Melania Trump breaks social media silence with Easter Sunday post

Melania Trump wished her four million Instagram and Twitter followers a Happy Easter on Sunday — breaking a month-long absence from social media.

The former first lady posted a photo of a pink rose along with the words: “Happy Easter!”

Ms Trump, 52, joined her husband Donald Trump for Easter brunch at Mar-a-Lago.

The couple received a standing ovation as they entered the ballroom at the former president’s private club in Palm Beach, Florida, images posted to social media showed.

Ms Trump was absent when the former president flew to New York last week for his arraignment on charges of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to the porn star, Stormy Daniels.

Nor did she attend a Tuesday night press conference that Mr Trump held at Mar-a-Lago on returning to Florida, where he thanked his children without mentioning his wife.

However Ms Trump’s father, Viktor Knavs, sat in the front row between Mr Trump’s two sons, Eric and Don Jr.

The Slovenian-born former model has not been seen in public since 30 March.

Ms Trump’s former aide, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, told Page Six last week that the glaring absence did not signify that their marriage was breaking up.

“Melania lives in an ivory tower of denial,” Ms Winston Wolkoff said. “Her silence is deliberate, it is her weapon of choice and her protective armour.”

In his own Easter Sunday message on his social media site, Truth Social, Mr Trump wished the “weak and pathetic RINOs” and “radical left Democrats” a Happy Easter.

In a later post, without context, he wrote: “World War III”.

Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection to alleged hush money payments to Ms Daniels, and two other people.

Originally published April 9, 2023, 2:32 PM