what could that mean for their marriage?

Melania’s not the only woman in his life to have an accent. | Oliver Contreras-Pool/Getty Images

He used to love Ivana’s accent as well, after all. Donald once put Melania on the phone with Stern mid-interview. When they hung up, he explained to Stern that he likes women with accents. “Well you know what it is, the accent’s cute now, but you better not get married,” Stern cautioned Donald. “Because you know what happened, Ivana’s accent was cute for a long time…”

“Yes, it was amazing,” Trump replied, “and then one time I woke up that [sic] it was terrible, I couldn’t stand it.”

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