What Melania Trump's Supposed Half-Brother Said About Her Family

Melania Trump isn't exactly known for being an open book. "I don't even know if she goes to the bathroom," a friend of Melania's once joked to Mary Jordan, biographer and author of "The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump," (via The New York Times). Perhaps, however, the model turned first lady has a good reason for being so tight-lipped, especially as it pertains to some old family secrets and her own tragic truth. 

In April 2016, GQ published a story about a man named Denis Cigelnjak, who claimed he and Melania were half siblings. The story goes that Cigelnjak's mother, Marija Cigelnjak, and Melania's father, Viktor Knavs, shared a short dalliance which resulted in the birth of Cigelnjak that was confirmed by a blood test. Still, Knavs never acknowledged Cigelnjak as his son. Eventually, Viktor went on to marry Amalija Ulčnik and have two daughters, Melania and her sister Ines. Meanwhile, Cigelnjak was all but forgotten. "I missed being able to say, 'Hey, Dad, let's go for a coffee,'" Cigelnjak lamented.

As reported by Daily Mail around the time of the 2016 GQ interview, Denis Cigelnjak was residing in a modest apartment in Hrastnik, Slovenia with his long time partner, Maja, and their shared daughter Mimi. During a subsequent interview with Planet-tv.si (via Daily Mail) that same year, Cigelnjak spoke candidly about how Viktor Knavs had allegedly demanded that his mother have an abortion. "My mother did not agree, she wanted to keep me. She [my mother] did not want anything from him because she was so disappointed [with the breakdown of their relationship]," he explained.

Cigelnjak also maintained that while it was his mother as well as his aunts and uncles who provided for him, he still wanted to know his birth father. He added, "It was my mother's father [my grandfather] who supported me for 18 years as my own father repeatedly forgot to pay, even when he was reminded by the court. I wonder how anyone can deny their own child."

Denis Cigelnjak is adamant that he does not harbor any resentment towards Viktor Knavs or his half siblings. In fact, he even told Planet-tv.si that he hoped to meet up with his biological father, as well as Melania and Ines, "for a drink or a pizza" once the 2016 presidential election had wrapped in the U.S. Obviously, that never happened. Sliced to meet you?

As for Melania, it doesn't appear that she is interested in grabbing a pie, a drink, or anything else, for that matter, with her supposed half brother. When GQ first asked Melania about Cigelnjak, she vehemently denied his claims. Later, however, when presented with Slovenian court documents, Melania maintained that she had been confused by the question. "I've known about this for years," she declared. "My father is a private individual. Please respect his privacy." And another one bites the crust!