Melania Trump refused to give her phone number to Donald Trump on their first meeting - insisting he hand over his digits to her.
The former model "politely declined" to give Donald, then 52, her number after he asked for it after speaking with Melania, then 28, at a Kit Kat Club party in New York in 1998.
In an extract from her new book ‘Melania: A Memoir’, serialised by The Times newspaper, she reveals: "He was accompanied by a beautiful date, so initially, I dismissed our conversation as mere pleasantries … When his companion left for a moment, he asked me for my phone number. I politely declined his request. He was a little surprised. ’Give me your number,’ I said. With a hand gesture, Donald called over his bodyguard. His big shoulders leaned in as he listened to him, before discreetly writing a note on a sleek business card.
“Donald took the card and handed it to me. ‘Call me,’ he said with a smile. I tucked the card into my clutch before his date returned to the table.”
Following on from a photo shoot in the Caribbean, she returned to her New York apartment, and left a message on the property tycoon’s answering machine.
Donald, 78, called her back where they developed a “palpable” connection.
In the book, the Slovenian-born beauty revealed the pair – who married in 2005 and have an 18-year-old son Barron – spent their first date, “a mix of business and pleasure”, at his expansive Seven Springs property in Bedford, New York.
Melania continued: “It was a crisp Sunday when he picked me up in his black Mercedes.
“The house in Bedford sits on 230-acres of land at the end of a long driveway. ’It’s like a French chateau,’ I said. ‘Do you live here?’ No, I don’t actually live here, I’m just here to make sure everything is okay,’ he said with a smile.
“He mentioned his plans to turn the property into a golf course.
“We walked through the rooms, him giving me a tour while also inspecting the place.
“Looking back, it was a very ‘Donald’ first date – a mix of business and pleasure.”
Melania, 54, “found that aspect of him intriguing right from the start”, and believes that the 47th President of the United States “appreciated that [she] had knowledge and experience under [her] belt” from her career.
