
Alex Wong/Getty Images
The presidential campaign continues going strong and unsurprisingly, has yet another controversy surrounding it. But this time, it isn’t one of the nominees causing it. Instead, it’s the New York Post and their most recent cover stories featuring the possible future First Lady. Nude photos of Melania Trump were plastered on the front page of the newspaper two days in a row.
Today's cover: Melania Trump like you've never seen her before https://t.co/wkoDGWTF9g pic.twitter.com/V375rBTUEw
— New York Post (@nypost) July 31, 2016
Both photos are from 1995, back when the model was a 25-year-old known as Melania Knauss. According to the New York Post, the nude photo shoot was for the January 1996 edition of Max, a French men’s magazine that is no longer running. Today’s cover story features Trump holding another naked woman.
By the time Trump participated in this racy photo shoot, she had been modeling for close to a decade. She began modeling when she was 17-years-old. Within a short time, she appeared on important covers of magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.
Lately, it seems all eyes have been on Melanie Trump. The potential first lady’s professional website was scrutinized last week when it mysteriously disappeared after her college education was put in the spotlight. Although Donald Trump refused to say anything about that, he didn’t keep quiet about his wife’s sexy photos gracing news stands in New York.
“Melania was one of the most successful models and she did many photo shoots, including for covers and major magazines,” he said to the Post. “This was a picture taken for a European magazine prior to my knowing Melania. In Europe, pictures like this are very fashionable and common.”
The same positive outlook was repeated by Jason Miller, the senior communications adviser for the Trump campaign. “They’re a celebration of the human body as art,” he said on CNN’s Reliable Sources. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. She’s a beautiful woman.”
There are different responses to these cover stories. Certain individuals have no problem pointing the finger at Melania Trump and asking why she posed nude in the first place.
Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Michelle Obama… and now a porn model? https://t.co/veeYAn60Lw
— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) July 31, 2016
There were also more positive and unexpected reactions. People who usually oppose anything Trump says or does were coming to the defense of Melania Trump and denounced the Post. Many agree the newspaper should not have run the photos and accused the controversial media outlet of “slut-shaming” Melania Trump.
Shame on you #NewYorkPost for slut-shaming Melania Trump. The U.S. needs no more neanderthal input to this already disgraceful election.
— Sean March (@dmcsean) August 1, 2016
Just saw that New York Post cover. Ugh, trash. I really don't care that Melania Trump posed naked, & don't like attempts to shame her.
— Cutie-Pie Jayelle 🇺🇸🏳️🌈💖💜💙 (@GreenEyedLilo) July 31, 2016
Ugh New York Post really? 20 year old pics of Melania Trump are not news. What purpose is there but to shame her?
— Liana (censored) Kerzner (@redlianak) August 1, 2016
New York Post Again Slut-Shames Melania Trump – https://t.co/e519f6GHhC pic.twitter.com/WiNAFiRI59
— JoeMyGod (@JoeMyGod) August 1, 2016
Even celebrities want Trump to be left alone. Actress Patricia Arquette, who spoke about gender inequality when she received her Oscar last year, reminded everyone what modeling entails.
So @MELANIATRUMP was naked. She was a model. Now leave her alone.
— Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) August 1, 2016
But when it comes down to it, Melania Trump’s nude photos can’t do anyone harm, especially to Donald Trump.
https://twitter.com/clmazin/status/759890995341172736
[H/T: Cosmopolitan]