Barron Trump, the only child of Melania Trump with former US President Donald Trump, became the victim of the cruel viral video released in November 2016. As the former First Lady has been active on social media ahead of the release of her upcoming memoir on October 8, she broke silence on how her son was bullied in person and online due to Rosie O’Donnell.
According to Daily Beast, which has gone through the copy of her 184-page book, reported that Melania has addressed the persistent rumors that Trump’s youngest children may be suffering from autism.
In her book Melania, the former First Lady has targetted her husband’s detractors, which also rehashes several issues that have surrounded them since Trump’s candidacy in 2015.
However, the O’Donnell section might be the most scathing about one of the couple’s alleged rivals and the most insightful about her 18-year-old son, whose privacy has been carefully protected by his mother so far.
The argument with O’Donnell began when Barron, who is now 18 years old, was featured in a cruel viral video that went viral in November 2016. The video claimed to show signs of autism spectrum disorder in Barron’s behavior, such as not clapping his hands together after his father’s speech at the Republican National Convention.
The comedian and ex-co-host of The View shared the video on Twitter, now X, expressing sympathy for Trump’s youngest son, calling it an “opportunity to bring attention” to what she referred to as “the autism epidemic.”
Melania hits back at Rosie O’Donnell
Rejecting the false claims of Barron being autistic, Melania has admitted in her book that she “was appalled by such cruelty.”
“It was clear to me that she was not interested in raising awareness about autism. I felt that she was attacking my son because she didn’t like my husband,” Trump’s third wife writes as she claps back at O’Donnell.
She makes it apparent that she had seen the entire video, which was later removed by the individual who posted it.
She mentions that “Someone had painstakingly compiled the footage and added captions like, ‘His hands are moving erratically and aren’t touching each other. Then he was spotted making strange movements in his seat, typical of children with autism’.”
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Melania further clarifies that Barron behaved appropriately according to his age since he was just ten years old during 2016 RNC in Cleveland.
“There is nothing shameful about autism (though O’Donnell’s tweet implied that there was), but Barron is not autistic,” she states.
She describes O’Donnell’s actions as “devastating as a parent” and charges her of “sheer malice.” Barron’s mom also admits that she felt like her heart was shattering into a million of pieces.
Shortly after Melania hired an experienced lawyer to take on the original poster of the video, O’Donnell deleted her tweet and issued an apology, claiming that one of her daughters was on the spectrum of autism.
Sharing experience of Barron being bullied both in person and online after the incident, she called it a “clear indication of the irreparable damage caused.”
Melania’s book is all set to hit the shelves ahead of November 5 elections.