Long before traveling the world as first lady of the United States, Melania Trump spent her youth in a small central European town before navigating the ranks of the fashion world and eventually landing in the country she now calls home. With a scenic wildlife preserve in Kenya as the backdrop, Llamas asked Melania Trump if traveling was one of the best parts of being first lady. ABC News 
 
 “But it's also when I travel across the world and across the country, meeting people, and hearing and helping them as much as I can, and hearing what is important to them,” she added. “It's sad to see that organizations and foundations that I want to partner with choose not to because of the administration,” the first lady said. “And I feel they’re choosing the politics over helping others.” 
 
 Who exactly said no? Trump wouldn’t specify, saying, “I would not talk about it. They know who they are. Asked if it’s hard to make friends in Washington, the first lady said, “Sometimes; you need to be careful.” 
 
 “You know, our first first lady, Martha Washington, famously said the role of first lady can sometimes feel like a state prisoner. Can you relate to that?” asked Llamas. MELANIA TRUMP: I don't feel like a prisoner. I [am] enjoying it, and this will not last forever. And it's [a] very special time,” she said. Yes, she said, it was. BORN MELANIA KNAUSS IN 1970, IN A SMALL TOWN IN SLOVENIA SHE WORKED AS A FASHION MODEL IN ITALY AND FRANCE BEFORE MOVING TO NYC IN 1996. SHORTLY AFTER THAT, SHE MET A REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER WITH BIG BUILDINGS AND AN EGO TO MATCH. [ENTERTAINMENT CLIP OF DONALD TRUMP AND MELANIA TRUMP] 
 
 THE COUPLE SPOKE ABOUT IT WITH BARBARA WALTERS DURING HIS CAMPAIGN. [NEWS CLIP WITH DONALD TRUMP AND MELANIA TRUMP] 
 
 THE MOGUL AND THE MODEL WOULD MARRY IN 2005 
 
 [NEWS CLIP WITH DONALD TRUMP AND MELANIA TRUMP] 
 
 BUT THE BILLIONAIRE REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER ALWAYS TALKED OF BEING PRESIDENT AND MELANIA KNEW LONG AGO. After the inauguration, she stayed with him in New York until he finished the school year. Add Melania Trump as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Melania Trump news, video, and analysis from ABC News. “I'm staying true to myself. I want to live [a] meaningful life, and that's the most important to me. I know what my priorities are, and I'm focused on that,” she said. Despite all this, Trump said she hasn’t changed since uprooting her life in New York City and moving to the nation’s capital. Carolyn Kaster/AP 
 
 Trump says she has the same close group of friends she had before coming to Washington. “I always prefer quality over quantity,” she said. Sometimes it’s because of appearances at glamorous diplomatic or ceremonial events in the White House or abroad. "It's harder to govern," the first lady said, adding that she tells her husband when she distrusts someone working for him. The first lady explained how her experience being bullied led in part to her "Be Best" initiative, going so far as to suggest she is one of the most bullied people in the world. Pressed by Llamas on that assertion, she responded, "One of them, if you really see what people are saying about me." “You cannot just say to somebody… ‘I was sexually assaulted’ or ‘You did that to me.’ Because sometimes the media goes too far and the way they portray some stories, it’s not correct. She spoke of her son, Barron, who is now 12 and whom she keeps shielded from the spotlight. “You need to have a very independent life and supporting him, you need to be very smart and quick, and be there for him when he needs you.” 
 
 Now, 16 months into living in the White House, she says there have been challenges. Ben Curtis/Pool via Reuters 
 
 “We have a great chemistry and to be with a man like my husband is you need to know who you are,” Melania Trump told Walters during the campaign in a 2015 interview. Because I don't want to be one of the ladies. Add Interest 
 
 Her reserved voice contrasts with the president, who often speaks unfiltered whenever he wants. Asked about suggestions that the jacket’s message was directed at the children of separated families. But when she sat down with ABC News for a rare interview during her recent trip through Africa, she spoke freely, describing times when she has disagreed with her husband as well as what she likes about her role — which she repeatedly emphasized she does, indeed, like. Last month, he told the U.N. General Assembly, “We reject the ideology of globalism and embrace the doctrine of patriotism.” And earlier this year, President Trump sparked backlash at home and abroad after reportedly calling certain African nations “s---hole countries” during a meeting with senators in the White House. Chris Wattie/Reuters 
 
 Boarding a plane to Texas to meet with children of families separated at the border, Trump was spotted donning a green jacket with the words, “I really don’t care, do you?” emblazoned on the back. But then, there was the jacket. “It's obvious I didn't wear the jacket for the children,” she said. “I wore the jacket to go on the plane and off the plane. After her team initially denied any subtext in the jacket’s words, the first lady told Llamas that wearing that jacket was, in fact, a deliberate choice, meant “for the people and for the left-wing media who are criticizing me. You could criticize whatever you want to say, but it will not stop me to do what I feel is right.” 
 
 “It was kind of a message, yes. … After the visit, I put it back on because I see how [the] media got obsessed about it.” 
 
 Aside from the media scrutiny, being in the White House presents additional challenges. So if you give me your numbers, I will call you.’ So I see what kind of numbers he will give me. I would prefer that they would focus on what I do and on my initiatives than what I wear,” she said. Has your husband apologized to you since you've been in the White House?” Llamas asked the first lady. MELANIA TRUMP: I support the women, and they need to be heard. And also men, not just women,” Trump said. “He likes to be one of the boys when they play. “It is not a concern and focus of mine.” 
 
 Speaking to ABC News in Africa, she addressed the #MeToo movement, calling on sexual assault accusers to present “really hard evidence” if they decide to go public with allegations. Carolyn Kaster/AP 
 
 “I'm a mother and a first lady, and I have much more important things to think about and to do,” she told ABC News. AT FIRST THE PRESIDENT DENIED ANY KNOWLEDGE ABOUT A PAYMENT TO STORMY DANIELS. THIS STATEMENT FROM THE FIRST LADY’S SPOKESPERSON “I DON’T BELIEVE MRS. TRUMP HAS EVER DISCUSSED HER THOUGHTS ON ANYTHING WITH MR. GIULIANI.” 
 
 TOM LLAMAS: The only time you have commented publicly, your office, was when Rudy Giuliani came out and said your thoughts about Stormy Daniels' claims, and said, "She believes in her husband. "Speculation, speculations,” Trump said, “and my office put out the statement, a factual statement, and people still didn't believe it.” TOM LLAMAS: Why do you think he came out and said that? One incident, in particular, garnered an apology from her famously stubborn husband – the release of the Access Hollywood tape during the run-up to the 2016 election, in which Trump is heard making vulgar comments about women. “Yeah, he apologized,” she said, before declining to divulge further details. Six days after her interview with Llamas, the first lady’s staff clarified her comments, telling ABC News, “The president often apologizes to Mrs. Trump for all the media nonsense and scrutiny she has been under since entering the White House.” 
 
 Asked if her husband’s alleged affairs — which the White House has denied — have put a strain on their marriage, she said that people and the media like to speculate and circulate gossip. Trump told ABC News some of the people in the president’s administration whom she didn’t trust have left, while others still work there. That this administration cares and I care. And yet, she says not everyone wants to help. It's -- you know, you always need to watch your back. Are you looking forward to possibly six more years in the White House? And I made the White House home — for our son and my husband — and we love to live in the White House,” Trump told ABC's Chief National Affairs Correspondent Tom Llamas. Do you love your husband? I don’t want… I don’t want to put them out in front of the world, but they know who they are.” 
 
 There are also those repeated accusations of sexual misconduct and infidelity leveled against her husband. “We are very honored to serve our great nation,” she added.
– ABC News on Friday night aired what it says is Melania Trump's "first extensive sit-down interview since becoming first lady." It had already released excerpts where she discussed her husband's alleged infidelity, her distrust of some White House staffers, and her thoughts on the #MeToo movement. One of the portions of the full interview (see video here) garnering attention concerns the jacket she wore in June when traveling to the US-Mexico border; it read, "I really don't care, do U?" "Let's talk about the jacket," Tom Llamas began, asking her why she wore it. "It's obvious I didn't wear the jacket for the children," she answered. "I wore the jacket to go on the plane and off the plane. And it was for the people and for the left-wing media who are criticizing me. And I wanna show them that I don't care. You could criticize whatever you wanna say, but it will not stop me to do what I feel is right." Llamas pressed her: "Your office had to release a statement during this time saying the jacket is just a jacket. So you were sending a message with the jacket?" Melania replied, "It ... it was kind of a message, yes. I would prefer that they would focus on what I do and on my initiatives than what I wear." Her answer echoes President Trump's explanation of the jacket at the time.