Melania Trump’s Birthplace, Slovenia Hometown, Childhood Home: Photos

Trump was born in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, on April 26, 1970.

She spent her childhood in Sevnica, a small town 30 miles away.

It has a population of 17,672, according to data collected by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia in 2023.

Slovenia became independent in 1991.

Sevnica produces over 150 kinds of salami, a feat celebrated at its annual Salamiada festival.

Sevnica’s tourism doubled in the year before Donald Trump’s first term as interest in Melania Trump grew, a tour guide told Reuters in January 2017.

The small town capitalized on its claim to fame as the former FLOTUS’ hometown, offering tours, foods, and souvenirs named after her.

For 2017 as a whole, the number of foreigners visiting Slovenia jumped 17% when compared to the previous year, with a total of 3.4 million visitors, Reuters reported in January 2018.

The number of visitors has risen in the years since, with just under 7 million visitors in 2025, The Slovenian Times reported.

Her father, Viktor Knavs, worked as a car salesman. Her mother, Amalija, worked at a local textile factory.

Trump has one sister, Ines Knauss, and a half-brother, Denis Cigelnjak.

Mirjana Jelancic, a friend of Trump’s who went on to become principal of the school, told ABC News in 2016 that the young Trump was “an angel” and “a very good student.”

When Trump and her sister, Ines, were in high school, the Knavs family moved to Ljubljana, Slovenia’s capital. There, Trump was scouted by photographer Stane Jerko and signed with a modeling agency when she was 18.

Trump made the donation after her wedding in 2005, The New York Times reported.

Trump is the second first lady born outside the US. The first was John Quincy Adams’ wife, Louisa Catherine Adams, who was born in London.

The Rotary Klub Sevnica held events in honor of Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017 and 2025. Proceeds from the 2025 event went toward a youth scholarship fund, the Slovenian outlet Dolenjski List reported.

The wooden statue, modeled after Trump’s blue Ralph Lauren inauguration dress, garnered mixed reviews.

A plaque at the site says the new bronze statue is “dedicated to the eternal memory of a monument to Trump which stood in this location from 2019-2020.”

At a 2023 naturalization ceremony held at the National Archives in Washington, DC, Trump said that becoming a US citizen is a “life-altering experience that takes time, determination, and sometimes even tremendous strength.” She also recalled navigating a “labyrinth” of paperwork to obtain a worker visa during her modeling career.

“I recall feeling a tremendous sense of pride and belonging after I recited the US oath of allegiance, as the pathway to citizenship is arduous,” she said.