Melania and Donald Trump are equals now and she doesn't serve as his shadow anymore, says body language expert
There has been a power-shift in recent times in the relationship between President Donald Trump and his wife and it shows in the way First Lady Melania Trump conducts herself in public.
Although the bond she shared with her boyfriend and eventual husband was always the talk of the town - with her being a Slovenian supermodel and him being a billionaire businessman - it was never scrutinized as much as it was after Trump's inauguration in 2017. Whenever the couple stepped out of the White House, whether it was to walk across the green lawns to board Air Force One or show up at some event, every minute expression of the mother-of-one was analyzed and dissected by the media.
Through the incessant efforts of shutterbugs, one could observe that more often than not, Melania would let the POTUS take center stage, while she hovered in his shadow or somewhere at the back.
“Melania's first few months in the White House involved some very low-key and low-status posing and body language signaling. Trump adopted an entrepreneurial approach to power rather than a presidential one, which seemed to mean no attention or status-sharing with his wife. He was the star of the show and she often hung around in the wings," body language expert Judi James told Express.
Since Trump was all-business all the time, he also digressed from the playful vibes that his predecessor shared with his better half during his presidency. "There was little if any touch or PDAs between them and we even saw Melania appearing to swat his hand away on at least one occasion," James said.
Although Melania showed up alongside her husband to most of the official engagements of the White House, she was more than happy to fade into the background as the spotlight shone on Trump.
“Melania often looked Sphinx-like and enigmatic while her husband soaked up all the attention. Melania seemed to see her role as one of complimenting and stoking Trump's alpha-male credentials. Her body language is more red carpet than White House, suggesting she saw herself more as a beautiful attachment than the kind of role equal that we saw from previous presidents, especially the Obamas," the expert opined.
But that was a matter of the past. A certain shift in the dynamics of their relationship has been observed in 2019 when Melania started asserting her presence whenever they were seen in public. The expert suggested that shift might have adversely affected their relationship.
“There was a turning point in Melania's body language that suggested she finally saw herself as a fully-fledged FLOTUS with popularity and status in her own right,” James continued. "Instead of shadowing her husband, spontaneous looking waves and direct connections to her audience suggest growing confidence and a growing lack of wariness about upstaging Trump.”
She added: “Melania seemed to drop the model posing and opted for a pseudo-military stance instead, using symmetric poses with her shoulders squared and arms straight down at her sides. The mirroring between the Trumps present them as equals and very much a team of two, with the hand-clasp hinting at a desire to signal affection and agreement.”