'You can't sleep or hug...': Melania Trump refutes claims of marrying Trump for money in resurfaced video

US First Lady Melania Trump, who has been accused several times of marrying Donald Trump for money, rejected the claims in a resurfaced video. Melania, who is 24 years younger than Trump, is the third wife of the US President. The couple has an 18-year-old son Barron Trump.

The resurfaced video is from the ABC News interview of Melania in 1999. She was 26 years old at that time. When the Slovenian model, who was then used to be known as Melania Knauss, was questioned in the interview if she was "hurt" by the rumours that she was dating Trump for financial gains, she said,“You know, the people, they don't know me."

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She denied giving any answer when she was asked by the correspondent if she would accept the marriage proposal of the then 53-year-old Trump.

Still, the correspondent, Don Dahler said, “Well, you don't see many 26-year-old supermodels on the arm of a 53-year-old car mechanics…”

The now 54-year-old Melania replied, "“You know what, you can't sleep or to hug or to talk with beautiful things, with beautiful apartment, beautiful plane, beautiful cars, beautiful houses, you can't do that. You could feel very empty.”

“And if somebody said, “you're with the man because he's rich and famous,” they don't know me,” she added.

Would leave career to 'stand by my man'

She was further asked if she could see herself as the first lady of the United States. Melania said, “Yes, I would be very traditional like Jackie Kennedy" adding that she would even leave her modelling career to "stand by" her man.

Melania became the First Lady of the US in 2017 for the first time and resumed her role on January 20, 2025, after Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential election.

(With inputs from agencies)