Does Melania Have Body Doubles That Travel With Donald Trump?

Conspiracy theorists are hard at work today as a new photo of Melania Trump, allegedly looking quite unlike herself, is making the rounds. According to Yahoo, the photo shows Melania boarding Marine One alongside Donald Trump, on their way to Nashville for last week's presidential debate. In the picture, Melania is wearing her trademark sunglasses but her smile is rubbing the Twitterverse the wrong way.

The Daily Mail reports Melania's teeth are the source of people's suspicion, with some speculators claiming they look rounder than normal. This supposed discrepancy prompted TV director Zack Bornstein to post the photo on Twitter with the caption, "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." TV producer Andrew Kimmel chimed in by tweeting a small collection of photos of the first lady with the caption, "Which Melania body double was most convincing? #FakeMelania." If Melania does indeed have body doubles that travel with Trump, they've been at it for a while.

The Melania Trump body double suspicions were originally sparked in 2017, when Melania and Donald attended a press conference in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. The Daily Mail reports viewers were confused by Donald Trump pointing out Melania's presence, as if no one could see her standing right next to him. He said, "My wife, Melania, who happens to be right here..." Doubters also claimed that the first lady didn't look like herself at that event, noting that her nose in particular looked different. Then, in 2018 when the Trumps traveled to an event in Ohio, rumors surged anew thanks to Melania's hair being parted on the wrong side, which reportedly made her look unlike herself.

For his part, Donald Trump has brushed off the body double claims, chalking them up to his own favorite conspiracy theory: fake news. As far as this most recent photo of the two en route to last week's debate, some point out the Melania in the picture has to be legit because she was photographed looking exactly like herself just moments earlier. And, unless the first lady's body double is a really good actress, we're pretty positive the real FLOTUS made it to the debate that evening. Melania's move of swatting her husband's hand away as they exited the stage was just too darn characteristic of everything we've seen from the couple these last four years.