Melania Trump's Childhood Was Totally Different Than People Think

With the release of her memoir earlier this month, former first lady Melania Trump is welcoming the world into her life and her past -– and revealing more about her childhood and upbringing than many ever knew. In her self-titled memoir, "Melania," she got candid about her "beautiful" childhood in Slovenia, credited her parents for her life today, and dismissed some of the more negative reports about the conditions under which she and her family lived during her youth.

Melania Trump wasn't raised enjoying the lavish and decadent lifestyle she now knows as the wife of gold décor-lover and former president Donald Trump. Instead, Melania — born Melanija Knavs on April 26, 1970 — grew up in Slovenia when it was part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a single-party communist state run by Josip Broz Tito. However, unlike many other Yugoslavian republics, Slovenia enjoyed greater economic health and its citizens were granted more freedoms than those in neighboring communist regions.

"Countless stories about my childhood have been published, yet they often miss the mark, painting a bleak and inaccurate picture of my upbringing," the former model wrote in "Melania." "In truth, my childhood was filled with happiness, beauty and positivity, far from the typical narrative of a girl raised in a communist society." She went on to note that any of the negative aspects of governmental control went unnoticed by her as a child. "I didn't feel it because I had a beautiful childhood, and when you're that age, you don't really know anything better," she shared.

In her memoir, Melania Trump reflected on the joys of her childhood and the opportunities provided to her and her sister, Ines, by her parents. Her father, Viktor Knavs, was a successful car salesman, which gave the family the financial means to travel together, taking trips to Italy, Greece, and Austria. As Melania wrote, "Despite living in a region that was often seen as separate from the rest of the world, we were fortunate to have the opportunity to travel and explore different cultures."

She also explained how her own passion for fashion was sparked by her mother, Amalija Knavs, who worked as a patternmaker at a children's clothing manufacturing plant in the Slovenian town of Sevnica. This is something she's spoken about before. In a 2016 interview with GQ, Melania recalled watching her mom design patterns, which is where she learned to draw her own. Melania would eventually strike out on her own in the fashion world and become a United States citizen in 2006.

Ultimately, Melania reflected warmly about her upbringing, and how her family worked together to navigate the challenges they faced. "My family, like many others, prospered due to my parents' ambition, determination, and strong work ethic," Melania wrote, adding that, when she was a kid, she was oblivious to the occasional difficulties of her circumstances. "You just have a childhood, you leave, you go to school, you go to the classes, you play sports, you spend time with the family, and that is all," she wrote. "You don't know what's really going on in the country."