Melania Trump Can't Outrun The Plastic Surgery Rumors

Mar-A-Lago face, the plastic surgery trend spreading through MAGA circles, might be normalizing injectables and Botox for plenty of Republicans, but first lady Melania Trump still claims to believe in natural beauty. She has repeatedly denied getting any cosmetic procedures to alter her face and body. "I didn't make any changes," she told GQ in 2016. "A lot of people say I am using all the procedures for my face. I didn't do anything. I live a healthy life. I take care of my skin and my body. I'm against Botox, I'm against injections; I think it's damaging your face, damaging your nerves. It's all me. I will age gracefully, as my mom does." But Trump's taut, sculpted face tells a different story. 

Before and after photos that highlight Trump's Mar-A-Lago face seem to make it obvious that she's made some not-so-minor tweaks to her looks. Both plastic surgery experts and Internet users suspect she's getting a little aesthetic enhancement at the med spa. "Give me a break. Her features are completely different from what they used to be. Eyes, nose, jawline are different," wrote one Reddit user. "Her skin is so tight... it's practically screaming." Another Reddit user said simply, "She's had like 6 faces."

Throwback snaps remind us what a supermodel stunner Melania Trump has always been, but they also capture just how much her face has changed over the years. When she was younger, Trump has a much more wide-eyed, innocent beauty than her current face. Plastic surgeon Gary Linkov estimates that model-turned-first lady has had roughly $200,000 worth of cosmetic procedures, including a nose job, lip filler, cheek implants, a brow lift, Botox, and even possibly a face lift.

Even Trump's narrow eyes, which have long been a signature element of her beauty look, are likely the effect of going under the knife. "She may have had a canthoplasty, or a lateral brow lift, that would have brought out the sides of her eyes," Linkov explained on YouTube in 2024. "Some people call this a 'cat eye' type of look... [these procedures] have the effect of lengthening the eye and making the eyes look smaller."

But while Trump has put plenty of time and money into her face, not everyone is convinced the investment was worth it. "She's definitely had work done," wrote one Reddit user. "And ironically, she went from 'looks like an actual Slav' to 'looks like a movie representation of a Slavic black widow wife,'" a reference to Trump's Slovenian heritage.