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Recently, a claim arose online that Melania Trump has filed for divorce from Donald Trump. According to the rumor, the former First Lady’s decision was based on her husband’s struggling presidential campaign in the wake of his potential sentencing.
It was first posted by retired whistleblower Rebekah Jones (@GeoRebekah) on X on September 1. The tweet contained a picture of an alleged Newsweek article tweet, which was titled:
“Melania Trump e-files for divorce as Trump campaign tanks, sentencing looms.”
Rebekah Jones doubled down on the rumor by writing in a follow-up post:
“BREAKING: Melania Trump filed for divorce in Palm Beach* county through online e-file system, time-stamped today at 5:12 PM ET.”
However, the rumor has turned out to be fake. A few hours later, the former whistleblower took to TikTok and other social media platforms and confirmed that what she posted about the Trumps was “completely fabricated and made up.”
Melania Trump has not filed for divorce
On Sunday, Rebekah Jones shared a photo of an alleged Newsweek story post on X, which claimed that Melania Trump filed for divorce online from her husband of nearly two decades. However, many on the platform soon debunked the viral rumor.
For instance, Shayan Sardarizadeh, a senior journalist for BBC Verify who often refutes conspiracy theories and online disinformation, tweeted that the Newsweek article screenshot posted by Rebekah was computer-generated.
“Melania Trump hasn't filed for divorce. This is a fake, digitally altered screenshot of a Newsweek tweet. You can see the genuine one from December 2019 on the right,” he wrote.
Below was Jones’ recent post with the “False!” alert in red inserted alongside the original Newsweek tweet from December 5, 2019, which was captioned, “Melania says children should be kept out of politics, Twitter reminds her of all the kids her husband caged.”
Not only that, but upon research, no post related to Melania Trump’s divorce filing was found on Newsweek’s account, nor was it published in any article. Likewise, no other major media reported it, thus making the claims unfounded.
Subsequently, Rebekah Jones herself went on TikTok and confirmed that her post was fabricated. She said she was trying out an “experiment” to see the “differences” in the extent, reach, and engagement of “disinformation” on social media platforms such as X and TikTok and how people “deal” with it.
The Florida native admitted that, as she speculated, the fake news spread “fastest and farthest.” She further said that before doing her “experiment,” she informed various media outlets and influencers, asking them “not to engage” and “ignore” it entirely.
Notably, Rebekah Jones’ fake tweet experiment comes after Donald Trump’s former and fired aide, Anthony Scaramucci, claimed on the MediasTouch podcast that Melania Trump wanted her husband to lose the upcoming presidential election.
“Nobody wants [Harris] to win more than me,” he claimed before correcting himself and adding, “I judge the hatred of Donald Trump by the Melania standard. My wife hates Trump as much as Melania.”
Melania Trump has been missing during Donald Trump’s ongoing presidential campaign
Melania Trump hasn’t made many public appearances with her husband ever since they left the White House in 2021. She wasn’t present with him when he had his mugshot taken in Atlanta last year, nor was she around when Donald Trump became the first-ever former U.S. President to be convicted in the hush-money trial in New York earlier this year.
Later, when the billionaire won the Republican Party’s official nomination for the first time in early July, she was still missing in action. However, following the assassination attempt on her husband, Melania Trump released a public statement saying that the incident was “horrifying” for their family, adding that the Truth Social owner is a “generous and caring man who I have been with through the best of times and the worst of times.”
Subsequently, in mid-July, she made a rare appearance at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she turned heads yet reportedly kept a low profile.
This is not the first time divorce rumors have emerged surrounding the Trump couple. In 2021, speculations arose when Melania deleted all her social media posts with her husband. In September 2023, Page Six reported that Melania was “negotiating a new postnup agreement.” However, the source told the outlet that she had no plans to end the marriage but was looking for a “more solid future.”
As for Donald Trump, he has been divorced twice before and has called the process “vicious” and “pure hell” in his 2007 book Think Big and Kick A*s. He also called prenup a “hard, painful, ugly tool” during her 2006 interview with the New York Magazine.
Melania and Donald Trump share an 18-year-old son, Barron, who has been seen more than once during his father’s presidential campaign rallies.
