Just a week after the widely-spoken-of presidential portrait of Donald Trump was released, the White House has dropped the official portrait of the First Lady, Melania Trump. While her husband’s photograph was menacing and resembled his infamous mugshot, Melania’s portrait, despite looking classy, appears to be digitally altered.
At least that’s what the Internet seems to be thinking.
Official portrait of First Lady Melania Trump pic.twitter.com/RgTqqKae4h
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) January 27, 2025
The photo is shot by a Belgian photographer, Régine Mahaux, who has been photographing the Trumps for over 20 years now. Melania Trump, an ex-fashion model, is accustomed to having her fashion choices scrutinized. The decision to have her photo in black and white, with a powerful yet poised stance, suggests an image that’s carefully curated and conveys professionalism and confidence.
However, her official portrait has taken the internet by storm and viewers can’t stop speaking about it. While some users feel that her photo symbolizes authority and elegance, others feel the supposedly highly edited image “looks like an advertisement for a TV show.” Some even claimed that Melania looks like she’s scowling and trying hard to look tough.
The First Lady’s fans feel like her beauty is “unparalleled,” while others said her photo resembles a scene from the Netflix series House of Cards.
It looks like several online users drew different conclusions for the portrait. After just two hours of posting the picture on X (formerly known as Twitter), the image garnered 16,000 likes. But, as everything related to the Trumps goes, the picture got mixed reviews.
An X user commented, “This photo suggests the First Lady might be on track to take a more visible role in this administration. Good.”
In the portrait, Melania is seen wearing a suit, with her hands on a reflective table. The photo gives an impression that Melania may be even more involved in political matters than her 2017 first lady portrait.
In her previous photo, she was seen standing with her arms crossed. It must be noted that her first official portrait was accused of being highly edited as well.
Other users on X weren’t excited about her new photo. “The 50 layers of facetune,” one commenter pointed out. “Does it look like AI only to me?” asked another user with a laughing emoji. Another user rightfully pointed out, “She looks like she’s about to play a lawyer on a tv series.”
Only time will tell whether the photo is really an indication of the fact that she’ll be more involved in her husband’s second term or not. Time will also tell if we will be seeing her real face at any point as the couple’s presidency begins. Or will the First Lady keep hiding behind, possible AI, Photoshop, or weird hats?
