Melania Trump Body Double Conspiracy Theory Debunked
Melania Trump has become the subject of various rumors, but one past conspiracy theory stood out as it claimed she had a body double.
The former first lady rarely made public appearances when her husband, Donald Trump, took the Oval Office in 2016. In some instances when she was spotted out and about with the POTUS, netizens were not convinced it was really her, sparking rumors that Trump had used a body double for his wife.
For instance, when the Trumps boarded Marine One at the White House for the final debate in Nashville, Tennessee, many took to X, formerly Twitter, and pointed to her teeth as evidence that the woman was a "Fake Melania," the Independent reported.
"The only thing I'll miss from this administration is them swapping in new Melanias and just pretending we won't notice like a 4-year-old with a guppy," one tweeted, along with a photo of the former first couple.
"That's...SO not Melania. They didn't even try," comedian Patton Oswalt wrote in response to the tweet.
That’s...SO not Melania. They didn’t even try. https://t.co/sVUswvNbbW
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) October 25, 2020
The conspiracy theory that Trump had been accompanied by a woman who looked like his wife started in October 2017 when Melania visited a Secret Service training center with the former president in Maryland. It was suggested that a female Secret Service agent stepped in for the ex-FLOTUS whenever she didn't want to attend an event or travel with her husband.
Actress and comedian Andrea Wagner Barton took to Facebook and shared several photos and a clip from the outing. She claimed that Trump's female companion was not Melania but a "decoy."
"Will the real Melania please stand up? Is it me, or during his speech today, a decoy 'stood in' for Melania?? And....Why would the m***n say 'my wife, Melania, who happens to be right here...' Seriously, watch very closely! @prettyfunnymom," she wrote at the time.
Her post received 26,000 reactions and was flooded with mixed opinions from other netizens in the comments section. Some agreed with her that it wasn't Melania, while others argued that it was her; she just wore a different shade of lipstick.
The Washington Post debunked the body double rumor by pointing out that the woman looked like Melania because it was her. The height difference was notable because the ex-FLOTUS wore flats in one sighting and a pair of heels in another.
"What's particularly weird about this whole thing, of course, is that there's no reason that Trump would want to have a stand-in for Melania Trump at this event. Why would Trump/the White House go to the trouble of hiring someone to impersonate Melania, dress her up like the first lady and then hope that no one notices? What's the perceived benefit?" Philip Bump, a national columnist, wrote in the report.
"I'm sure that being first lady is, at times, a drag, but Melania Trump certainly didn't have to make an appearance during a trip to a training facility in Maryland. There's no reason to create a doppelganger."
The ex-POTUS also shut down the conspiracy theory in a tweet in 2019 after the rumor resurfaced following their visit to Alabama two years later.
The Fake News photoshopped pictures of Melania, then propelled conspiracy theories that it’s actually not her by my side in Alabama and other places. They are only getting more deranged with time!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2019
"The Fake News photoshopped pictures of Melania then propelled conspiracy theories that it's actually not her by my side in Alabama and other places. They are only getting more deranged with time!" Trump wrote on X.
