Melania Trump says she stands “proudly behind my work as a nude model”

CNN
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Former First Lady Melania Trump posted a new video on social media on Wednesday defending her past work as a nude model while promoting her new book.

“Why am I so proud of my work as a nude model? The more pressing question is: Why did the media choose to scrutinize my glorification of the human form in a fashion photo shoot so closely?” she said in the video posted on X.

The former First Lady added: “Are we no longer able to appreciate the beauty of the human body? Throughout history, master artists have revered the human form and evoked deep emotion and admiration.”

“We should honor our bodies and maintain the timeless tradition of using art as a powerful means of self-expression,” she said.

A spokesman for the former first lady did not immediately respond to questions about what media attention Melania Trump was referring to or whether the photos had attracted recent attention.

The former first lady's memoir, titled “Melania,” is set to hit stores in October, according to Skyhorse Publishing. Her office described the book in making the announcement as “a powerful and inspiring story of a woman who forged her own path, overcame adversity and defined personal excellence.”

Melania Trump's past as a nude model was brought into focus during the 2016 election campaign when the New York Post published several nude photos – allegedly taken in 1995 and appearing in a now-defunct French men's magazine – that had not previously been published online. The cover headline read “The Ogle Office.”

Donald Trump told the newspaper at the time that the photos were taken for a European magazine before the two knew each other and that “pictures like this are very fashionable and widespread.”

During the campaign, a 2000 British GQ cover also resurfaced, featuring Slovenian-born Melania Trump photographed nude on Trump's plane. A year after the photo was published, the former first lady became a legal resident of the United States and was granted a green card under the elite EB-1 program, the Washington Post reported.

The former president and first lady married in 2005. Donald Trump was also previously married to models: Ivana Zelníčková and Marla Maples. Among his many business ventures was a modeling agency called Trump Model Management; it was closed shortly after he took office in 2017.

Melania Trump has kept a low profile throughout her husband's 2024 presidential campaign, making only a few public appearances since the former president made his third attempt to enter the White House: at his November 2022 campaign kickoff event at their Mar-a-Lago home, a brief appearance in March when she accompanied him to vote in the Florida presidential primary, and her attendance at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this summer.

In July, she published a letter following the assassination attempt on her husband at a rally in Pennsylvania. In it, she thanked Secret Service agents and police officers for protecting the former president and wrote that she was thinking of her “fellow Americans” after the shooting.

Earlier this month, the former First Lady appeared to step even further into the political spotlight in the final months of the 2024 presidential campaign when she posted a series of politically pointed social media videos.

Advisers and close allies of the Trump campaign have said the former first lady supports her husband and his political ambitions and is focused on raising their son, Barron, adding that she is very selective in her choice of political appearances.

Melania Trump has rarely appeared at private events this year. On July 8, she hosted a fundraiser for the conservative LGBTQ group “Log Cabin Republicans” at her residence in Trump Tower in New York, and in April she and her husband attended a fundraiser at the home of investor John Paulson.

CNN's Jackie Wattles contributed to this report.