Melania Trump is having a good laugh after employees at an iconic American magazine threatened to walk out if her face was plastered on the front cover.
Trump, 55, is reportedly under consideration to grace the cover of an upcoming issue of the U.S. version of Vanity Fair for the first time.
The publication’s new editor, Mark Guiducci, is said to be the executive pushing for Republican President Donald Trump’s wife to be a future cover girl, Semafor first reported this week.
However, a major hurdle to Melania being chosen could be left-leaning Vanity Fair workers who take issue with the right-wing policies of the Trump administration.
“I will walk out the motherf–king door, and half my staff will follow me,” an unnamed “mid-level editor” purportedly told The Daily Mail in reaction to Melania having the chance to get the coveted Vanity Fair cover.
The tabloid’s upset source also supposedly said, “We are not going to normalize this despot and his wife; we’re just not going to do it. We’re going to stand for what’s right.”
“If I have to work bagging groceries at Trader Joe’s, I’ll do it,” the editor claimed. One colleague downplayed the idea of a revolt happening over spotlighting Melania, calling the potential walkout, “all talk.”
That anonymous insider suggested, “If they put her on the cover, people will protest and gripe about it, but I don’t see anyone quitting such a prestigious job over that.”
“The First Lady reportedly ‘laughed’ when Vanity Fair made its July request and turned it down immediately, a source told Page Six about the former model.
“She doesn’t have time to be sitting in a photo shoot. Her priorities as First Lady are far more important… These people don’t deserve her anyway.”
There were strong views on the internet about Vanity Fair staffers threatening a mutiny in objection to Melania.
“Let them walk out, what’s the big deal? There’s plenty of people who would love their job and who are probably even more qualified and maybe even well balanced,” one reader argued.
A like-minded commenter advised, “Call their bluff, show them the door. Trader Joe’s won’t even hire them, and [Condé Nast] will be better off for it.”
Another said, “BRAVA, Melania! That’s telling them!”
Many of the comments on The Neighborhood Watch’s Instagram page about the drama allegedly playing out behind the scenes at Vanity Fair were more favorable to the Trump objectors.
“And they ain’t wrong! Everybody can’t be bought with a dollar,” someone on the social media app proclaimed. A second person wrote, “No but honestly what does she do? Does she even do first lady activities, what…does…she…do???”
In addition, Melania repeatedly got bashed for her supposed lack of presence since returning to the White House in January 2025. One of her critics stated, “I have never seen a FLOTUS that does nothing and has nothing going on. She does absolutely NOTHING!”
Melania did not appear on Vanity Fair or Condé Nast’s other high-profile culture magazine, Vogue, during the first Trump administration. The Vogue omission became a controversy in conservative media.
Other former first ladies have been chosen to be on the cover of Vogue for decades, including Democrats Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, and Jill Biden each during their husbands’ presidential terms.
Trump was picked to model her wedding dress on the cover of Vogue in 2005 following her nuptials in Palm Beach to the then-star of “The Apprentice” reality television show. She covered Vanity Fair Mexico in 2017 as well.
“They are biased, and they have likes and dislikes, and it’s so obvious. And I think [the] American people and everyone sees it,” Melania told Fox News in 2022 about being snubbed by “Vogue” once her husband entered politics.
The former fashion model resumed, “I have much more important things to do, and I did in the White House, than being on the cover of Vogue.” By that point, the first Trump administration had come to an end in 2021.
After taking over the global editorial director role at Vanity Fair in June 2025, Guiducci is purportedly shifting the magazine’s coverage to be more appealing to Trump’s MAGA base.
In a “Fox & Friends” segment about Vanity Fair, employees were warned there could be a rebellion in the office. Conservative hosts Brian Kilmeade, Ainsley Earhardt, and Charlie Hurt defended Guiducci against his reportedly agitated workers.
“So that’s the attitude of the people you hire? I would say, ‘Listen, if you’re gonna walk out because you don’t like my cover, you don’t understand who the boss is. You should leave,’” Kilmeade said.
The trio of presenters then interviewed White House official Michael Kratsios about the first lady’s new initiative to encourage students in grades K-12 to use artificial intelligence. She recently launched a nationwide contest to complete a project using an AI method or tool to address a community challenge.
