When she married Donald Trump, Melania Trump left a secret past behind in Slovenia

Some things you did not know about Mrs. Trump.

(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

published 27 April 2016

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":

Back when Viktor was a driver, before he married Melania’s mother, he met a young woman in town named Marija Cigelnjak. They dated for a while, and in September 1964, she told Viktor she was pregnant. According to Cigelnjak's testimony in a lengthy court record, Viktor offered to marry her, but quickly changed his mind, demanding that she have an abortion. This, Viktor said, was because the child was not his. A son was born in May 1965, and three months later, Marija sued Viktor for child support. Viktor continued to deny paternity — going into detail for the court about when he had sex with Marija and the rhythms of her menstrual cycle — prompting the court to order a blood test. Based on its results, the court determined that Viktor was, in fact, the boy's biological father. Viktor fought the order to pay child support all the way to Slovenia's highest appellate court. The courts always ruled in Cigelnjak's favor. [GQ]

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.