Donald Trump ‘Just Wanted a Gorgeous Woman in Photo’ When He Met Melania

In her revealing book, The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump, author Mary Jordan pulls back the curtain on the early life of America’s famously private first lady — including the night she first crossed paths with Donald Trump.

That first meeting happened at a New York Fashion Week party in the late 1990s. At the time, Melania Trump was 27 and building her modeling career. The scene was Manhattan’s Kit Kat Club, and according to Trump, the moment was instant.

Speaking to Larry King in 2005, Trump said he was supposed to meet another woman that night — a well-known model. But when he noticed Melania sitting nearby, his plans changed immediately.

“I went crazy,” Trump recalled. “I was actually supposed to meet somebody else… I said, ‘Forget about her. Who is the one on the left?’ And it was Melania.”

Melania later described the connection as having “great chemistry and energy.”

Jordan’s book adds deeper context to that moment, painting Trump as a very different figure in the 1990s. According to the author, he wasn’t yet a political lightning rod but a wealthy, well-known businessman who moved easily through elite social circles.

“He wasn’t in politics,” Jordan writes. “He was charming and fun, not the divisive, polarizing person we know now.”

At the time, Trump was part of a group Jordan describes as “the modelisers” — wealthy men who frequented fashion events and parties during the height of the supermodel era. But unlike many of his peers, Trump reportedly didn’t drink, didn’t use drugs, and didn’t make heavy demands.

“He just wanted a gorgeous woman in the photo so that he could be in the paper,” Jordan notes, adding that he would then go straight back to work.

The book also explores what Jordan calls the “unusual” dynamic of Donald and Melania’s relationship. According to the author, Melania has intentionally carved out her own private world — even during their years in the White House.

“She rarely goes into the West Wing,” Jordan writes. “She doesn’t like to golf. She has her own little spa. She likes to be isolated. She is a loner. He is a loner. They’re perfectly happy to be separated.”

Trump proposed in 2004, and the couple married on January 22, 2005, in a lavish ceremony at Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, followed by a star-studded reception at Mar-a-Lago. Their son, Barron Trump, was born in March 2006.

Melania is Trump’s third wife. He was previously married to Ivana Trump, with whom he shares Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric, and later to Marla Maples, the mother of Tiffany.