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Melania Trump has marked her official return to the White House by releasing her portrait as the country’s first lady. Taken one day after her husband, President Donald Trump, was sworn in, the black-and-white photo shows Melania staring intently into the camera while rocking a very formal ensemble of a dark blazer over a white button-up shirt and black pants.
Melania lets her long hair down while resting her manicured hands on a reflective table in the Yellow Oval Room. The Washington Monument looms in the background, adding a dramatic touch of symbolism. For someone returning to the prestigious role, the former model seemingly tried to give off a no-nonsense vibe through her pose in the portrait. But many social media users were quick to point out that, if anything, she was giving the impression of a major villain. Several even compared her to Robin Wright’s character in Netflix’s House of Cards.
“Omg. They posed her like Claire Underwood,” one user on pointed out on X upon seeing Melania’s portrait. “They really think it is all a show.” The comparison to Wright’s ruthless First Lady-turned-President character wasn’t just about the wardrobe. The icy stare, the businesslike stance, and the deliberate staging all screamed political ambition — whether Melania herself intended it or not.
In the series, Claire starts as the wife and co-conspirator of Kevin Spacey‘s Frank Underwood, the villain protagonist and fictional 46th president of the U.S. Claire eventually transitions into a politician and even replaces her husband in the Oval Office by becoming the 47th president of the country. She’s mostly seen as a cunning, manipulative, and ruthless character, much like her husband.
If Claire is indeed the inspiration behind Melania’s new portrait as the FLOTUS, then could it be a foreshadowing of her political ambitions? This idea did not cross body language expert Judi James’ mind when asked to analyze Melania’s power move by the Daily Mail. According to her, it’s more of an image of a woman in control. “Everything about this pose screams power and status. She looks and poses as though she is the right woman in the right place at the right time,” James said.
The expert also noted that the image screams “a total re-branding” for Melania, as she’s now believed to want to ditch any “trophy wife” associations, with James claiming that Trump’s wife’s “soft” and “people-pleaser” look is gone.
True enough, it’s not hard to spot the major difference between Melania’s 2025 first lady portrait and the one she released in 2017, during her husband’s first term as POTUS. In her old portrait, Melania seemed soft, warm, and inviting despite also making direct eye contact with the lens.
Both portraits were taken by Régine Mahaux, a Belgian photographer who has been snapping the Trumps for over two decades. Commenting on the opportunity to capture Melania’s first lady portrait for the second time, she told the BBC: “I was really honored to be chosen to shoot this official portrait for the second time. She is a perfectionist and is really involved in the creative process.”
It should be noted that before Trump’s victory to secure a second term, Melania was mostly absent from his campaign trail. She’s largely stayed out of the picture with her son, Barron, as though she wasn’t supportive of her husband’s bid to become president for the second time. But now that she’s here, something tells us there might be a cryptic message tucked somewhere in her new portrait.