A Timeline Of Barron Trump's Stunning Height Transformation
There wasn't anything remarkable about Barron Trump's height when his dad won the presidency in 2016, but now, it's the first trait everyone notices about him. While Melania Trump told Parenting that Barron was basically Donald Trump's mini-me at age six, she also said, "I want him to grow to be his own person." And grow he has.
Perhaps Barron reaching such a tall stature as a teen shouldn't come as too much of a shock. He measured 21 inches when he was born in 2006, according to People, which is more than an inch longer than the average birth length for male newborns. His mom also worked as a model, and shortly after baby Barron's arrival, Melania told the Palm Beach Post that he inherited some of the physical traits that helped her find success in the fashion industry. "He has my eyes, and beautiful brown hair. He has long fingers and long legs," she said.
Barron has grown up before the public's eyes, making his television debut on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" when he was just two months old, appearing on "The Apprentice" in 2007, and posing for a People cover with his family in 2015. However, it wasn't until his family moved into the White House that he underwent a dramatic height transformation that was impossible not to notice.
The soccer star sprouted up, surpassing his mom's height
In a 2016 interview with ABC News, Melania Trump said she was trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy in Barron Trump's life ahead of their family's move to the White House. "He's enjoying his school and his sports. He's a great athlete. And I just want to have him out of the spotlight for now," she stated. But by the following year, the spotlight was unavoidable. Barron made headlines by scoring a spot on D.C. United's U-12 soccer team. He was also attending events with his parents, such as the 2017 National Thanksgiving Turkey Pardoning Ceremony. USA Today observed that the then-11-year-old appeared as tall as his mother in photos from the event. Melania is 5-foot-11 but was wearing high heels, so Barron had possibly reached the six-foot mark already.
In other 2017 photos of Melania wearing flats and standing near her son, Pedestrian TV noted that Barron appeared to be a bit taller than her. This would make his height well above the average for 11-year-old boys, which is around 4 feet, 7 inches. The height range considered normal for the same age extends to just over 5 feet tall, so it's safe to say that he was likely towering over most of his classmates when Barron started attending St. Andrew's Episcopal School.
Social media users marveled over Barron Trump's height
Melania Trump made some rare remarks about her only child during a November 2018 town hall. "He doesn't have a social media yet — he's not interested in it. He's all into sport," she said. This means that Barron likely wasn't seeing the ever-growing number of tweets about his height. "What a growth spurt, he's taller than his dad!" one person wrote in 2019. This was an observation that USA Today and the Daily Mail also made about Barron's blond coif starting to tower over Donald Trump's signature sculpted bouffant.
There was also the prerequisite NBA jokes about the then-13-year-old — so many people unfairly assume that everyone tall must be good at basketball. "Watch out bronny james!" read one reaction to a photo of Barron and his parents on X, formerly known as Twitter. "With the first pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, the Washington Putins select Barron Trump," another person quipped. Barron was also compared to 6-foot-7 Dallas Mavericks point guard Luka Dončić, who hails from Melania's native Slovenia.
We don't know how Barron's parents feel about the possibility of Barron playing in the NBA someday, but there is one sport that Donald would prefer his son steer clear of: American football. "It's a dangerous sport," he said in a 2019 "Face the Nation" interview, adding, "I've heard NFL players saying they wouldn't let their sons play football."
Did Barron Trump's growth spurt make his dad jealous?
In 2018, Barron Trump's height garnered even more attention. That August, his growth spurt was the subject of an Inside Edition report. The outlet observed that the former first son had almost become the same height as Donald Trump during a three-month break from appearing in public with his family. Three months later, Hollywood Life suggested that Barron had possibly matched his dad's measurements, basing this conjecture on photographs of the Trumps' post-Thanksgiving arrival in D.C. So, if the webloid was correct, then how tall was 12-year-old Barron at the time? Well, Politico discovered that Donald's driver's license lists his height as 6-foot-2. However, one of the ex-president's doctors has said that he's an inch taller.
In his book "Seige: Trump Under Fire," Michael Wolff claims that Donald is so obsessed with being taller than everyone around him that he started cracking cruel jokes about wanting to stunt Barron's growth in 2018. Wolff recalls that Barron and Donald's father-son relationship was also beginning to deteriorate around that time. "This took the form of Trump ignoring his son when they had to be together," Wolff writes. "Trump also went out of his way to avoid any situation where he might have to encounter him." But as evidenced by Donald's behavior in the years to come, he'd find his son's height impossible to ignore.
Donald Trump's random references to his son's height
In February 2020, Donald Trump mentioned Barron Trump during a political rally in Las Vegas. After attempting to convince voters that he really did have a healthcare plan in the works, he wandered off subject by marveling over Barron's computer skills, including how the teen can walk and use technology at the same time. The crowd was so happy to hear about the first son that they started chanting his name. "He's going to like that," Donald said in response, according to the Daily Mail. "He's a good boy. He's a tall boy, I'll tell you that. Just turned 13. He's up there." However, Barron hadn't "just turned 13" — he would turn 14 just one month later.
A week before Barron's 14th birthday, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. It wasn't until August 2020 that he would appear in public again, and his height continued to amaze. Inside Edition suggested that his growth spurt didn't appear to be over after he was filmed disembarking from Marine One with his parents. Unfortunately, Barron tested positive for the coronavirus two months later. While assuring North Carolina rallygoers that his son was doing fine, Donald randomly brought up his height again. "My Barron. My tall Barron. He's very tall. My beautiful Barron," he said. "And handsome. He is handsome. But my beautiful Barron had it. He recovered so fast."
Barron Trump became the tallest Trump kid
In 2021, Barron Trump posed with a guest at Mar-a-Lago whose chin was just above his belt. The photo went viral the following year, and some people were convinced it was photoshopped. However, Snopes confirmed that Barron really was that much taller than the unidentified person. Even though Barron was perfectly replicating his dad's favorite thumbs-up pose, one X user questioned his paternity by tweeting, "How tall was Melania's old boyfriend at Trump Tower?" According to USA Today, a similar joke got Food Network personality John Henson in trouble with Melania Trump's camp in 2020.
Melania and Barron's close bond was on display in 2021 when Barron was photographed carrying one of his mom's pricey bags for her outside Trump Tower. The image sparked another flood of remarks about Barron's height, and former first daughter Chelsea Clinton begged people to stop tweeting about him. "Please don't comment on kids' appearances. Please don't invade kids' privacy," she wrote. "Please don't 'joke' about kids. Please leave kids alone and let kids be kids." However, Donald Trump couldn't resist joking about his son's height. At the North Carolina Republican Convention, he revealed exactly how tall Barron was at the time and said that Eric Trump was no longer the tallest of his children. "Barron is 6-foot-7 — can you believe it? And he's 15," he stated. "Eric is short — he's only 6-foot-6."
Donald Trump said Barron Trump grew even taller
Donald Trump brought up Barron Trump's height yet again in a November 2023 appearance on the "Moms for America" podcast. If what he said was true, then Barron hadn't stopped growing when he reached the 6-foot-7 mark. "Melania, she's great. She's doing a tremendous job with my son, who's a fantastic guy," [2:12] Donald shared. "He's a good tall guy, too. Very tall." When asked how tall Barron was, Donald said he'd sprouted up to 6-foot-8. Barron was 17 [2:36] at the time, and according to Parents, most boys reach their full adult height by age 18.
On X, Donald got roasted for Barron's height being the first thing he mentioned about his son during the podcast interview. Some users suggested it was indicative that Donald knows little else about Barron. "What a shallow response. Trump doesn't even know his son," one person wrote.
Aside from posing for photos with his family members at the funeral of Donald's first wife, Ivana Trump, Barron hasn't been spotted out in public much since his father's presidency ended. However, sources told Radar that Donald would like Barron to get involved in the Trump family business. It would mean making more public appearances together — and maybe Donald would learn something about Barron other than what a measuring stick says when he stands next to it. However, Melania Trump is reportedly against this plan. "That's only going to happen over her dead body," said an insider.