Melania Trump defends nude modeling career in latest video promoting new memoir

Melania Trump has taken the media to task over its interest in her past nude modeling career in the latest video promoting her new memoirMelania.

“Why do I stand proudly behind my nude modelling work?” the former first lady and wife of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, 54, asks in the video posted on X and Instagram.

“The more pressing question is why has the media chosen to scrutinize my celebration of the human form in a fashion photo shoot?”

Cycling through some examples of nude figures from classical paintings and sculptures, including works by Cezanne and Michelangelo, she continues: “Are we no longer able to appreciate the beauty of the human body?

“Throughout history, master artists have revered the human shape, evoking profound emotions and admiration.

“We should honour our bodies and embrace the timeless tradition of using art as a powerful means of self expression.”

Originally from Novo Mesto, Slovenia, Melania Knavs began modeling aged 16 in Paris and Milan.

There, she met the businessman Paolo Zampolli, who first brought her to New York City in 1996 and introduced her to her future husband Donald Trump two years later.

Trump signed her to his agency Trump Model Management in 1999 while they were dating and, in 2000, she appeared nude in British GQ, posing aboard the luxury property tycoon’s private jet.

The pictures were taken by French photographer Antoine Verglas, who told ABC News during the 2016 presidential campaign that he had rejected offers worth “tens of thousands of dollars” to license his images to other magazines.

He said the model had insisted there be no “full nudity” in the pictures and remembered: “Melania was a very reserved person. She was definitely not someone who you would see