Real picture of Barron Trump taking a photo of Melania Trump while sitting on her lap?

Claim:

A photo shared on Reddit in August 2024 actually shows Barron Trump sitting on his mother Melania Trump’s lap and taking a photo of her.

Evaluation:

In mid-August 2024, a Reddit user posted a photo purporting to show young Barron Trump, the youngest son of 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and former First Lady Melania Trump, sitting on his mother’s lap while being photographed in a palatial room (archived).

In late March 2024, the image also appeared on social media when it was posted on X (archived).

Some X users questioned the optics of the picture because Melania’s hands were on Barron’s legs and he was sitting on her thighs. Others asked if the picture was real or generated with artificial intelligence.

Another X user even stated that it was fake.

However, the photo was genuine and found in the Getty Images library, which is why we rated this claim as “True.”

The picture was taken in early January 2016 – when Barron was 9 years old – during a photo shoot at Trump Tower in New York City and was attributed to Regine Mahaux, according to the Getty caption:

NEW YORK – JANUARY 6: Barron Trump uses the new FUJIFILM instax mini 90 as he and Melania Trump are photographed at Trump Tower in New York City on January 6, 2016. (Photo by Regine Mahaux/MT2016/Contour from Getty Images)

Similar photos showing mother and son in various poses during the shoot were also in Getty’s library.

Sources