Melania Trump is back in the White House as America’s first lady for a second time — but her life and legacy go beyond her duties as the commander-in-chief's wife.

She made a name for herself even before she met President Donald Trump, when she stepped foot on United States soil at age 26. 

Born Melania Knauss, she came to America from Slovenia in 1996 with "youthful confidence."

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"As an adult, there comes a moment when you become solely responsible for the life you lead," she writes in her bestselling memoir, "Melania."

"You must take charge, embrace that responsibility, and become the architect of your own future."

Two years after living in Manhattan, the future Mrs. Trump met the real-estate mogul, Donald J. Trump, at a party while she was still deep into her modeling career.

"He wanted my number, but he was with a date, so of course I didn’t give it to him," the first lady said in a 2016 interview with Harper’s Bazaar.

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"I said, ‘I am not giving you my number; you give me yours, and I will call you.’ I wanted to see what kind of number he would give me — if it was a business number, ‘What is this? I’m not doing business with you.’"

The future president gave her all of his phone numbers, from numbers at Mar-a-Lago to his New York home — and within a week, she gave him a ring.

"I was struck by his energy… He has an amazing sense of vitality," Melania Trump told the magazine.

The next few years involved the finalization of Trump’s second divorce and a brief split between the happy couple, but they eventually reunited, she has said in interviews. 

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In 2004, Trump proposed to the future first lady at one of the biggest nights in New York City: the Met Gala.

The next year, the Trumps said "I do" at a most luxurious wedding, which was publicly described as being fit for royalty — from the stunning gown worn by the bride to the exquisite reception at Mar-a-Lago.

While the  $100,000 Christian Dior wedding gown, 10,000 flowers on display and chefs serving caviar with Cristal champagne may have been highlights of the evening, Melania Trump said she felt like any other bride when she walked down the aisle.

"Although my wedding was grand in scale … what I felt in my heart was what every other bride feels on her special day. The pressure to ensure everything went smoothly was certainly real, but ultimately, my primary focus was celebrating Donald and my love and commitment, surrounded by my loved ones," she wrote in her memoir.

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On March 20, 2006, the first lady gave birth to the couple's son, Barron William Trump.

In the midst of raising Barron, she continued to find other ways work, inorder to set a good example for her son.

"It’s very important that we show our children that we are working, too. To give them an example [of] how life is," she said in an exclusive interview with "Fox & Friends." 

"That they see us as productive. We have ideas and these ideas come to life," she said. 

After 10 years of raising her son, being the wife of a business mogul and working on her own endeavors, a new title was added to her long list of achievements: first lady of the United States.

She said she had no idea she would become a prominent figure in the political spotlight when she came to America. 

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"I think nothing prepared me more to be first lady in front of the world than the fashion industry… It's glamorous, but it's at the same time very tough," Melania Trump shared in her interview with "Fox & Friends."

"Everybody judges you, [looks] at you a certain way … It can be a mean world as well. So nothing prepared me more for this world than fashion. It gives you a thick skin."

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During her time as first lady, she has been an avid supporter of America's military, saying, "Supporting our military is a fundamental belief of mine," Fox News Digital previously reported.

Her love and respect for this country was also clearly on display as she worked to preserve the executive mansion, seeing it as her way of "contributing something lasting and beautiful to the American people, transcending politics and partisanship."

Having already served the country in this role, she knows what is expected of a first lady. 

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That previous experience is an advantage she will be able to use for the next four years.

"I have much more experience, much more knowledge. I was in the White House before. So when you go in, you know exactly what to expect. You know what kind of people you need to get," she told "Fox & Friends."

She has an understanding of this role and said she's filled with great pride — writing in her memoir that she has a "stronger sense of duty to use my platform as first lady for good."

Opinion writers discuss issues from vaccines to Medicaid.

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A group of younger lawmakers is pressing to change House rules to allow members who are new parents to vote remotely.

A group of younger lawmakers is pressing to change House rules to allow members who are new parents to vote remotely.

FIRST ON FOX: Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his appeal of a ruling handed down by his state's highest court invalidating a 2013 law that requires minors seeking an abortion to obtain notarized written consent from a parent or guardian. 

The law also includes a judicial bypass provision, allowing minors to seek court approval for an abortion without parental consent.

The Montana Supreme Court struck down the Parental Consent for Abortion Act in 2024, ruling it violates a minor’s fundamental right to privacy under the state constitution by conditioning access to abortion on parental consent. 

The court acknowledged parents have a right to direct the care and custody of their children but determined those rights don't override the "fundamental" right of a minor child to seek an abortion.

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Justice Laurie McKinnon, writing for the Montana Supreme Court, said "a minor's right to control her reproductive decisions is among the most fundamental of the rights she possesses" and that the state failed to demonstrate a compelling need for the law to protect minors, Reuters reported at the time.

Knudsen's appeal asks the U.S. Supreme Court to address whether parental rights include the ability to participate in decisions about a minor child’s medical care, including abortion. 

The case highlights the ongoing debate over parental authority after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision.

"SCOTUS should hear the case and reverse the radical Montana Supreme Court’s bad decision allowing minors to receive abortions without parental consent," Knudsen said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

"A child’s right to privacy does not supersede a parent’s fundamental right to direct the care and upbringing of their child. Until we get clarity from the Supreme Court, the health and safety of young Montanans seeking abortions is at risk."

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The outcome could have broad implications for abortion access and parental consent laws nationwide because several states have passed "shield laws" recently, protecting medical providers from legal fallout for performing gender transition surgeries and abortions on minors.

For Knudsen's case to be heard before the court, at least four justices must agree to review it.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Planned Parenthood Montana for comment.

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In early Genesis, God has an important task: To create the world. He could have done so with a breath, a wink, a smile, a thought or nothing at all. Instead, he creates the world in a way that will simultaneously introduce one of the most important ideas in the Torah. 

God creates the world with nine, "And God saids" – teaching us how important words are. If God creates his world with words and we are created in his image – then we, too, create our world with words. 

This theme continues in the plague sequence in Exodus. The text often refers to the "word of God" and the "word of Moses" – when it could have just as easily said "God" and "Moses." The Torah does this to impress upon us that the world is moved by words – and to provide a contrast to Pharaoh, who constantly went back on his word during that sequence.

The Torah later teaches us that there is nothing theoretical or abstract about this. In Numbers 30, Moses gives the people a message from God. "If a man will take a vow to Hashem or swear an oath to establish a prohibition upon himself, he shall not desecrate his word; according to whatever comes from his mouth he will do." Whether making a commitment to act (a vow) or attesting to the veracity of something (an oath), God demands that a man must do whatever he says. 

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This seriousness of words is reflected in the Hebrew language itself. The Hebrew word for word and thing are the same (davar) – reflecting the belief that words, though free and easy to use, are as real and powerful as any physical object. 

Fast-forward to the contemporary era. In his 2023 State of the Union Address, President Biden said that the "climate crisis" is "an existential threat." This is as strong and as urgent a set of words as a person could use – as an "existential threat," of course, is a threat to our very existence.  

The urgent boldness of this pronouncement was not unique. The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Secretary of State John Kerry, Vice Presidents Al Gore and Kamala Harris, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and countless others have all said the same thing, using the same words. 

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But none of them believed what they said.  

How do we know? Each of us knows how we would respond to a genuinely "existential threat." If someone believes that he will die unless he takes medication, he will take the drug. If someone believes that his child is in danger, he will drop everything to rush to her. If someone believes that a hurricane is coming, he will board up his home and get out of town. 

Everyone reacting to what he truly believes to be an existential threat will do something significant personally – and not just talk about it, or tell others what they should do. 

The aforementioned leaders who speak about climate change as an "existential threat" seemingly never do anything to act accordingly. They consume enormous amounts of energy in their homes, fly private and eat meat.   

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The older generation of people who proclaim that climate change is an "existential threat" might not take their words seriously.  

Fast-forward to the generation of their children. Kathleen Clark, the House Democratic whip, proclaims that "there is no question that the climate crisis is the existential threat of our time." In 2022, she told NBC of her child who wakes up with nightmares about climate change. There is nothing unusual about her child. 

In 2021, Lancet Planetary Health published the results of a study of 10,000 people between the ages of 16-25 from around the world. The study found that 59% of young people are "very or extremely" worried about the climate, and that 45% of young people feel so bad about climate change that it affects their "daily life and functioning." 

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And it’s not only their "daily life." A widely reported 2017 study by Environmental Research Letters measured the increase in one’s carbon footprint caused by various activities. An individual can cut his carbon footprint by .25 metric tons by washing clothes in warm water, .82 tons by becoming a vegetarian, 2.4 tons by never going in a car – and 58.6 tons by not having an additional child.  

A report from Morgan Stanley concludes: "Having a child is 7-times worse for the climate in CO2 emissions annually than the next 10 most discussed mitigants that individuals can do." 

The logic is clear: one who takes words seriously – one who believes that climate change is an "existential threat" – would refrain from having children. And that is exactly what young people are deciding. 

The Lancet study showed that 36% of young people are "hesitant to have children" because of climate change. This data is reflected in the Morgan Stanley report: "the movement to not have children owing to fears over climate change is growing and impacting fertility rates quicker than any preceding trend in the field of fertility decline." 

So – the Torah is absolutely right about words. One can use them nonseriously, but they will eventually reveal their deeply significant essence – to such an extent that one who proclaims climate to be an "existential crisis" and goes about business as usual is likely to have made himself the parent of an "extremely" anxious child who does not give him grandchildren.

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