She was born in Sevnica, Slovenia, at the time when it was part of (the former) Yugoslavia. She grew up in a home where her parents made sure she was well-educated with the intention of success in life on their minds. This meant many hours of studying when she was young.

In 1999, she met Trump at a fashion event. At the same time she secured a big modeling job for Allure magazine.

Her notoriety was raised a few notches after appearing on the Howard Stern show with Trump and revealing their naughty sex life. This led to a nude layout in British GQ magazine, including the cover shot in January of 2000. She was considered a supermodel in many parts of Europe, although she did not achieve that level of fame in the United States.

As Melania's relationship with Trump grew, Melania continued to do modeling, but also became involved with the social set of New York. Their relationship received increasing publicity after the launch of Trump's successful business-oriented reality television show, The Apprentice.

Trump and Knauss became engaged in 2004, and married on January 22, 2005 at Bethesda by the Sea Episcopal Church in Palm Beach, Florida, followed by a reception at Trump's Mar-A-Lago estate. Their wedding ceremony was widely covered by the media, with the fact that Knauss wore a $200,000 dress made by the house of Christian Dior, frequently noted. It weighed 50 pounds and was so big, Melania had to sit on a bench for dinner. To dance the night away, she changed into a more maneuverable Vera Wang dress after the traditional first dance with her husband. The cake at the reception was a 50 pound orange Grand Marnier cake with a Grand Marnier buttercream filling, covered with 3,000 roses, constructed by the chef at Mar-A-Lago.

Recently, Knauss has appeared in a comic TV advertisement for Aflac insurance, in which she and the Aflac mascot, a duck, voiced by comedian Gilbert Gottfried, exchange personalities via a Frankenstein-like mad experiment. She has appeared as a guest host on The View.