Melania Trump's Ex-Roommate Victoria Silvstedt Reveals First Lady Wanted to Be Like Sophia Loren

One woman knows firsthand what it was like to be Melania Trump's roommate, and she is dishing about her time living with the woman who would later become the first lady.

Victoria Silvstedt was a fresh-faced model with Melania back in the 90s and both were determined to rise to the top of the fashion industry. 

Silvstedt called Melania “the perfect roommate,” saying she was “clean, neat domestic. I don't think I could have asked for a better roommate, actually.”

Their apartment was a sixth-floor walk-up in the heart of Paris, not far from Notre Dame Cathedral.  

She says for fun they used to cook at home and make simple dishes like tuna salad, they didn’t go to fancy restaurants nor did fancy cooking. 

She says they stayed in shape by running up and down the stairs to their building. 

“We had staircases — no elevators — so we had to run up and down the stairs quite a lot," she said. "As a model, you gotta to keep active."

Silvstedt, who was born in Sweden, revealed that Melania idolized screen legend Sophia Loren.

“I remember back then, she was telling me how, ‘One day I would like to be like Sophia Loren,'" Silvstedt said. "Obviously she was her style icon." 

The two models wound up moving to New York. Silvstedt was named Playboy's "Playmate of the Year" in 1997 before becoming the face of Guess Jeans. 

Silvstedt has been closely watching her old roommate’s first year as first lady and thinks Melania Trump is doing "a great job." She added that some of her criticism has been unfair.

"Whatever goes [on] around her, she is calm," she said. "She has class." 

Silvstedt says it is “kind of surreal” that she used to live with America’s first lady. 

“She was my roommate — it's cool," she said. "She's the first lady. That's America. Anything is possible in America, right?" 

RELATED STORIES