Melania Trump she is Growing up Knauss (in Yugoslavia)

She was born Melania Knauss, on April 26, 1970 in the industrial town of Novo Mesto, in the former Yugoslavia. Light years away from the opulent NYC penthouse she calls home today, she spent her earliest years kicking around in a stark, Communist-era apartment block, looking out onto factory chimney stacks, according to the AP (via PEOPLE). The NYTimes reports her father Viktor worked as a salesman, and her mother Amalija was a children's clothing designer. "I think I can say [Novo Mesto] was too small for her," childhood friend Mirjana Jelancic shared with the AP (via PEOPLE). "Even as a child, she dreamed of moving." Jelancic, now elementary school principal where both formerly attended, further described Melania to ABC News, "She was a very good student. She was an angel."

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