Melania Trump got a whole lot more than she bargained for after attending a New York City Fashion Week party and stumbling into her future husband. She and Donald were first introduced in Manhattan in 1998, but the former president was with another woman at the time. “He wanted my number, but he was with a date, so, of course I didn’t give it to him,” the former first lady said of their first encounter in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar. Instead, Melania got clever about the “Apprentice” star, who is 24 years older than her. “I said, ‘I am not giving you my number; you give me yours, and I will call you.'”
Melania ended up dialing Donald’s line a few days later, changing the course of her future with a single phone call. “I was struck by his energy,” she recalled. “He has an amazing sense of vitality.” Donald came with a lot of baggage, however, with four kids of his own and a divorce from his second wife, Marla Maples, that had yet to be finalized. Nonetheless, the two quickly began dating, and Melania’s star power began to rise as a New York City socialite.
The two cemented the next step in their relationship in 2004 when Donald proposed to his bride-to-be with a 1.5-million-dollar engagement ring. The businessman popped the question at the Met Gala, and the rest is history.
