When and how did Paolo Zampolli first meet Melania Trump?
Executive summary
Paolo Zampolli first encountered Melania (then Melania Knauss) in the mid‑1990s while she was working as a model in Europe; he became her agent, helped bring her to the United States in the late 1990s, and — according to multiple contemporary profiles — introduced her to Donald Trump at a New York party in 1998 [1] [2] [3]. Competing accounts and later documents have suggested other possible intermediaries, but the dominant contemporaneous narrative and Zampolli’s own public statements place their initial meeting in the European modeling world and their U.S. introduction at a 1998 social event Zampolli hosted [4] [5] [6].
1. How they first met: the European modeling connection
Paolo Zampolli met Melania in the mid‑1990s while scouting and managing models in Milan and Paris; reporting and biographical entries say Zampolli discovered or encountered Melania during her early modeling work in Europe and subsequently became one of her few long‑term professional acquaintances [4] [2] [7]. Profiles in outlets such as The New York Times and encyclopedia summaries note that Zampolli worked at Metropolitan Models and later ran ID Model Management, and that his relationship with Melania grew out of that professional role rather than from a chance social introduction [1] [4] [8].
2. When Zampolli brought her to the United States
Multiple sources report that Zampolli helped Melania relocate to New York in the late 1990s, with some accounts specifically saying he secured a visa or otherwise sponsored her move to pursue modeling in the U.S. — a transition various profiles date to about 1996 or the late‑1990s period [4] [3] [2]. Public summaries and Zampolli’s own claims have long linked him to facilitating her entry into the American market, and several outlets repeat that he supported her early Manhattan modeling career after first meeting her in Europe [4] [7].
3. The 1998 introduction to Donald Trump — party, place and testimony
The widely reported account is that Zampolli introduced Melania to Donald Trump at a New York party in 1998, often identified as an event at the Kit Kat Club or a New York Fashion Week party Zampolli hosted; The New York Times, Politico, Air Mail and other outlets recount that introduction and the 1998 timeframe [1] [6] [5]. Biographical entries on Melania echo the same timeline, describing a September 1998 meeting at an event where Trump asked for her number and the two began dating soon afterward, which culminated in marriage in 2005 [2] [8].
4. Conflicting claims and redacted documents: Epstein’s alleged role
Contradictory material has arisen in later reporting and released documents suggesting Jeffrey Epstein or an Epstein‑linked assistant claimed to have introduced Melania to Trump; a redacted FBI/DOJ file and some press coverage quote an unnamed source saying Epstein introduced the couple, a claim that directly conflicts with the Zampolli‑centred narrative [9] [10]. Those sources report lines in files that reference Epstein and Zampolli together, but the documents cited are redacted and rely on secondhand assertions by an assistant or unnamed woman, and they do not displace the contemporaneous reporting that credits Zampolli with the introduction [9] [10].
5. Assessing the weight of evidence and remaining gaps
Contemporary profiles, Zampolli’s own statements, and multiple mainstream outlets consistently report that Zampolli met Melania in the mid‑1990s, brought her to New York, and introduced her to Trump at a 1998 party [1] [6] [2]. The alternative claim linking Epstein to the introduction appears in later, partially redacted investigative files and in reporting that highlights possible connections among social circles; those sources provide conflicting testimony but are not supported by the same contemporaneous documentation and include redactions and unnamed sources, which limits their evidentiary clarity [9] [10]. Reporting teams and historians therefore present a dominant account crediting Zampolli while acknowledging these later, unresolved contradictions.
6. Conclusion: the best supported timeline
The most consistently reported and contemporaneous version is straightforward: Zampolli met Melania in Europe as part of his modeling work in the mid‑1990s, helped her move to the United States in the late 1990s, and introduced her to Donald Trump at a 1998 New York social event he hosted — a sequence repeated in The New York Times, Politico, Air Mail, biographical entries and Zampolli’s public remarks [1] [6] [5] [2]. Alternative narratives tied to Jeffrey Epstein surface in later documents and news coverage but remain disputed and partially redacted, leaving the Zampolli introduction as the best‑documented account in available reporting [9] [10].