When she married Donald Trump, Melania Trump left a secret past behind in Slovenia
Donald Trump's wife might have a secret half-brother in Slovenia that she wasn't even aware of.
Melania Trump is soft-spoken and shy, avoiding the limelight her husband adores. But it turns out Melania has some experience living with men who have big personalities. Her father, Viktor, could be called a kind of Slovenian Donald Trump — complete with being what GQ deems "viciously litigious when it comes to the women in his life":
The unacknowledged son, Denis Cigelnjak, is now 50. He told GQ that he never reached out to his father or half-sisters because he didn't want to be a bother, and that he never wanted anything from his father or the Trumps. Cigelnjak also said he was fairly certain Melania didn't know he existed.
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When GQ asked Melania about Cigelnjak, she denied the story being true. There was some confusion: After being shown the court documents she said she'd "known about this for years" and that "my father is a private individual. Please respect his privacy."
The secret half-brother is not the only strange family story, either. Read the whole investigation at GQ.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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