Long before the White House placed her under constant media scrutiny, Melania’s life revolved around privacy, routine and quiet ambitions. On 13 October 2025, reports emerged revealing rare details of her personal life prior to meeting Donald.
She has said on more than one occasion that she prefers to keep her private life to herself, although the attention of the cameras was never anything new to her. “I’m not afraid of the media. I’m not camera-shy. It’s my job. It’s my modelling career. But sometimes it can be very difficult, unpleasant and unfair,” she admitted.
Melania’s quiet life in New York
During the years when Melania lived alone in New York, her lifestyle was calm and disciplined. It was reported that she walked with ankle weights, ate at least seven pieces of fruit every day and strictly adhered to her skincare routine.
She wasn’t drawn to the club scene and usually gave the late-night parties a miss. A typical evening might go something like this: dinner at Cipriani at ten o’clock in the evening, followed by a return home around one o’clock in the morning.
According to her acquaintances, she was attracted to wealthy and successful European men. People close to her said that she would occasionally go out with Italians and high-society playboys, but more often than not it would be limited to dinner, after which she would soon return home.
Peter Butoln, Head on Business development and sales, C-astral aerospace d.o.o., Slovenia: "We have great chance to do business in Uzbekistan." pic.twitter.com/w67zQ3wHQy
— Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade (@MIIT_Uz) May 16, 2025
Melania adhered to a strict routine: workouts, swimming, the sauna and rest. If she had no engagements or modelling shoots, she preferred to stay at home. Back then, her style was more understated. Later, having gained access to haute couture and designer brands, she noticeably changed her wardrobe and now often appears in her signature Manolo Blahnik shoes.
What friends said about Melania Trump
‘She was quite reserved; the first party she ever went to with me was the very one where she met Donald Trump,’ recalled her friend Edith Molnar. Paolo Zampolli, president of ID Models — the agency that discovered Melania and brought her to New York in 1996 — also described her as a ‘homebody’.
‘Before Donald, she didn’t go out with anyone in New York. She went to the cinema on her own and worked out at the gym,” he added. And yet, several men claimed to have been part of Melania’s romantic past before Donald. Here’s what is known about them.
Alleged first boyfriend — Peter Butoln
A man named Peter Butoln once claimed to have been Melania’s first boyfriend and shared his memories of her teenage years in Slovenia, including the story of how they met. “She was my first love,” Peter admitted in an interview with Inside Edition. “My first true love.”
Melania, who was born in the small town of Sevnica with a population of around five thousand, met Peter, according to him, after moving to Ljubljana at the age of seventeen, where she enrolled at an elite school.
He recounted that he approached her when he spotted her in the city centre, as he was immediately struck by her beauty. However, their relationship ended when he left for military service, and they never saw each other again after that.
Peter’s last contact with Melania was a postcard she sent him in 1987, shortly after they parted ways. ‘I’m sending you this postcard with warm regards from the coast,’ it reportedly said. He kept it for many years.
Despite these fond memories, a spokesperson for the First Lady clarified that Peter had never been her boyfriend.
Her last Slovenian boyfriend was Jure Zorčič
Melania’s ex-boyfriend, Jure Zorčič, has also spoken publicly about their past. In an interview with ABC News, he said that she stood out even in her youth. “She wanted to live abroad — in Italy, France, in the world of fashion,” he said. “She was very stylish.”
They met in 1991 in Slovenia. Jure was riding his motorbike at the time and saw her walking down the street. “There was a moment when I thought: ‘Wow, who’s that girl? She’s so beautiful, I’ve got to turn round and follow her’,” he recalled of their first meeting, which, in his words, was almost like a scene from a Hollywood film.
He stopped, struck up a conversation with her and invited her for a coffee. They dated for several months and often spent time with friends on the Croatian coast.