Melania Trump's mysterious love life: What do we know about her dating history?

Melania and Donald Trump have been an item since 1998. Donald proposed to Melania on April 26, 2004, the same day as her birthday. The couple got married in 2005, shortly after they tied the knot, Melania was asked if her husband was controlling and this is what she said.

A year after their wedding, on March 20, 2006, Donald and Melania welcomed their son, Barron. For Melania, Barron is her only son, while for Donald, he is his fifth child. As many know, Melania was a model before becoming a mother and eventually The First Lady in 2017.

A former friend of Melania’s has revealed some details about her life before she married Donald.

Melania has always preferred a quiet life

In 2020, Melania’s former friend and advisor, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff published a book about their friendship, entitled: Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady.

In her book, Wolkoff revealed that the former model preferred a quieter life, not favouring clubbing and only going out for a few hours. As per She Knows, Wolkoff wrote:

When Melania first arrived in New York at twenty-six, she didn’t go out to dance clubs; she’d go to Harry Cipriani for dinner at ten and be home by one.

She also claimed that Melania went out with a certain type of man, often the ‘wealthier, the industrious, European type’.

Men she would go out with tended to be wealthier, the industrious, European type. They were Italians, playboys. But they’d go out for dinner and she’d be home before [I] was.

She adds that the former model has ‘never been much of a party girl’. She explains that Melania had a different idea when it came to having fun.

The Melania I know preferred to sit around the penthouse in her Trump bathrobe or to march around with weights on her ankles, pumping her pink dumbbells.

Stephanie Winston Wolkoff briefly speaks about Melania’s dating history amid rumours she had dated a fellow Slovenian while in college. She explained that she was only ‘aware’ of one boyfriend.

It’s been reported that Melania had dated a Slovenian while in college. I’m only aware of a previous boyfriend in Paris or Milan. She ‘dated’ before Donald, of course.

Indeed not much is known about who Melania Trump dated before falling in love with the American billionaire, but two men have claimed to have dated the model before her life completely changed.

Melania allegedly had a boyfriend before leaving Slovenia

As reported by ABC News, Melania Trump allegedly had a boyfriend when she was still living in Slovenia. Indeed, her supposed boyfriend, Jure Zorcic spoke with ABC News back in 2016 about their relationship.

He revealed in the interview that Melania had always wanted to live abroad, but the US was allegedly not one of the places she had discussed. He told ABC News:

She wanted to live abroad, in Italy, France, a life of fashion. She was very fashionable.

Zoric spoke about his very first encounter with the Slovenian model, claiming it was ‘like in a movie’. According to him, the two met in 1991, when Slovenia was between wars. He had seen her walking down the street and thought she was ‘so beautiful’.

I was on my motorbike, and she has been walking down a street. As I passed by her, I had a moment and thought, 'Wow, who is this girl? She is so beautiful, I must turn back and follow her.

The pair started talking and Zoric invited Melania for coffee. Per ABC News, Melania and Jure dated for several months and would regularly spend summer days by the Croatian beach with friends.

Speaking about Melania, Zoric revealed he was ‘impressed’ from the beginning and she was ‘classy’.

I was impressed by her beauty from the very first moment. She was very nicely dressed, and her behavior was classy.

Following Melania’s move to the US, she and Jure met up once in 2000. Zoric recalled the meeting and explained that he was ‘surprised’ she had spoken to him in English instead of Slovenian.

I asked her: did you forget that you are Slovenian?

She told me she spent her time travelling between New York and Fort Lauderdale in Florida and that she would never go back to Slovenia.

Melania also reportedly dated Peter Butoln

Inside Edition reported in 2016 that Melania Trump had also dated Peter Butoln.

Peter told the magazine that Melania was his ‘first love’. The two met in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Melania had moved to the city to attend an elite high school when she was 17. Speaking about Melania, Peter told Inside Edition:

I saw her in a crowd of girls and she was the most beautiful girl. She was very calm, very peaceful, very modest.

The young couple would allegedly hang out in Melania’s apartment in a government housing project. According to Butoln, their relationship ended when he left for the army and the two have never seen each other since then.

However, Peter did reveal that the former model had sent him a postcard shortly after their breakup. The card reportedly read:

I send you this postcard with nice warm regards from the seaside.

Melania was discovered by a photographer shortly after her breakup with Peter. She then dropped out of college and became a model.

As per Inside Edition, a spokesperson for Melania Trump has denied Peter Butoln was her past boyfriend. Moreover, Melania has been very private about her day-to-day life and has never openly spoken about her past relationships before she married Donald Trump.

The previous accounts are from one party only and Melania has not confirmed any of the statements made by her alleged ex-boyfriends.

Read more:

Donald Trump reportedly gets 'annoyed' when Melania and Barron speak in Slovenian

Melania Trump is reportedly very close to her older sister: Who is Ines Knauss?

Melania Trump and Barron talk about their life in the spotlight, source claims: 'She tries to normalize his life'

Sources used:

She Knows: ‘Melania Trump’s Dating Life Before Donald Totally Clashes with Her Model Past’

ABC News: ‘Ex-Boyfriend of Donald Trump's Wife Melania Says She Was Never a 'Typical Slovenian Girl'

Inside Edition: ‘Man Who Says He Was Melania Trump's First Boyfriend Recounts Her Humble Teen Years in Slovenia’