During Donald Trump’s presidency he rarely looked comfortable showing affection towards Melania. At his inauguration in January 2017, the married pair seemed strangely awkward when they had to share embraces. “I don’t see any warmth or true love and compassion in that relationship whatsoever,” a body language expert told Mic at the time. “If you didn’t know that they were married, you wouldn’t know that they are married,” they added. Prior to the event, Donald and Melania had a similar exchange at the Republican National Convention when he accepted the nomination to run for president. The couple gave each other stilted hugs at an event which should have been celebratory.
Perhaps the most cringe-inducing physical interaction between Donald and Melania came when she introduced him at a military event in September 2017. After she spoke, Donald approached his wife and greeted her with a firm handshake in place of a hug. The following year, cameras caught Donald reaching out to hold Melania’s hand while they visited French President Emmanuel Macron. Instead of cusping hands, though, their fingers just sort of grazed one another’s.
The uncomfortable body language between the Trumps continued after his presidency. In April, an ex-aide for Melania said her body language spoke volumes about the state of their marriage. “Looks like Melania Trump is about to dive head first into a pool of sharks & nobody’s going to protect her,” Stephanie Winston Wolkoff wrote on X alongside a photo of the couple.
