Melania Trump is a name known worldwide. Being married to the President of the United States of America and business mogul Donald Trump, it doesn’t come as a surprise that the public is interested in her private life. She, however, tends to stay out of the spotlight, which is also true for her son Barron and another person very close to the former First Lady—her older sister, Ines Knauss.
Growing up, the two sisters shared a very strong bond, and today that hasn’t changed even a bit. The sisters were born in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, but grew up in the small railway town of Sevnica. Their father, Viktor, who was a car mechanic and chauffeur, and their mother, Amalija, who worked as a pattern-maker at a clothing factory, were able to provide a good life for Melania and Ines.
“I grew up with a beautiful family and had a wonderful childhood,” Melania Trump said. “My mother and father taught us the importance of education, hard work and family.”
Viktor and Amalija took their daughters on vacations in France, Italy, and Germany. Today, they live in the States, but they still own their home in Slovenia, which they visit several times a year.
The two sisters were always dressed impeccably as their mom spent hours designing and making clothes for them. Later on, Melania designed the clothes her mother sewed for her herself.
“She was very pretty,” Tomšič, who has run a local hospital to which Melania donated $25,000 after marrying Donald Trump, told GQ in 2016. “She was always very fancy.”
At the age of 16, Melania was scouted by fashion photographer Stane Jerko, who spotted her leaning on a fence while leaving a fashion show at the Festival Hall.
“By the staircase at the entrance, I saw this girl,” Jerko recalled. “She was tall, slim, with long hair. I told her who I was, what I did, and why I would photograph her.”
In 1987, Melania decided to drop out of the University of Ljubljana and focus on modeling instead. It took her only a year to get a contract with a modeling agency in Milan. Once there, she focused on her goal of making a name for herself and went home after work instead of partying.
“She kept to herself, she was a loner. After a shoot or a catwalk, she went home, not out. She didn’t want to waste time partying,” Jerko said.
Melania didn’t embark on this adventure by herself. Her sister Ines, who also wanted a career in the fashion world as a designer, accompanied her. Speaking of Ines, Paris-based photographer Ale de Basseville said she was polite, mellow, and very different from others trying to break into fashion.
When Melania met Italian businessman Paolo Zampolli, who helped her get a work visa to the U.S., her sister went with her. At a Kit Kat Club event during New York Fashion Week in 1998, Zampolli brought a friend—Donald Trump. He was with a date, but when he saw Melania, he wanted to know more about her.
Melania refused to give Donald her phone number that night, insisting he give her his instead. “If I give him my number, I’m just one of the women he calls,” she later explained.
The rest is history. While much is known about Melania, very little is known about Ines, who isn’t just her sister but also her closest confidante. According to People, Ines was Melania’s maid of honor at her wedding to Donald Trump and lives in a Trump-owned apartment just blocks away from her sister’s penthouse.
Friends describe Ines as creative, kind, and deeply loyal. She is also an artist, and Melania has shared her illustrations on social media. Fashion designer Luisa Beccaria confirmed the sisters are like best friends, adding that when Barron was born, Melania relied on her sister the most.
Despite Melania’s public life, it’s clear that behind the scenes, her strongest support has always been her sister—quietly present, deeply trusted, and inseparable from the woman the world knows so well.
