Melania Trump, Before and After

Back in 2001, she was Melania Knauss, a 31-year-old model who had recently moved to the US from her native Slovenia. As you can see, she always had amazing bone structure, but she remained unknown until meeting Donald Trump in 1998. 

Thanks to him, she landed the cover of British GQ in 2000, wearing only jewellery as she reclined on his private jet. That wasn’t her only racy photo shoot—she had previously posed in the buff for the French magazine Max. When asked about the latter, Trump said: “Melania was one of the most successful models and she did many photo shoots, including for covers and major magazines. This was a picture taken for a European magazine prior to my knowing Melania. In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common.”³

When you’re Donald Trump’s girlfriend, you need to play the part. So for this event on the New York City social circuit, she styled herself in an elegant updo and smoky eye makeup. She was 33 here, and to me, her face looks natural. For example, notice the slight loss of volume in her cheeks and the faint lines in her nasolabial folds (which is perfectly normal for this age).

The following year, Melania switched up her look. Not only did she deepen her ash brown hair colour to a glossy dark brunette, she also paired it with a heavy spray tan. (Back then, it didn’t get more on trend than this—see Megan Fox, too!) But there’s one more thing I suspect she changed... her lips! The top one is noticeably fuller than before, and even more so than her lower lip.

The spray tan stuck around for another year, but by this time, Melania had lightened her hair to the sun-kissed “bronde” (a mix of brunette and blonde) that she is still known for to this day. Here, her upper lip seems back to normal, and there’s natural movement in her face (as evidenced by the creases under her eyes). Earlier in 2005, she tied the knot with Donald, changing her last name to Trump. 

Only two months before this photo, she gave birth to her son, Barron. So if her face appears a little fuller here, that’s probably the reason why. That said, her upper lip is back to looking inflated again, and the lower edge is bumpy... so it’s possible she was dabbling with fillers. Also take note of her nose, because I suspect she later made a change there, too!

Fast-forward to age 39, and Melania had dropped all her baby weight as well as perfected her famous “smize.” Part of that is just her eye shape, though—as you can see from these photos, she has naturally smaller eyes that slant upward at the outer edges. So I don’t think it’s a matter of cheek fillers making them look smaller... at least not yet! 

And now we come to the photo that has me doubting her insistence that she is “against injections.” If not injections, what else could explain the sudden (and drastic) change in her appearance?! If you look at where her cheeks meet her eyes, it’s all one big bulge. Obviously, it makes her look a lot older—even though she was still only 39 at this time!

Fortunately, whatever went wrong in 2009 had been corrected by the time Melania stepped out for this event. (Hyaluronidase, perhaps? That’s the substance that doctors can inject to dissolve fillers when there’s too much or the placement is wrong.) She actually looks incredible here, and I’m wondering if there’s one more reason why. Take a closer peek at her nose. Doesn’t it seem more petite now, with a shortened tip?

This shot was taken exactly one year later, at age 41. Maybe this is when she swore off Botox, because we’re now seeing the expression lines on her cheeks, beside her eyes, and on her forehead. (Lighting probably has something to do with it as well, since there’s quite a difference between this photo and the previous one.) If you look at her lips, the two upper lobes seem unnaturally full, which is suggestive of lip fillers.

By the time Trump began campaigning for president, Melania’s style transformation from “sexy model” to “politician’s wife” was complete. Besides launching a new wardrobe, she dialled down the makeup (think: tasteful shaded eyes and a pop of pretty pink lip gloss). Here, you can see bunny lines on her nose, which can be a telltale sign of Botox. (“The most common cause of bunny lines is repeated use of Botox to the glabella—the area between the eyebrows—and forehead region,” says Dr. Robert Schwarcz. “The muscles on either side of the nose become hyperactive with smiling to overcompensate for the lack of movement in the forehead and around the eyes.”⁴)

That brings us to her most recent public appearance, at age 49. Here, we can see more fullness to her face compared to her younger days, especially around the lower cheeks and jawline. So she could be doing some Botox and fillers—but she likely hasn’t gone the route of her Hollywood peers with radical sculpting procedures like buccal fat removal or facial liposuction. 

Melania insists that she “didn’t make any changes,” and you know what? Compared to most of our Before & After subjects, she actually seems pretty comfortable with aging naturally. Most A-list stars in her age group have jawlines as tight as a drum (which they usually attribute to “good genetics” or “a healthy lifestyle”). So to see what a normal 49-year-old face looks like is kind of refreshing.

What do the experts say? 

“Her face has a stony look from being overfilled and over-Botoxed,” says Dr. Franklin Rose. “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.”⁵

Dr. Dev Patel agrees. “I noticed the very obvious signs of likely Botox recently, when watching her on a TV interview. She was giving a rather personal account of her background, yet her upper face was not moving in harmony with her words. In fact, it was not moving at all. This suggests too heavy doses are being used by her doctor.”⁶

“Comparing the earlier photo when she is younger and the later life pictures, one can see that the nasal shape has changed,” says Dr. Jag Chana. “The nose is narrower and the tip is more refined. The very minor irregularities along the bridge line are suggestive of an osteotomy which is part of the procedure during a rhinoplasty which narrows the nose. Compared to her younger photograph, the top lip appears fuller. This likely is a result of lip fillers. The forehead is completely smooth and wrinkle free—so likely Botox.”⁶

“I would say Melania has had forehead contouring with filler to make it more rounded, with Botox to lift the brows,” says Dr. Munir Somji. “She also appears to have had buccal fat removal to slim the face, alongside fillers around the jawline with radio frequency tightening to give a chiselled look.”⁶

Whatever she had done, it’s inspiring other women to follow suit: “The Melania” is now the hottest trend in plastic surgery. “I’ve have had many women visit my office wanting the ‘Ivanka [Trump] look.’ So it’s not really surprising to see women now requesting to look more like Melania,” says Dr. Rose.⁷