On Friday, Jan. 20, 2017, Donald and Melania Trump were sworn in as the United States’ President and First Lady. On that day, a storm of photos surfaced the internet of their family, Donald, and Melania all looking happy to become America’s model family. But recently, a series of videos and photos have come out proving Melania feels otherwise.
this makes me really sad, i genuinely feel bad for her. he doesn’t appreciate her and she doesn’t seem happy at all pic.twitter.com/PPpxHMFUXR
— sensitive snowflake (@hydroponicjuan) January 22, 2017
— Marv (@Marv_Vien) January 23, 2017
All of these tweets took Twitter by storm, and since then have created the explosive hashtag to trend on Twitter, #FreeMelania. But with all these pictures and videos, one can’t help but think the inner and personal marriage that Donald and Melania have led for twelve long years. What is the inside of their marriage like? What is the truth behind Melania? Well, here is a quick crash course on the phenomenon that is Melania and Donald’s marriage, and perhaps the reason as to why we might come across with more future videos and photos like the ones above.
Why is Melania the way she is? Here’s a brief, and explanatory reason to explain all the nooks and crannies. Growing up in a communist Slovenia in the 70’s, you’d expect for their family to suffer like the rest of Slovenia’s population at the time. But, their family was doing quite alright. Julia Ioffe, a writer for GQ and the author of an inside biography of Melania and her family, wrote that Melania’s mother had worked for a company that specialized in making clothes for children and her father was a driver for a nearby town’s Mayor. Melania grew up with lavish taste in almost everything her mother kept a modest apartment and taught her daughter everything about style and beauty. As a teenager, Melania was always found flipping through the Western fashion magazines her mother brought home from her travel endeavors. Once, a rumor had been going around through the slopes of Slovenia that Melania had never bought jewelry, she always made her own. (Maybe this inspired her Vanity Fair Mexico cover?)
As teenage Melania treasured and idolized everything her mother did from the beauty to the posh, there was still the same admiration for her father. Melania viewed and grew up in a very traditional home, in which her father brought the big money to the table everyday. Melania admired her father very much, but the same couldn’t be said for the general public. It had been rumored that Victor Knavs was in prison for illicit trade and tax evasion in 1976, but the prison records were since sealed and kept from the public. The scandals behind Mr. Knavs had become even juicer; in which he apparently sued his ex girlfriend in attempt to not pay for child support. To this day, Knavs has not acknowledged his now-fifty-year-old son. And to top it all off, he was a public member of the Communist party, which at the time struck people odd, as only 5% of Slovenia’s population were public communists. As we review our Mr. Victor Knavs, does this remind you of a special orange guy who just so happens to be Melania’s husband?
As Melania grew up to be the foreign goddess New York dreamed of, Slovenia’s picture of studious and disciplined Melania Knavs still remain locked in her roots. It was once told by a roommate of Melania in Paris, that they both ran up and down the stairs to burn off all the calories that they ate from ‘too much ice cream.’ Her roommate recalls, that she had always been very discipline in her diets and her figure.
So, as disciplined, studious and shy as people make Melania to be, why does she continue to be with a misogynist and a sexual predator? Is it the well known myth of ‘you eventually marry your father’ that psychologists have preached about, or is there something more to it? Recently, Broadly, a series from Vice that focuses exclusively for women and only women, interviewed a relationship expert about the depth and the invisible tie that Melania seems to be holding on to in her marriage. Dr. Nicole Martinez, talked further about how this is just a ‘classic case of the woman being in denial of how shitty her boyfriend/husband is.’ Martinez pointed out that Melania constantly uses ‘buzzwords’ such as ‘I’m independent’ and ‘I’m strong’ to prove the exact opposite of how her behavior actually is. Using buzzwords like such, is usually a red flag for outsiders to look for in a toxic relationship. Another red flag that is common, (and evident in Melania’s marriage) is the defense of the other partner’s wrongdoings. For example, when the Billy Bush Access Hollywood tape was leaked, in which Donald Trump admits that he sexually assaulted a group of women, Melania commented in an interview with Anderson Cooper that she believes her husband was ‘egged on’ to say bad things like such, and perceived it as ‘boy talk.’ Not only was Melania defending his actions, but also placing the blame on someone else. Dr. Martinez explained that people in toxic relationships often try to negate their internalized shame of their parter and pretend that they weren’t wrong.
Melania Trump, born Melanija Knavs, we will never know the true gaping hole that is in her heart, and why it was empty in the first place. It could’ve been her father, her mother, or a little bit of both, but the point being is that, we as Americans should be concerned.
As concerned Twitter viewers that come across these photos and videos, we should be concerned for Melania’s well safety and being. As citizens of the United States and concerned civilians, we should be concerned for the model that is going to represent marriage in America for four years, and we should wonder if this is the couple we want our children looking up to and thinking that is love. We should be concerned. We should feel, and we should wonder. After all, those are the real hidden American principles that we often forget exist.
