Inside The Fake Melania Conspiracy Theory

Will the real Melania please stand up? Like any good conspiracy theory, it all depends on how much you want to believe despite all the evidence to the contrary. So what better conspiracy theory for people who think Melania Trump secretly hates her husband so much that she employs (or was replaced) a body double to appear with him at events? Enter the #FakeMelania conspiracy theory.

If you've spent even a modicum of time scrolling through social media during Trump's presidency, you've likely seen photos and posts purporting that the First Lady isn't the First Lady at all, but a series of women the Trump administration is trying to pass off as Melania Trump. Is it a true conspiracy theory or just some harmless fun? 

So put on your tinfoil hats and strap in as we go inside the Fake Melania conspiracy theory to discuss its origins, how it went mainstream, and where it stands today. 

When the fake Melania conspiracy theory took off in 2017, the White House offered up an aggressive pushback. "Once again, we find ourselves consumed with a ridiculous non-story when we could be talking about the work the first lady is doing on behalf of children, including the opioid crisis that is gripping our nation," East Wing communications director and Melania spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham told CNN.

CNN's Jonathan Wackrow, a former Secret Service agent, claimed that the lead agent on Trump's Secret Service detail is a woman who just happens to look like the First Lady. "Mrs. Trump's lead agent is a woman ... and she happens to look a little like her, but physically, she is much shorter," he said. He added that "The United States Secret Service doesn't use body doubles."

Wackrow went on to say that the agent previously worked for the Obama family, so the Trumps wanted to keep things consistent.  "There are different dynamics in ... both the optics and the response when it comes to comparing the President's detail with the first lady's," he said. "Those are the sorts of details considered, not at all whether an agent is some sort of body double."

The White House finally broke their silence on Melania Trump's absence from the public eyes with her spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham telling Politico that the First Lady "had several meetings internally with staff" to focus on her Be Best initiative and to plan "the congressional picnic and Fourth of July."

Grisham then addressed the conspiracy theories by calling them "silly nonsense" to be ignored. "Sadly, we deal with conspiracy theories all the time, so this is nothing new," she said. "She is doing great. I wouldn't characterize it as a long absence. She was hospitalized for almost a week and is now home and recovering."

However, a few months later, in August 2018, some on the Internet believed, based on a photo, that Melania Trump didn't have kidney surgery at all but rather had a secret breast enlargement. "Many are wondering whether that's really what was going on in the Walter Reed Hospital. That's because the First Lady stepped out in a pale pink top on August 28 looking a little different — and no, this didn't have anything to do with the rumored body double that conspiracy theorists think she and husband Donald Trump ... hired," Hollywood Life reported. "Instead, it had everything to do with her chest, which looked way bigger than it used to in the tight tank. Is it possible that Melania actually had a boob job under the guise of getting kidney surgery?"

The photos of Melania Trump in Alabama made it to the roundtable discussion with the ladies on The View – and they had some thoughts. "Some people think the first lady is using an impostor to stand in for her,"  co-host Joy Behar began. "You mean there are two women who have to pretend they're listening to him?" Once the photo was displayed, Behar added, "I wasn't going to go along with this, but that one in that picture doesn't look like her."

Co-host Sunny Hostin seemingly agreed, stating that Melania is a "very tall statuesque woman" while the woman in the photo was short. Behar added, "When there's a rumor like this, and memes all over the place, I think it catches on because there's an element of truth to the idea that she doesn't want to spend time with him." Co-host Ana Navarro chimed in saying that the "political reality right now is so absurd, you would almost believe anything. I think this is crazy and it's absurd, but it's also funny," before openly wondering if Trump was "a Russian asset." Abby Huntsman claimed she didn't care either way, and most of the roundtable agreed they were all doing it "in jest."

Melania's spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham responded to the segment in an email to USA Today, calling the hosts "sad" for discussing the conspiracy theory. "Yesterday's show went beyond the petty, mean-girl spirit that we've grown accustomed to," she wrote.

Anthony Scaramucci, the former (and very brief) White House Director of Communications, appeared on the Australian game show Have You Been Paying Attention? in 2020, and the fake Melania conspiracy theory came up. When comedian Cal Wilson asked Scaramucci if there was "any truth" to the rumors, the former member of the Trump administration suggested that Melania actually uses a body double. "You know Michael Cohen, the President's lawyer, insists that there is a body double and insists that actually her sister sometimes replaces her on the campaign trail," he said (via Yahoo! Finance).

"Usually when you see somebody more affectionate with Mr Trump," he said about the photo of the alleged fake Melania smiling while exiting the plane. "Let me put it to you this way, when he loses on Tuesday, I'm going to be a happy camper, but nobody is going to be happier than Melania." It's unclear if Scaramucci said all this for laughs or for clicks, but at the time of this writing, he has yet to offer any proof to his claims.