Melania Trump rubbished speculation about her disappearance from public view as wild rumours over her whereabouts swept the internet.
The First Lady tweeted Wednesday: ‘I see the media is working overtime speculating where I am & what I’m doing.
‘Rest assured, I’m here at the @WhiteHouse my family, feeling great, & working hard on behalf of children & the American people!
She spoke out after wild – and totally unsubstantiated – internet rumors claimed that she had dumped Donald Trump and moved back to New York, reports Politico.
Others claimed, without foundation, that Mrs Trump is recovering from secret cosmetic surgery, or cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference.
Most unlikely of all was the claim that she has shacked up with former president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle to write a tell-all book about her life in the White House.
Before today’s tweet, the most recent White House update on the FLOTUS came on May 14, when it was revealed she had an embolization procedure to treat a ‘benign kidney condition.’
She was last seen in person four days earlier as she and her husband welcomed home three Korean-American men who had been held by North Korea.
They did not explain why Mrs Trump subsequently spent five days at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for an operation that usually only requires an overnight stay.
No explanation has since been forthcoming on why the president’s wife has not appeared at any big events alongside her husband, including Monday’s Memorial Day commemoration at Arlington Cemetery.
Those close to Mrs Trump told Politico that she is behind the decision to reveal so little information about her absence from the spotlight.
They say she feels people are being nosey, rather than genuinely concerned about her, and that she has no desire to reveal any information as a result.
A White House official conceded that the Trump administration is itself to blame for such speculation, saying: ‘It’s expected that Trump people are hiding something.’
However, that unnamed source added that Mrs Trump has spent longer out of the public eye before, including during the transition period she spent in New York with her son Barron before finally moving to the White House last summer.
First Lady expert Katherine Jellison, a history professor at Ohio University said: ‘It’s unusual over the course of the past 50 years for a first lady not to be in public view, and, when she is out of the spotlight for a prolonged period, not to tell people what’s going on.
‘There’s no guidebook to being first lady. It’s not an elected office, and she’s not under any obligation to tell us.
‘It’s just become the modern norm and expectation that we know.
‘The danger in a situation like this if you don’t have some control over the narrative, then people’s imaginations go wild.’
Melania was hailed for her flawless hosting of a state dinner to welcome French President Emmanuel Macron to the White House last month, and rolling out her Be Best anti-bullying initiative.
No further information has been released on when she will next appear in public, although Mrs Trump is expected to appear at a Congress summer party at the end of June, and Fourth of July picnic.
Spokesman Stephanie Grisham dismissed the rumors about her whereabouts, saying: ‘Sadly, we deal with conspiracy theories all the time, so this is nothing new, just more silly nonsense.
‘She is doing great. I wouldn’t characterize it as a long absence. She was hospitalized for almost a week and is now home and recovering.’
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