‘Vanity Fair’ Staff Panics That Melania May Appear On Cover

A proposal to put former First Lady Melania Trump on the cover of Vanity Fair has set off a firestorm inside the glossy’s editorial ranks, exposing a deep rift over the magazine’s direction under new leadership.

According to industry reports, the idea originated with Mark Guiducci, Vanity Fair’s newly appointed global editorial director, who is eager to make a bold statement as he takes the helm of the Condé Nast property. But what he may have seen as a high-profile coup has been met with fury by some staffers. One editor, according to The New York Post, threatened to quit if the cover proceeds: “If Melania is on the cover, I’m out, and I won’t be alone.” Others described the idea as an attempt to “normalize” the Trump era and vowed to resist it, even if it meant walking away from their prestigious posts. “If I have to work bagging groceries at Trader Joe’s, I’ll do it. If [Guiducci] puts Melania on the cover, half of the editorial staff will walk out, I guarantee it.”

The backlash illustrates just how left-wing and politicized many of these prestigious liberal publications have become. While critics warned of mass resignations, other employees downplayed the prospect, suggesting that the anger may be louder than the reality.

The debate carries echoes of the first Trump administration, when Melania was conspicuously absent from the covers of Vanity Fair and Vogue, despite her career as a model. By contrast, former First Lady Michelle Obama appeared on Vogue’s cover three times. Melania herself has publicly shrugged off the issue, noting in a Fox News interview that she had already been on the covers of leading fashion titles before her husband entered politics. “We have more important things to focus on,” she said at the time.

The complaints from Vanity Fair staff is similar to employees at Hatchette, a major publisher, staging a protest that the company would dare publish books by conservative writers.

For Guiducci, the episode underscores the difficulties of steering a legacy magazine through a media environment with whiny liberal staff while trying to stay in business. Whether Melania ultimately graces the cover, as she did several times before Trump became president, remains uncertain.

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