Melania Trump says she had a ‘very beautiful childhood’ under communism — But reveals one big difference

US First Lady Melania Trump has described her childhood under communist rule in the former Yugoslavia as an “overall positive” experience, saying she had a “very beautiful childhood” despite acknowledging that life was less free than in the United States. “I grew up under communism, and actually, I didn’t miss anything,” Melania Trump said during an appearance on Fox & Friends on Wednesday (September 23). “I feel I had a very beautiful childhood, and my parents provided a beautiful life for my family,” she added.

Melania Trump on life under communism Melania was responding to a question about whether growing up in communist Eastern Europe gave people from the region a different appreciation of freedom and liberty. She said there were restrictions people had to be conscious of while growing up under the system. “But yes, there are certain things you need to be aware of, and you watch over what you do — it’s not as free as here in the United States,” she said.

“Now, it’s a different time, but when I was growing up, it was not,” Melania added. Melania was born in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, in 1970. She grew up in socialist Yugoslavia, which was led by a communist government following World War II. Yugoslavia consisted of six republics — Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia — before its breakup in the 1990s. Melania Trump discusses Ukrainian children

The comments came during a discussion about Melania's efforts to help reunite Ukrainian children who were taken to Russia during the war. “We have a direct channel with Russia and with Ukraine,” she said, adding that her representative was working on another reunification. “This is ongoing, and we want to reunite as many children as possible — that’s my focus as well,” Melania said. “What they’re going through is heartbreaking.

There’s nothing better to see than a child reunited with a parent,” she added. Comments come amid Trump’s attacks on ‘communism’ Melania's remarks come as President Donald Trump has increasingly used the term “communism” to criticise Democrats and democratic socialists. At a Republican convention this month, Trump said of Democrats who describe themselves as democratic socialists: “They call themselves Democrat socialists, but actually, they're communists.”

Melania later moved to the United States in the 1990s to pursue a modelling career and became a US citizen in 2006.