Jarring Side-By-Side Pics Of Melania Trump Remind Us How Drastically She's Changed

Over the long years of gracing the public eye first as a model, then as first lady, then as private citizen, and first lady again, Melania Trump has changed so much that side-by-side photos make us miss her pre-rumored-plastic surgery face. The FLOTUS has never been particularly interested in explaining herself, and that proclivity extends to whatever work she may have had done on her face. In 2016, she told GQ that she hasn't gone for any procedures, nor does she plan to: "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."

And that's all well and good, except for the fact that a growing chorus of people on the internet have been sounding off on the jarring changes in before and after photos, noting that Melania's alterations seemingly aren't just surface-level and subtle, but structural and comprehensive.

Robin Platzer/twin Images & Anna Moneymaker/Getty

As you can see, the photos that show the first lady in the late '90s, when compared with any photo taken during Donald Trump's second term, show that she might have a very liberal definition of graceful aging. If anything, they seem to validate the wildest theories about Melania's rumored plastic surgery, with changes to her nose and fuller cheeks hinting at operations like a rhinoplasty, cheek implants, Botox, or even a facelift. She has never confirmed any of it, but that hasn't stopped the internet and cosmetic experts from chiming in with speculation.

While there's no denying that Melania Trump's restrained approach to beauty sets her apart from a lot of her MAGA peers, the gap between what she says and what the photographic evidence shows has become somewhat difficult to bridge. The procedure many plastic surgeons agree upon when reviewing the FLOTUS's before-and-after photos is rhinoplasty, with Dr. Joel Kopelman insisting that, "The width of her nose has now narrowed particularly above," and that "[The tip] doesn't look quite as bulbous as it did when she was younger" (via YouTube). In his own YouTube video speculating on Melania's possible plastic surgery procedures, Dr. Gary Linkov estimates that by her early 30s, the tip of her nose was "slightly elevated," which can indicate rhinoplasty.

In 2018, the first lady spent some time in the hospital for a procedure related to her kidney. That, followed by an extra couple of weeks away from the public eye, compelled people to flag it as a possible cover for cosmetic procedures. President Donald Trump actually addressed these rumors at a South Carolina rally, saying, "But they had all kinds of projections. They said she got a facelift. No. I would let you know. They couldn't hide that one for long" (per The Hill).

Though Melania is something of an outlier when it comes to the "Mar-a-Lago" trend that she and her husband helped inspire, there's a particular flavor of irony in the fact that she's been consistently opposed to cosmetic interventions yet faced with many rumors of them.