CNN
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Former first lady Melania Trump posted a new video to social media on Wednesday defending her previous work as a nude model to promote her new book.
“Why am I proud of my work as a nude model? The more pressing question is, why has the media chosen to scrutinize my act of celebrating the human form in a fashion photoshoot?” she said in a video posted to X.
The former first lady added: “Are we no longer able to appreciate the beauty of the human body? Throughout history, great artists have fetishized the human form, evoking deep emotion and admiration.”
“We should embrace the timeless tradition of respecting our bodies and 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 scrutiny Melania Trump was referring to or whether the photos had received any recent attention.
The former first lady’s upcoming memoir, “Melania,” is set to be released in October, according to Skyhorse Publishing. In announcing the book, her office described it as “the powerful and inspiring story of a woman who forged her own path, overcame adversity and defined personal excellence.”
Melania Trump’s nude modeling career was highlighted during the 2016 election campaign when the New York Post published several nude photos, previously never available online, purportedly taken in 1995 and published in a now-defunct French men’s magazine. The cover headline was “Ogle Office.”
At the time, Donald Trump told the paper that the photos had been taken for a European magazine before the couple met, and that “photos like this are very trendy and common.”
The 2000 British GQ cover photo of the Slovenian-born first lady photographed nude on Trump’s plane also resurfaced during the campaign. A year after the photo was published, the former first lady gained legal residency in the U.S. and received a green card under the elite EB-1 program, The Washington Post reported.
The former president and first lady married in 2005. Donald Trump’s two previous marriages, to models Ivana Zelnikova and Marla Maples, were also part of his family. Trump’s many business ventures included a modeling agency called Trump Model Management, which he closed shortly after taking office in 2017.
Melania Trump has kept a low profile during her husband’s 2024 presidential campaign, making just a few public appearances since the former president announced his third White House bid: at the campaign kickoff at their Mar-a-Lago home in November 2022, a brief appearance when she accompanied her husband to vote in Florida’s presidential primary in March, and an appearance at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this summer.
After her husband was nearly assassinated at a rally in Pennsylvania in July, she released a letter thanking the Secret Service and law enforcement officers who protected the former president and saying her thoughts were with her “fellow Americans” in the wake of the shooting.
Earlier this month, the former first lady appeared to further draw political attention in the final months of the 2024 presidential campaign, releasing a series of politically-charged social media videos.
Trump campaign advisers and aides say 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 about her political involvement.
Melania Trump has made few private appearances this year, hosting a fundraiser for the conservative LGBTQ group Log Cabin Republicans at her Trump Tower home in New York on July 8 and attending a fundraiser with her husband at investor John Paulson’s home in April.
CNN’s Jackie Wattles contributed to this report.