Melania Trump divorce rumours debunked: No court petition filed
The media have been set alight by the news of Melania Trump's supposed divorce petition. This rumour was believed to have originated from a "Newsweek" article. However, it has now come to light that such an article never existed, and the reports are entirely false. The individual responsible has been identified.
Reports concerning Melania Trump filing a divorce petition in the Palm Beach court have proven inaccurate. The source of these mendacious reports was a concocted "Newsweek" article. The spread of this fictitious story has been attributed to a former Democratic congressional candidate.
Despite public speculation, Melania Trump has not initiated divorce proceedings. Her involvement in her husband's ongoing presidential campaign is mainly behind the scenes, although she did make an appearance at the Republican Convention on 18 July this year.
She was seen holding her husband's hand at the event. This limited public involvement in Donald Trump's campaign may have fuelled the false narrative about the alleged Trump divorce.
"Politifact" and the Palm Beach civil court authorities have refuted these claims, emphasising that no divorce petition from the former first lady is on record. Donald Trump's campaign spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, denied these reports about Melania Trump taking legal action. Leavitt categorised these claims as entirely baseless.
"Newsweek" traced the origin of this false information to a post dated 1 September, authored by Rebekah Jones — a former Florida Department of Health employee and erstwhile Democratic congressional candidate. Jones fabricated the story using a fake post with the "Newsweek" logo, laying the groundwork for this spurious narrative.
The fabricated Trump divorce rumour
Jones has admitted to inventing the entire story, acknowledging that the social media stunt was aimed at testing how disinformation spreads. She confessed this on platform X and later elaborated in a video posted on TikTok, detailing her experiment regarding the phoney rumour about a presidential candidate.
Rumours about the instability of Trump’s marriage have circulated in American media for some time. These intensified towards the end of Donald Trump's first presidential term. In 2020, a former White House employee suggested that Melania Trump was eagerly awaiting the end of her husband's presidency so she could file for divorce. The couple, who have been married since 2005, are raising their son, Barron.
