Making an entrance is one of Melania Trump‘s strongest suits.
At the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup final, however, the First Lady did much more than create a buzz on the internet. Melania brought back the conspiracy theory known as #FakeMelania, which has been around longer than some heads of state when she walked out wearing a pair of white DiorNuit sunglasses that many have compared to a Willy Wonka cosplay.
Even her fans were caught off guard by the choice she made to give up her usual sleek blowout for the convenience of a messy bun and to wear those gigantic sunglasses indoors for no particular reason. “Love our beautiful and classy FLOTUS, but not so much those large sunglasses. Why would she be wearing them inside?” sighed one X (formerly Twitter) user.
“I was always taught that it was rude to wear them indoors,” claimed another. “I wonder if she had an eye issue?”
Melania Trump took off her sunglasses a couple of times so she could take pictures with Gianni Infantino and his wife without them, but the damage had already been done. The internet detected a doppelgänger.
The untamed conspiracy theory stumbled upon its latest supply of fuel to operate!
Oversized Shades Revive the #FakeMelania Obsession
It wasn’t the first time “Melania Trump” had been identified by an enormous pair of sunglasses. The idea that the actual Melania uses a body double had persisted online since 2017, when Twitter detectives noticed minor differences in facial structure between her two appearances and dubbed her a “recast First Lady.”
This isn’t your typical tabloid nonsense. It has gone mainstream, as shown by conversations on The View, references in Vox, and even Donald Trump‘s remarks. At one point, a photo of a smiling Melania (unusual, some said) generated so much controversy that Trump went so far as to say that the theory is “getting more deranged with time.”
Either she wore two different trench coats recently, or the one on the right is fake “Melania”. Different style, different color and tied differently. Hmmm… pic.twitter.com/V65S0h4fJC
— CLR711 (@CLR7111) April 25, 2025
The idea gained new credibility, or at least meme-worthiness, when Anthony Scaramucci casually claimed that Melania Trump’s sister, aka artist Ines Knauss, could step in at events in the public eye.
Theories range from believable, thanks to a passingly identical Secret Service agent, to wildcards driven by plastic surgery (Hey there, post-embolic-eye-job rumors). Even so, #FakeMelania peaks on social media sites whenever she acts unusually loving toward her husband or is wearing sunglasses that hide her face from view.
From 2017 to FIFA 2025, Melania Trump Remains a Mystery
A 2017 video of Donald Trump talking to a woman, who some said wasn’t Melania Trump, at a Secret Service training center set the whole affair off. To add fuel to that flame, Joe Vargas’ since-deleted tweet from a now-suspended account, “This is not Melania. To think they would go this far (…) makes me wonder what else is a lie,” set off an internet fad.
Since that point, it has grown into more of a sport to find “off-brand Melania.”
On top of that, the FIFA look is flawless; in fact, a disguise that is highly covered, with a vague expression on her face, and a hairdo that is more “soccer mom” than “FLOTUS glam.” Theorists weren’t buying it when Melania humbly took off her shades during the game. After all, “If the goal is to confuse people, mission accomplished,” as one of the Redditors stated.
Beautiful photo ❤️🤗#OnlyMelania #MelaniaTrump #firstlady #FLOTUS47 #DonaldTrump #POTUS47 #FIFAClubWorldCup2025 pic.twitter.com/nTgoQqWv2i
— ONLY MELANIA (@OnlyMelaniaTR) July 13, 2025
In spite of Melania Trump’s flawless makeup and lack of visible surgical scars, some believed that the cover-up was a product of cosmetic surgery. More negative opinions said it was an organized ruse to shift focus away from recent Donald Trump controversies.
Whatever the reason might be, rumors follow her everywhere!
ALSO READ: Donald Trump Refuses to Leave Stage as Chelsea Lifts Trophy—FIFA Boss Left Struggling
