Story highlights Melania Trump talked up her husband's campaign in Wisconsin

It marked a rare speaking role on the trail

Milwaukee (CNN) After a rough week of campaigning in Wisconsin, Donald Trump on Monday night turned to a soft-spoken and rarely seen surrogate to help smooth the edges.

Melania Trump, the Republican front-runner's wife, took the stage moments after her husband reached the podium, delivering her longest speech of the campaign on the eve of the Wisconsin primary, touting the billionaire as a fighter.

Rarely heard from on the campaign trail, the Slovenian-born former model has previously shared only a few words with Trump supporters during the spare occasions she has joined the brash billionaire on stage at campaign rallies.

But Melania Trump's mission Monday night -- capping off a week of controversies with the potential to hurt Trump's already struggling support among women voters -- was clear as she delivered prepared remarks clocking in at just under a minute.

"As you may know by now, when you attack him he will punch back 10 times harder," she said in her thick eastern European accent. "No matter who you are, a man or a woman, he treats everyone equal. He's a fighter and if you elect him to be your president he will fight for you and for our country."

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