President Donald Trump’s clashes with late-night television and Hollywood rarely remained limited to the show hosts themselves.
Jokes about his presidency and public appearances frequently spilled over onto his family, turning them into targets of ridicule.
Yet that backlash has now touched an award-winning actress after she portrayed Melania Trump on Stephen Colbert’s program.
Trump hailed Stephen Colbert’s departure from late-night TV and backed efforts to push ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel.
Laura Benanti’s life was upended when she and her family were forced to relocate amid political backlash against Trump’s critics.
She didn’t foresee the chilling real-world consequences of portraying Melania Trump on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
During an appearance on “The Downside with Gianmarco Soresi” podcast, she claimed that a right-wing activist distributed her private information to supporters after objecting to her portrayal of the first lady.
According to Benanti, the email included her home address, triggering immediate fears for her family’s safety.
Actress Laura Benanti claims that she was forced to move her life after she was “doxxed” by conservatives after doing her Melania Trump impression on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. https://t.co/vUUFz8pisr pic.twitter.com/8XJSTwCmz4
— Irish Star US (@IrishStarUS) July 16, 2026
“I had to literally move,” she said. “We had to move from our apartment that we owned into a rental, and then the pandemic happened. We moved to New Jersey.”
The relocation proved costly. Benanti said she was suddenly paying both the mortgage on the apartment she owned and rent for her family’s new home.
The frightening ordeal escalated even further and affected her children.
“Someone took a picture of me walking my daughter to school,” she revealed.
Benanti said she only learned about the email from someone on her team who had received it. Ironically, her driver, who also worked security and identified as a Trump supporter, subscribed to the same newsletter as the activist.
Just FYI – The woman in the video link below is Laura Benanti, who is doing Melania Trump impressions for the Stephen Colbert show.
The other thing worth noting is that Nancy is literally counting to 2. 😂🤣 https://t.co/hgOV9zXJdp pic.twitter.com/8gfK1M0Nb9— Blue Canaries (Publius) (@CanariesBlue) August 26, 2024
Benanti couldn’t help but inject a little humor into the frightening moment, “And I was like, ‘You tell me. These are your people!’”
Her Melania Trump impression debuted on The Late Show in July 2016 and quickly became one of the program’s most recognizable recurring sketches.
Sporting the former first lady’s signature pout, measured cadence, and exaggerated Slovenian accent, Benanti revisited the role on and off for nearly a decade.
She returned again in 2023, continuing the character through the show’s final season. In February, she mocked Melania’s documentary project, and her last appearance came in April, just weeks before The Late Show ended its run.
For a time, however, Benanti and those around her questioned whether the impression was worth the risk.
“We all sort of were like maybe we don’t do it for a little while,” she explained, “and then it just felt like I was being a coward.”
Looking back, she admitted she may have made a different decision had she known what was coming.
“I don’t think I would have done it,” she said. Even so, Benanti still believes political satire serves an important purpose.
“I can’t tell you the amount of people who come up to me who are like, ‘Thank you, I need that,’” she said.
Benanti’s story quickly sparked reactions online.
In The Daily Beast’s comment section, one reader wrote, “She did us all a service in helping us laugh at the madness of the Reich. That she and her family would face threats is very upsetting but not surprising given the level of hatred and intimidation prevalent in the MAGAot world.”
Another commenter added, “Her Melania impression was so good on Colbert’s show!”
“What a shame that this is where we are that someone can’t even do satire without being stalked, threatened, and driven from her home,” noted a third person. “Good for Laura for not giving in to the pressure from the MAGA maniacs. I’m so sorry this has happened to her.”
On X, another user summed up the sentiment simply: “Maga gonna maga.”
Benanti’s experience isn’t an isolated one.
After Kimmel’s “expectant widow” joke about Trump, Melania launched a campaign to remove the comedian from the air for good this year.
🚨 NOW: President Trump demands ABC FIRE Jimmy Kimmel after he “joked” about Trump dying and widowing Melania
“When is ABC Fake News Network firing seriously unfunny Jimmy Kimmel, who incompetently presides over one of the Lowest Rated shows on Television? People are angry. It… pic.twitter.com/ddzq7DL8qb— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 30, 2026
Trump backed her efforts after he got Kimmel suspended for weeks in 2025 over jokes and insults about his presidency, his health, his marriage and his children.
Neither effort worked as Kimmel remained on air; Kimmel signed off from “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on June 18, telling fans he would be “taking the next two months off – this time voluntarily.”
Benanti became collateral damage from MAGA because of her boss, Stephen Colbert. For nearly a decade, Colbert had made Trump a target on “The Late Show.” Trump retaliated on Truth Social, later celebrating CBS’ decision to end the show in 2026. Their back-and-forth became a defining late-night battle.
Benanti is now touring her one-woman show, “Nobody Cares.” It opened in London before stops in Chicago, Baltimore, Los Angeles and Boston, wrapping in spring 2027.
