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Melania Trump has always been clear about her longtime relationship with her now-husband, Donald Trump. The First Lady has received many different opinions regarding her personal life, especially after stepping into the spotlight when she went public with her romance with the businessman in 1999.
A resurfaced interview is now going viral, where the Slovenian model swiftly shut down the negative comments. The ABC News interview took place in 1999 when Melania was just 26 years old. The correspondent Don Dahler asked her about her relationship with Trump, who was 53 then.
Melania started by saying that the public had a different perception of what she was in real life. "You know, the people, they don't know me," she responded after it was asked if she would say "yes" to a marriage proposal, adding that she felt "hurt" by the comments.
© Ron Galella"People who talk like this, they don't know me," she continued. The reporter responded: "Well, you don't see many 26-year-old supermodels on the arm of a 53-year-old car mechanic," to which Melania explained, "You know what, you can't sleep or to hug or to talk with beautiful things, with beautiful apartment, beautiful plane, beautiful cars, beautiful houses, you can't do that."
© Ron Galella"You could feel very empty," she said to the suggestions that she was only interested in Trump for his fortune. "And if somebody said, "You're with the man because he's rich and famous," they don't know me," she added.
The couple moved in together at the Trump Tower in 2002 after they started their connection in 1998. The now-president proposed in 2004, with Melania signing a pre-nuptial agreement. The pair married in 2005 and welcomed Barron Trump in 2006.
© Ron GalellaDuring the 1999 interview, she was also asked if she could picture herself as First Lady of the United States. "Yes, I would be very traditional like Jackie Kennedy. I will support him, I will do a lot of social obligations," she said at the time.
"If you did become First Lady, it probably wouldn't be ethical for you to give commercial endorsements to products, so your modeling career might be over at that moment. What would you think about that?" the reporter said. "I would stand by [my] man," Melania responded, adding that she would end her modeling career.
