She has said that she admires her husband’s strength and his strong work ethic. But only now can we see what exactly caught Donald Trump’s eye when he first met his third wife Melania. A steamy series of pictures show the former model aged 25 as she poses completely naked for a French men’s magazine.
One of the photos shows Slovenian-born Mrs Trump stands staring at the camera wearing just a pair of black heels with her hand over her private parts.
And more images feature her with another female model, both fully naked on a bed, with Mrs Trump’s breasts completely bare.
The photos were revealed as Mr Trump, the Republican Presidential nominee, prepares to take on Hillary Clinton in November’s US election.
They ran in the January 1996 issue of Max magazine, which went out of business in 2006.
A first round of images, published by the New York Post, showed Mrs Trump posing naked from different angles.
One of the photos shows her with her hands on a wall and turning her head round – as she pouts at the camera.
In another image, she once again covers her private parts with her hands, wearing only a row of silver bracelets.
The shoot was by French photographer Alé de Basseville, who said that it took place Manhattan in 1995 as Mrs Trump was establishing herself as a model in the US.
More photos surfaced in the early hours of Monday, this time showcasing Mrs Trump in the company of another female model.
One of the pictures, published by the New York Post, shows them lying down together as the other woman embraces Mrs Trump from behind.
Another photo shows Mrs Trump in a long gown while the other woman, wearing stockings and a black negligee, grabs Mrs Trump’s arm and brandishes a whip as if to spank her.
De Basseville said that Mrs Trump was ‘super-great and a fantastic personality and she was very kind with me’.
‘This is beauty and not porn,’ he told the New York Post. ‘I am always shocked by the porn industry because they are destroying the emotion and the essence of purity and simplicity.’
Not once did Mrs Trump seem uncomfortable about posing in the nude, said Mr de Basseville, who took inspiration from Renaissance paintings to do the shoot.
He also wanted to celebrate the beauty of the female body.
Mr de Basseville said: ‘I think it is important to show the beauty and the freedom of the woman, and I am very proud of these pictures because they celebrate Melania’s beauty.
The photos were published by the New York Post, which ran them on the front page with the headline: ‘The Ogle Office’.
Mrs Trump appears in the images under her stage name Melania K, short for Melania Knauss, her original name.
One shows her bathed in orange light wearing just three gold bangles on her left arm – as she stares coldly into the camera.
At the time of the shoot, Mrs Trump had only recently arrived in New York having previously modeled in Paris and Milan.
Mrs Trump met her future husband in 1998 at a party during New York Fashion Week; Mr Trump recalled thinking to himself: ‘Wow! Who is that?’
She initially refused to give him her number but he pursued her, won her heart and they married in 2005.
The couple have one son together, Barron, 10. Mr Trump has four other children from his first two wives.
During his Presidential run Mrs Trump has been a loyal campaigner for her husband and in her speech at the Republican National Convention she said he was a strong leader.
However, she was embroiled in a plagiarism row after it emerged a large chunk of the speech had been copied from one given by Michelle Obama.
The pictures are not the only time that Mrs Trump has done a revealing photo shoot.
In January 2000, she posed for GQ magazine with just a fur rug to hide her modesty.
The following month, she posed wearing a red bikini and gold heels for the now defunct Talk magazine.
The photoshoot shows Mrs Trump lying on a carpet on top of what looks like the Presidential seal in a room that was mocked up to look like the Oval Office.
Mrs Trump has said that, if her husband becomes President, she use Jackie Kennedy as her example for how to be a First Lady.
Along with her modelling she also has a range of jewelry and watches and cosmetics.
Mr Trump said in a statement: ‘Melania was one of the most successful models and she did many photoshoots, including for covers and major magazines.
‘This was a picture taken for a European magazine prior to my knowing Melania. In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common’.
Meanwhile Jason Miller, a senior communications adviser on Trump’s campaign, defended the photos on CNN’s Reliable Sources.
‘They’re a celebration of the human body as art,’ he said.’ ‘There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. She’s a beautiful woman.’
Daily Mail
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