Claim:
One photo authentically shows future US first lady Melania Trump, then Melania Knauss, posing partially nude to model plane photos of the late Jeffrey Epstein.
Rating:
Rating: Wrong subtitle
Throughout November 2025, a meme circulated online purportedly featuring a years-old photo of future US first lady Melania Trump, then Melania Knauss, posing partially n*de for modeling photos on the plane of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Several Facebook users posted the image (archived, archived), which contained the superimposed text: “Fun fact: This famous photo of first lady Melania Trump was taken on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane.”
(Facebook user Adrienne Davie)
Meme appeared elsewhere on Facebook (archived) and on Bluesky (archived), Instagram (archived), TikTok (archived) and X (archived).
Snopes received questions about this rumor via email and through a reader’s post in our Snopes Tips Facebook group, who asked, “Is that Melania? Was she on Epstein’s plane?”
In short, users shared a genuine photo of Melania Trump but with fake captions, so we rated this claim as false. The photo was real and not manipulated with artificial intelligence or other image editing software. The January 2000 issue of GQ credited photographer Antoine Verglas with capturing the photos from President Donald Trump’s former Boeing 727 — not a plane owned by Epstein.
We reached out to a spokesperson for the first lady and also to Verglas to ask about the issue. We will update this article if we receive more information.
GQ republished photos in 2016
On November 8, 2016—the date of Donald Trump’s first election day victory—GQ once again reported on the photos from the photo shoot for the January 2000 issue, including noting where Verglas captured the images:
Sixteen years ago we introduced Melania Knauss, Donald Trump’s girlfriend at the time. Now his wife, Melania, appeared in our profile shoot naked on the customized Boeing 727, wearing handcuffs, wielding diamonds and holding a chrome pistol (it was the era of the lads, after all). It makes for interesting reading today given Donald Trump’s success in the US election…
[…]
“We were bombarded with requests to shoot Melania,” GQ editor Dylan Jones said when asked about our January 2000 shoot with Melania Trump after we dug through the archives and published the images online in March 2016. “Given that she was obviously so eager to appear in GQ, we came up with a rather kitschy and campy story.” Donald Trump also requested that the photos be delivered to his office. “I framed the cover and a selection of prints and sent them as soon as I could.”
The antiques, art and collectibles archive company WorthPoint hosted images of the original print edition of the January 2000 issue of GQ, including an image showing a photo caption mentioning 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 an (archived) statement on social media defending her modeling photos. The statement read:
Melania Trump talks about her modeling work n*de:
“Why do I stand proudly behind my modeling work? The more pressing question is – why has the media chosen to scrutinize my celebration of the human form in a fashion photo shoot? Can we no longer appreciate the beauty of the human body? Throughout history, master artists have revered the human form, evoking deep emotion 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 confidant and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.
Sources:
Clough, Alexandra. “What happened to Donald Trump’s old plane?” The Palm Beach Post20 June 2011, https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/politics/2011/06/20/what-happened-to-donald-trump/7271008007/.
GQ. “Melania Trump – First Lady in our nude photo shoot.” 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 weird.” The GuardianSept. 17 2024. Notice. 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 Work…” XSept. 18 2024, https://x.com/MELANIAJTRUMP/status/1836382235236212768.
Rogers, Katie. “Melania Trump Defends Nude Modeling Work While Promoting Book.” The New York Times18 Sept. 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/18/us/politics/melania-trump-nude-modeling.html.