The venue was filled with models, designers, and celebrities. When she arrived, she noticed her friend greeting a man approaching with a blonde woman beside him. “‘I’m Donald Trump,’ he said,” Melania recalls. She recognized the name but knew little else. Despite being accompanied, Trump focused his attention on Melania, asking about her life, travels, and her native Slovenia.
“His eyes were full of curiosity and interest,” she writes, describing his energy as magnetic. When his companion stepped away, Trump asked for Melania’s phone number. She declined — then flipped the moment in her favor. “You give me your number instead,” she told him.