# Freemelania Freemelania is a joke hashtag campaign that started at Donald Trump's January 2017 inauguration, built around the premise that Melania Trump is secretly a prisoner in her marriage. Users read her facial expressions and gestures as coded pleas for rescue, with #FreeMelania and #SaveMelania attached to photos where she appeared uncomfortable next to her husband. ## Overview Freemelania (usually stylized as #FreeMelania or #SaveMelania) is a set of joke hashtags built around the idea that First Lady Melania Trump is a captive in her marriage to Donald Trump[1]. The premise is that she is trapped and secretly signaling for rescue, with people reading her facial expressions, gifts, and body language as coded distress calls[3]. The joke plays out through photos and short clips where viewers claim to spot hidden pleas: a dropped smile, a slow blink, a wrapped box with the word "Help" scrawled on it[2]. It sits somewhere between partisan commentary and absurdist humor, with the hashtags working as a punchline attached to almost any image of Melania appearing stiff or unhappy near her husband[3]. ## How It Spread The next day, Twitter user @natalieroth posted a photo from a Women's March showing a protest sign that read "Melania Blink For Help" on the back, tagging it #SaveMelania[1]. Two days later, on January 23rd, @SuttonOfficial tweeted #FreeMelania alongside a photo of Melania handing Michelle Obama a Tiffany gift box that fans framed as containing the word "Help"[2]. The same day, the YouTube channel Yes It's Funny uploaded an edited version of that gift exchange in which the box opens to reveal a cake iced with "Help Save Me"[5]. A GIF of the doctored clip hit Reddit's r/gifs and pulled in more than 61,000 votes at 74% upvoted, along with roughly 2,000 comments inside its first 48 hours[4]. On January 24th, Twitter user @Istanbul_Themes reposted the original inauguration clip with the caption "#FreeMelania Blink twice if you want us to save you," locking in the coded-signal framing that shaped most later posts[3]. From there the hashtags kept surfacing whenever a fresh photo of Melania looking uneasy near Trump made the rounds. ## How to Use People typically attach #FreeMelania or #SaveMelania to a photo or short clip where Melania Trump looks uncomfortable, distant, or grim next to her husband. A common convention is to caption the post as if she is sending a coded signal, often citing a specific blink, glance, wardrobe choice, or object she is holding as the supposed distress cue[3]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Freemelania? Freemelania is a set of joke hashtags (#FreeMelania and #SaveMelania) claiming Melania Trump is trapped in her marriage to Donald Trump and secretly signaling for rescue[1]. ### Where did Freemelania come from? It started around Donald Trump's inauguration on January 20th, 2017, after cameras caught Melania briefly smiling and then dropping the expression when he turned away[3]. ### What does Freemelania mean? It is shorthand for reading Melania Trump's facial expressions, gestures, and gifts as coded pleas for help, played mostly for jokes rather than as literal claims[2]. ### How do you use Freemelania? People typically attach the hashtag to photos or clips of Melania looking uneasy near Trump, framing a specific blink or gesture as her secret signal, such as the January 24th, 2017 "blink twice" post[3]. ### Is Freemelania still popular? The hashtags peaked in the days after the January 2017 inauguration, when the r/gifs edit of the Tiffany box pulled in over 61,000 votes in 48 hours, and have since resurfaced mainly around new Trump-Melania photo moments[4]. ## References 1. [https://twitter.com/natalieroth]() 2. [https://twitter.com/SuttonOfficial]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/freemelania]() 4. [https://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/]() 5. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZxsNexkTfU]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/freemelania Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library