Melania Trump says son Barron was ‘bullied’ over autism rumours

Donald Trump’s wife and former First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump, in her upcoming book revealed that her son was subjected to bullying amid autism rumours. This development follows comedian Rosie O’Donnell’s remark that Barron Trump, Melania and Donald Trump’s only son, “may have autism”.
Addressing the speculations linked to autism, that adversely impacted the then 10-year-old boy, Melania Trump wrote, “Barron’s experience of being bullied both online and in real life following the incident is a clear indication of the irreparable damage caused,” the New York Times reported citing excerpt from her book.
Lashing out at Donald Trump’s staunch critic Rosie O’Donnell, Melania Trump in her book asserted that she acted just out of sheer malice. However, the tragic episode helped the former fashion model to focus on child-centric initiatives, childhood welfare and online bullying. Furthermore, she alleged that the bullying made it impossible to accept the comedian’s subsequent apology.
Discussing the bullying her son endured due to autism speculations sparked by Rosie O’Donnell, she wrote, “No apology can undo the harm inflicted upon him,” which indicates that she’s still furious over the issue and dissatisfied with the apology.
In March 2018, Melania Trump convened a meeting of tech executives at the White House to discuss childhood safety online. A statement from the book reads, she “was taken aback by the resistance from tech executive from Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and Snapchat.”
Dismissing the rumours that caused lasting harm, she emphasised, “There is nothing shameful about autism (though O’Donnell’s tweet implied that there was), but Barron is not autistic.”
“Barron Trump Autistic? if so — what an amazing opportunity to bring attention to the AUTISM epidemic,” O’Donnell had said in a post on X that was deleted later after Melania Trump took legal action.
The comedian supported her claims with a video of a young Barron Trump and suggested that his behaviour had symptoms of autism spectrum disorder. She said the signs include refraining from slapping hands together when he clapped after his father’s speech at the RNC that year.
Notably, Barron Trump made his political debut at his father’s rally this year. He is 6 feet 7 inches tall athlete and a good student, and a part of Donald Trumps’ crypto business. This year, he joined New York University’s Stern Business School.