This week’s Us Weekly cover is “Melania Trump: My Side of the Story.” You might think to yourself, “did Melania really give her side of ‘the story’ to Us Weekly?” The answer is no, she did not. Melania was not interviewed for this cover story. Unnamed “insiders” are quoted. So what is Melania’s “story” even about? Well, I guess people are still talking about how Melania looked like Lady Top Gun in her cigarette pants and three-inch heels as she was heading to Texas last week. Us Weekly is obviously super-sympathetic to The Plight of the Former Model Who Wore Heels. Melania is a survivor, y’all.
In the two years since Donald, 71, threw his red hat in the presidential ring, the 47-year-old businesswoman has been knocked for everything from her racy modeling shots to her European accept. Her latest perceived misstep: wearing four-inch Manolo Blahnik stilettos when she boarded a Texas-bound Air Force One August 29 to join Donald on a visit with those affected by Hurricane Harvey. Though she changed into sneakers mid-flight, Twitter users railed against her choice of footwear, deeming the $595 heels insensitive to those who just lost everything. Even Vogue, which featured Melania on a 2005 cover, asked, “What kind of message does a fly-in visit from a first lady in sky-high stilettos send to those suffering?”
But those close to Melania insist the only real takeaway is that FLOTUS favors a pointy-toe.
“She just wore them out of the house,” an insider says exclusively in the new issue of Us Weekly. The mom of 11-year-old Barron, continues the insider, “wouldn’t have worn heels on the ground in Texas. No one in the White House thinks this is a big deal; the know there’s a million more important things going on.”
Melania is focusing on the big picture. During their trip to Corpus Christi, Texas — 200 miles southwest of Houston — the sneaker-clad star joined her husband in briefings with Texas Governor Greg Abbot, FEMA administrator William Long and representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard the the Red Cross.
“This has been a really eye-opening experience for her as first lady,” her communications director Stephanie Grisham tells Us. One she was eager to repeat. Four days after her heel hubbub, Melania returned to Texas to talk with storm survivors.
“She’s really focused on meeting with people who lived through it and speaking with them and getting a real handle on how people can best be helped,” explains Grisham. “She recognizes that this is a long-term process so she’s committed to helping people and seeing that through.”
I agree that this is not the most important issue, this fact that Melania gets little sh-t like footwear so wrong. It’s part of a larger narrative about her, and Us Weekly isn’t doing her any favors, and neither is the insider or Stephanie Grisham. The fact that it took a visit to Corpus Christi for Melania to have a Come-To-Jesus moment that people are suffering says more about Melania and her bubble of trophy-wife privilege more than anything else. You know what I thought of? Superstorm Sandy was just five years ago. Melania was living in New York at the time. Did she not realize back then, “Oh, right, people in this area are really suffering because of a natural disaster”? I guess not. She was too busy shopping for shoes.
Photos courtesy of Getty, cover courtesy of Us Weekly.
New York Magazine did a great piece on First Lady fashion and why what she wore mattered.
https://www.thecut.com/2017/08/melania-trump-hurricane-heels-and-the-artifice-of-fashion.html
Thanks, interesting read.
It was such an infuriating thing to focus on. Because
a) Trophy Wives gonna Trophy Wife. She’s a former model. The only real job she’s ever held has been “looking good”. She wasn’t on her way to bail out people’s houses or carry brush. Why pretend otherwise?
b) if we on the left jump on these sorts of things, it will take approximately 2 milliseconds for the what-abouters on the right to jump on something Michelle Obama did. In this case, wearing expensive shoes to a soup kitchen. That is an EQUALLY dumb thing to get upset about. Let’s not give them a chance to what-about.
I don’t think the shoes were a big deal but then on Sat. she did the same thing. Wore the heels on to the plane and made sure that a bag was seen being carried that had clothes in for her to change into. Oh, and on Sat I think she wore a USA hat also.
The stupid hats will end up being the best thing about this administration
I assume the front cover is her trying to smile. It looks painful.
The magazine is trolling her bigly with that photo. I think they Photoshopped it to make her look as dreadful as possible. Ugh!
I thought that too. I despise her, mostly because her husband is so bad I can’t event verbalize my hatred, but I’ve never seen her and thought anything except “beautiful.” THAT photo is…actively hilarious.
Maybe she asked them to use it so Trump will see it, freak out that she’s aging, and trade her for a younger model.
her face looks like it hurts always
she’s a great argument for not touching your face
LOL @ US magazine describing her as a “businesswoman”.
That just made me laugh out loud loudly and now a carriage of commuters think I’m mad. You are right it does look painful.
Us Weekly really has gone even further downhill if they think anyone actually cares about why Melania wore heels. Everyone already knows why she wore heels.
Oh, so US is doing PR for the White House? Please.
Yep. The owner, who also owns The National Enquire, is a contributor/fan of Cinnamon Hitler.
lol “Cinnamon Hitler!”
She wasn’t shoe shopping during Sandy. She was ordering wellies from Harrods. To be flown in by private jet.
No one in the White House even thinks of Melania unless they need her for a photo op.
Btw, the picture they posted on Labor Day to promote US products? Her dress was designed and manufactured elsewhere.
In the grand scheme of things her shoes do not matter. I only think about her shoes when I see an article about them online and then I quickly forget about them. I live in Central Florida. We are waiting for Irma. I couldn’t care less about who is wearing what shoes and where.
Same here. Not a Trump supporter, but NO ONE here in Houston cared what shoes she wore. Complete waste of energy. Instead of writing about how people could help, instead, some journalist chose to use their talents to write about shoes.
I’m not a Trump supporter either, Marie. Not even a little bit. I don’t have to be a Trump supporter to see that this shoe business is absolutely ridiculous. Thank you for being honest about your opinion. I hope everything is well with you and yours.
I agree. And I count the days til Trump is out, but that brouhaha over her stilletos just made people look petty. It was slightly funny and wtf she wore them, but completely depressing and wtf that all these prestigious papers published entire articles about the fact.
Talk about needing focus. Who cares. She probably bathes in stilletos. Who cares?
And exactly what did she do? Did she shake hands with you or pass out food or water, or did she sit at a table looking like a zombie next to her loud mouth husband. Obviously she wasn’t in the trenches with you victims or she would have fallen over in those stilettos. She didn’t want to be there, and didn’t even make an fake effort to look as if she wanted to help the people.
Prayers your way. I will take some too!
Thank you, @Nicole! Stay safe!
You even more. Love you, sister!
Much love to you as well, Nicole! 🙂
@nancy, Hit me up when you get to Florida and help me with these sandbags. Be sure to pack appropriate footwear or I will report you to the shoe police.
I lived in Florida for years. We’ve been through storms. Never wore stilettos, but then again I wasn’t the First Lady of the man who insists upon a hot wife, trophy #3 I believe. Good luck in Florida, you guys are going to need it. Personally, if a 5 was coming in my direction, I’d head out of there fast. These storms are outrageous. Of course trump doesn’t believe in climate change and the hot waters that kept Harvey over Texas for five days, but I digress. He will you keep you safe.
Agreed, we have the aftermath of and upcoming natural disasters to worry about, DACA, this Betsy DeVos announcement coming soon (likely about ending sexual assault protections on college campuses) etc – who gives a f**k about Melania’s shoes.
Wishing you and your loved ones luck!
Thanks, @kdlaf! We genuinely appreciate it. 🙂
No one cares what you think, Malaria. You’re bought and paid for, like every gold digger.
Go away and take your disgusting meal ticket with you.
It’s not the shoes, hat, or any other piece of clothing. It’s the inability to empathize with other human beings. These two always have to be “schooled” in what is for most people common human behavior. Look at the grotesque turns of Trump’s DACA response. He “loves” 800,000 young people whom he will then abandon. These are forced imitations of human feelings.
Exactly. They have zero empathy. They always have to be the center of attention and adoration. They cannot simply recognize the humanity of each and every individual.
While Melania’s stilettos were ridiculous, what made my blood boil happened at one of the local shelters. Donald Trump signed his name to a wall in the NRG Center in Houston while visiting people who had to be evacuated from their flooded homes. He brazenly defaced property belonging to Harris County, Texas, to boost his own over-inflated ego instead of focusing on suffering people and trying to lift their spirits. The only signature of his a lot of us down here want to see is on a letter of resignation.
I don’t think it is appropriate for the First Lady to wear F*ck Me shoes at the site of disaster. I further believe there is nothing or anyone appropriate living in or supporting the White House. She is nothing more than a high class call girl who married this POS and deserves any negativity she gets. If you need to be schooled on your wardrobe at age 47, we have a problem. Michelle where are you. Make her go away with that man.
Sensitive shoe-wearing lesbian here. I don’t care about her heels at all. She has the right to wear what she wants. But it’s laughable for US Weekly to claim that the Houston visit “changed her life.” Her life will never change, except for a missed Pilates class here and there. They are trolling her and us.
Oops, I meant to write “sensible shoe-wearing.” Though I am also sensitive and usually wear shoes! 🙂
I rolled my eyes so hard at that line that I checked out my own butt! My friend’s house in Beaumont is under seven feet of water. He and his family have lost everything. One of my other friends got two feet of water in her home during the controlled release of the Barker Dam. She was only allowed back into her home yesterday to begin the cleanup but without any utilities – no power, no water, no gas. Until I see Melania hauling water-logged furniture out to kerbs or cutting out drywall by hand, she needs to STFU about how Harvey changed her life.
This is what Trump voters wanted from Melania. They want her to look like Nazi Barbie 24/7. They don’t care if she doesn’t speak for 4 years; they just want her to be white, slim, perfect hair and well-dressed.
Shoes aren’t a problem compared to the other troubles ole Trumpkin Head is causing.
The shoes matter because it confirms that The King of Lies and Fake News and his wife were using Texas as a photo-op. When called upon to show empathy and compassion, the first thing the Trump’s want to do is make it about themselves and find out how they can profit from it. No one should be feeling sorry for Melania because she knew what she was doing the moment she put both of Flotus hats on her head on Tuesday and Saturday. Notice the product placement? The hats, one says Flotus and the other USA 45, which they were selling on their website. She then did the same thing on Saturday, showing up with another hat that said Texas in the front and Flotus in the back.
The shoes matter because as usual, she was using Texas to garnish another glowing article about her fashion sense and expensive clothes. She should not be allowed to get away with things like this, especially since she has completely abandoned her cyberbullying platform.
This article was bought and paid for by Melania. It seems like her only role in the WH is to release positive articles about herself and show up for the staged photo-ops with her husband.
If the Houston changed her life, why then did she show up in Texas on Saturday wearing another Flotus hat?
It’s not the shoes she wore when she got off the plane in Texas. It just makes the Dems look like they jump on anything and everything. I don’t care that she wore heels getting into the plane. She wore tennis shoes when she got off. So all of this carrying on over nothing.
We have bigger battles to pick than making a big deal out of this. We begin to lose credibility, because it does look like we are petty over everything associated with Trump. Attacking the First Lady over what she wore onto the plane is getting us nowhere and I don’t agree with. There are bigger fish to fry, and that’s Trump and what he’s doing to this country. Stay with the bigger picture.
And, yes, I’m in Florida too dealing with much bigger issues.
The title of this post could have been “No one in the White House thinks”, and it would have been very accurate.
Well I think her heels were idiotic.
I thought it was a great outfit, except for the jacket. My first thought was how does she walk across the grass to get to the helicopter without getting stuck? I figured they would just do a flyover so it didn’t matter what shoes she had on. I did laugh when I saw her in her pristine white tennis shoes getting off the plane. She looked like she walked out of the department store with her newly purchased clothing.
The only thing I didn’t like was the hats they both were wearing, which they are selling to make a profit off the Presidency. But as I always say, and say often these days, Grifters gotta grift.
She doesn’t want the job. She’s not even pretending. On 1 side is hate this.
On the other… her lack of empathy and sympathy is both honest and useful. The optics are not helping Trump. Not much is.
Maybe this is what he wanted her to wear.