The 21-year marriage of President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump continues to be scrutinized.
Keen observers can easily spot signs of strain in the couple’s behavior and their body language.
Some have lately noticed something different about the pair, who have been together for two decades, particularly as attention to changes in one spouse’s appearance remains in the spotlight.
Trump, 80, and Melania, 56, wed in 2005. They moved into the White House eleven years later, when Trump won his first presidency in 2016.
Melania returned to Washington, D.C., for Trump’s second inauguration in 2025, where the couple projected the image of a happy household at various inaugural parties.
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Nevertheless, the couple is rarely seen together these days. Melania even vanished from the public eye for a month over the summer.
The first lady finally reappeared at a Rose Garden event in August. She then rejoined Trump for the memorial marking the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Photographers captured Melania standing beside her husband at the Arlington, Virginia ceremony. One particular image of the former model drew substantial attention.
Melania stood expressionless as the national anthem played. The president saluted at her side. Both wore looks that suggested weariness or detachment.
“Nice of Melania to try to mirror her husband’s droop,” remarked vocal Trump critic Aaron Rupar in a Threads post about Melania and Trump’s now-viral photo.
Rupar’s followers joined in sharing their reactions to the snapshot. Social media did not hold back in criticizing the Slovenian-American immigrant.
“I noticed that. She looks unhappy, if not angry,” a Threads user commented in response to the “face droop” remark.
A second person hinted that Melania is beginning to resemble Trump, writing, “She’s starting to look like him.” Another added, “That’s her resting I really don’t care face.”
“They’re both such miserable people. You can just tell. And what’s going on with his mouth?” another individual stated.
Unverified rumors suggest that their allegedly sham marriage has loomed over them for years.
“Maybe she needs to charge him more to show up at events?” one commenter quipped sarcastically. In a similar vein, another wrote, “He had to pay her.”
More online hostility targeted Melania and Trump as the president heads toward the upcoming midterm elections, with his approval rating hovering around 39 percent.
While the image from the 9/11 ceremony drew disapproval online, Trump and Melania will likely receive warmer receptions during their separate trips to the Tar Heel State.
Melania Trump visited Ashe County, North Carolina, on Sept. 15, while Donald Trump travelled separately to Gastonia the following day to campaign for GOP Senate candidate Michael Whatley.
While Trump has maintained a busy travel schedule that includes regular stops at his golf resorts for weekend outings, Melania only seems to resurface for special occasions.
Their forthcoming separate excursions to the same state in the same week could be viewed as another sign of the alleged spousal rift that has consumed Trump’s time in office.
The “Melania question” became a major topic of discussion in political circles. In 2025, Trump biographer Michael Wolff provided supposed behind-the-scenes details about the polarizing couple’s marriage arrangement.
Wolff, 73, claimed he was told by a close insider that Melania “hates his guts.” He also reported that the first lady no longer lives with her husband full-time in Washington.
The White House responded to Wolff’s claims by labeling the author of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House an “imbecile of the highest order.”
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