In 2016, Russian-American journalist Julia Ioffe traveled to Slovenia to write a profile on Melania Trump for GQ. While there, she dug into Trump’s past, unearthing some fairly dirty laundry on her family. Ioffe uncovered court documents detailing a legal battle between Trump’s father, Viktor Knavs, and his former partner Marija Cigelnjak. Cigelnjak became pregnant with Knavs’ son and opted to take her to court on the basis that he was not the father of the child, but blood tests soon revealed that Knavs was indeed the biological father.
Ioffe told CBS that the GQ profile “took months to report,” and that the court documents were important proof of her story. Trump lashed out at the profile’s statements, but Ioffe felt that her reporting was justified. She told CBS she was “sorry,” but “[Melania’s] husband is running for president — she is now a public person.” After news of Trump’s “secret” sibling broke, her half-brother also decided to step forward.
Denis Cigelnjak, Melania Trump’s half-brother, confessed on Slovenian TV that Knavs wanted Marija to get an abortion. Broken up over the collapse of her relationship with Knavs, Marija wanted nothing to do with him and raised the boy on her own — without any financial help from Knavs. Despite this, Denis said that he would love to meet his father, Melania, Donald, and Melania’s sister Ines. Unfortunately, neither Trump nor her father have ever publicly acknowledged Denis.
Post source: The List
