Request:
A photo authentically shows the future first lady of the United States, Melania Trump, then Melania Knauss, posing partially nude for modeling pictures on the plane of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Rating:
Rating: Miscaptioned
A rumor that circulated online in November 2025 said that a years-old photo authentically showed the future first lady of the United States, Melania Trump, then Melania Knauss, posing partially n*de for modeling pictures on the plane of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Users shared this claim on Bluesky (archived), Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), Threads, TikTok (archived) and X (archived), including a meme image reading, “Fun fact: This famous picture of first lady Melania Trump was taken on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane.”
Snopes received questions about this rumor via email and a reader post in our Snopes Tips Facebook group, who asked, “Is this Melania? Was she on Epstein’s plane?”
In short, users shared an authentic picture of Melania Trump with captions that were fake, so we classified this statement with the wrong caption. The photo was real and was not manipulated with artificial intelligence or other image editing software. The January 2000 issue of GQ magazine credited photographer Antoine Verglas with taking the pictures on President Donald Trump’s former Boeing 727 — not a plane owned by Epstein.
We contacted a spokesperson for the first lady and even Verglas to ask about this issue. We will update this article if we receive more information.
GQ published photos again in 2016
On November 8, 2016 — the date of Donald Trump’s first Election Day victory — GQ again reported on the images from the photo shoot for the January 2000 issue, including noting where Verglas took the images:
Sixteen years ago we profiled Donald Trump’s girlfriend at the time, Melania Knauss. Now his wife, Melania featured in our bare-bones profile shoot on his customized Boeing 727 wearing handcuffs, wielding diamonds and holding a chrome pistol (it was the lads mag era after all). It makes for some interesting reading today, given Donald Trump’s success in the US election…
[…]
“We were bombarded with requests to shoot Melania,” said GQ editor Dylan Jones when asked about our January 2000 shoot with Melania Trump, after digging through the archives and publishing the images online in March 2016. “Because she’s obviously so eager to appear in GQ, we came up with a pretty kitsch and campy story.” Donald Trump also requested that the photos be delivered to his office. “We framed the cover and a selection of pictures and sent them as soon as we could.”
The antiques, art and collectibles archiving company WorthPoint hosted images of the original print edition of the January 2000 issue of GQ, including a picture showing a photo caption naming Trump’s Boeing 727 as the location of the shoot.
Melania Trump defended n*de modeling photos
In September 2024, Melania Trump – before the release of her memoir, “Melania” – shared a statement (archived) on social media defending her n*de modeling photos. The statement read:
Melania Trump talks about her n*de modeling job:
“Why do I remain proud after my n*de modeling work? The most pressing question is – why did the media choose to scrutinize my celebration of the human form in a fashion shoot? Are we no longer able to appreciate the beauty of the human body? Throughout history, master artists have revered the human form, evoking deep emotions and admiration.
She also shared a video (archived) in which she read the words from the statement:
For further reading, we previously reported on a rumor that claimed Melania Trump worked as an escort before meeting Donald Trump at a party hosted by Epstein’s confidant and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.
Sources:
Clough, Alexandra. “What Happened to Donald Trump’s Old Airplane?” The Palm Beach PostJune 20, 2011, https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/politics/2011/06/20/what-happened-to-donald-trump/7271008007/.
GQ. “Melania Trump – the First Lady in our Nude Photo Gallery.” British GQ8 Nov. 2016, https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/donald-trump-melania-trump-knauss-first-lady-erections.
Mahdawi, Arwa. “Melania Trump Has a Memoir Coming Out — and She’s Acting Pretty Strangely.” The Guardian17 September 2024. Opinion. The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/17/melania-trump-memoir-coming-out-acting-pretty-strangely.
“Melania Trump British GQ January 2000.” WorthPointhttps://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/melania-trump-british-gq-january-2000-1852527001.
@MELANIATRUMP. “Melania Trump Talks About Her Nude Modeling Job…” X18 Sept. 2024, https://x.com/MELANIAJTRUMP/status/1836382235236212768.
Rogers, Katie. “Melania Trump Defends Nude Modeling Job as She Promotes Book.” The New York Times18 Sept. 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/18/us/politics/melania-trump-nude-modeling.html.