In mid-August 2024, a Reddit user posted a photo allegedly showing a young Barron Trump, the youngest son of 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and former first lady Melania Trump, sitting on his mother's lap while taking her picture in a palatial room (archived).
The image also appeared on social media in late March 2024, when it was posted on X (archived).
Some X users questioned the optics of the image because of how Melania's hands were placed on Barron's legs and how he was sitting on her thighs. Others asked whether the picture was real or generated using artificial intelligence.
Another X user even declared it was fake.
However, the photo was real and was found in the Getty Images library, which is why we rated this claim "True."
It was captured in early January 2016 — when Barron was 9 — during a photo shoot at Trump Tower in New York City and was credited to Regine Mahaux, according to the Getty caption:
NEW YORK - JANUARY 06: Barron Trump is using the new FUJIFILM instax mini 90 as he and Melania Trump are photographed at Trump Tower on January 6, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Regine Mahaux/MT2016/Contour by Getty Images)
Similar photos showing the mother and son in different poses during the shoot were also in Getty's library.