Donald Trump doesn’t particularly like 2020 Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden, and apparently one of the reasons why is that Biden got a very bad face lift.
In a New York magazine [1] profile of Biden on his 2020 campaign trail, the reporter Olivia Nuzzi said that behind the former vice president’s ear was supposedly a scar rumored to be from a face-lift.
Some cosmetic surgeons told the Washington Examiner [2] that it was “obvious” Biden had had a procedure and that whoever did it wasn’t careful enough to hide the evidence.
“In the timeline of images from throughout his career, you can observe as he grows older and then younger and then older but somehow more elegant and alert,” Nuzzi wrote in the profile. “His hair is white now but thicker than it was in the 1980s. He’s thinner, but his cheeks are fuller than they were in 2008. To be honest with you, he looks good. He’s almost 77!”
Apparently, Trump isn’t a fan of Biden’s face lift.
Nuzzi cited sources who know the president personally as saying he doesn’t like plastic surgery (though that may be only for men, as the book “Born Trump” has said he once advised his daughter Ivanka get breast implants [3] to advance her modeling career).
But the president especially doesn’t like when plastic surgery isn’t done well, the article said, and isn’t impressed by what he thinks Biden has had cosmetically altered.
Early in the 2020 race, Trump was widely reported to be worried by Biden’s chances, and he’s publicly suggested he sees him as his biggest rival, predicting in April that the Democratic primary champion would be either Biden or Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Now, as the polls tighten between Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Trump is apparently less concerned. Biden has failed to garner any upward momentum, starting off strong as President Barack Obama’s right-hand man but faltering against his more left-leaning opponents like Warren and Sanders.
A senior White House official told New York magazine that Biden was no longer the one Trump was worried about, something the person said had a lot to do with Biden’s “look,” along with what Trump perceives as poor speaking skills and small crowd sizes.
Trump’s wife Melania also is reportedly against plastic surgery.
Melania Trump has somewhat changed her image during her time in the limelight. People have speculated her fresh-faced looks of her modeling heyday seem to have had a little help from cosmetic professionals.
So are these rumors true?
Melania’s ex-roomie from her modeling days says she, “went away for a two week vacation” before a Camel billboard. “Then came back, and was more…buxom.”
“She admitted it to me,” the roommate insists. “She just said it needed to be done to get more lingerie jobs.”
But Melania’s not going along with that story. When it comes to her boobs, she proclaimed to GQ [4] in 2016, “I didn’t make any changes.”
“A lot of people say I am using all the procedures for my face,” she continues. “I didn’t do anything. I live a healthy life, I take care of my skin and my body.”
Avoiding plastic surgery isn’t just a personal preference for her; it’s a stance. “I’m against Botox,” she says categorically, “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.”
Then there is the issue with her “kidney surgery.”
In May 2018 Melania underwent kidney surgery Monday at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center near Washington, DC. Then she more or less disappears for almost a month.
But many people doubted that story, and there were rumors that she had breast enhancement, not kidney surgery.
Donald Trump denied it, and surprise surprise, lashed out at the media over it:
The Fake News Media has been so unfair, and vicious, to my wife and our great First Lady, Melania. During her recovery from surgery they reported everything from near death, to facelift, to left the W.H. (and me) for N.Y. or Virginia, to abuse. All Fake, she is doing really well!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2018 [5]
…Four reporters spotted Melania in the White House last week walking merrily along to a meeting. They never reported the sighting because it would hurt the sick narrative that she was living in a different part of the world, was really ill, or whatever. Fake News is really bad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2018 [6]
So let’s take a look at Melania and whether she’s had any work done to her face. I’ll present the photo evidence and let you decide:
Melania in 1987
Way back in 1987, Melania (born Melanija) was a fresh-faced 17-year-old hoping to launch a modeling career. Her eyes were a lot more wide-open here, and her nose more prominent.
Melania in 1999
Fast-forward to 1999, and Melania was sporting a lighter hair color and skinnier brows. She was 29 here, and I think this was still her original nose. The lips, I’m not sure about—the top one looks especially plump, but Restylane injections were far from mainstream back then. Once again, her eyes are larger here than they appear now.
Melania in 2001
It was back to brown hair in 2001, but Melania kept the ultra-thin brows. The way her cheeks jut out looks so much like Restylane, as do her plump, glossy lips—but this was 15 years ago, and she was only 31 at the time.
Melania in 2004
This is the photo where I think Melania looked the prettiest. The warm caramel hair color really suits her complexion, and the light, bronzey makeup is super-flattering. (Notice the lighter touch on the eyes, compared to how she wears her makeup now.) I suspect by this time, she had probably altered her nose.
Melania in 2005
The hair color and bronzer stuck around through 2005, with the addition of a deep spray tan. This is the first photo where we can see Melania’s teeth, which I doubt were that bright white and uniformly-sized without the help of a dentist. But there’s movement around her eyes, and a natural hollow underneath them, so I don’t think she had touched that area so far (she was 35 here)
Melania in 2008
In 2008, Melania started adopting the same squint as her husband. A photographer once told me that squinting is a good way to pose when you get your picture taken, if you’re prone to the crazy-eyed, “deer in headlights” look. So that may be what’s happening here and not some surgical facelift (note how her cheeks are more flat, too). This is also when Melania began wearing heavy eye makeup and liner in her waterlines, which no doubt closes off her already small eyes. You can see the difference in her nose here, compared to 1999.
Melania in 2009
Now we’re in 2009, and I can’t imagine that Melania, at age 39, wouldn’t be dabbling with injectables. Her cheeks look more plump and her under-eye area more full than the photo from four years before. That just doesn’t happen as you age. It also looks like Botox might’ve been injected in her forehead and around the lips (and is preventing her from naturally smiling).
Melania in 2010
What jumps out most in this 2010 photo are Melania’s incredibly sculpted cheeks. Funny how they’re even more prominent here than back in 2001! Dermatologists commonly inject filler there to try to “lift” the face, but I think it rarely looks natural—that’s what is contributing to the feline look of her eyes. Her lips look thinner, indicating she was probably using injections there, too.
Melania in 2011
The thing about injections is that they can look a million times better once they “settle,” and this 2011 photo is a great example of that. Melania was 41 in this photo, and her face doesn’t look quite as tight here. Notice how her lips are fuller again, a telltale sign of Restylane use.
Melania in 2016
That brings us to the Melania we see now, and a Melania who looks, once more, like she’s dabbling in cosmetic procedures. Her forehead is completely line-free, her eye area looks “pulled,” and her cheeks inflated. I also think she’s getting lip injections, at least in the top lip. Her heavily contoured nose is exaggerating its altered, thinner shape.
Melania may insist she is “all-natural,” but I think these photos tell a different story.
“Her face has a stony look from being overfilled and over-Botoxed,” Dr. Franklin Rose, a plastic surgeon, told Life & Style [7]. “Melania’s forehead is as smooth as a baby’s rear end, so she’s had liberal amounts of Botox for sure. Her cheeks, along with the nasolabial lines between the nose and corners of the mouth, likely have fillers. [Her rhinoplasty] is a beautiful job. Whoever is treating her now is just a little overzealous with the injectables.”
If true, it’s not like she’s the only woman to deny getting cosmetic procedures. But it can’t be easy being Melania Trump—her husband famously told Esquire in 1991, “You know, it really doesn’t matter what the media write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.”
What do you think?
