Melania Trump's exclusive interview with ABC World News Tonight, which took place during her four-nation Africa tour, aired on Friday night. In it, she finally explained the meaning behind her famous "I really don't care" jacket, and discussed the #MeToo movement, sexual misconduct allegations against now U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and bullying.
In one segment, she called herself "the most bullied person" in the entire world, and said that her own experience with bullying inspired her to create her programme Be Best.
"I could say that I'm the most bullied person in the world," she said. "One of them, if you really see what people are saying about me. ... That's why my Be Best initiative is focusing on social media and online behaviour."
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EXCLUSIVE: First lady Melania Trump says her “Be Best” policy platform targeting online bullies is personal. “I could say that I’m the most bullied person in the world,” she tells ABC. https://t.co/9jzGiHoBDz pic.twitter.com/k2vwyWaErB
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) October 11, 2018
While it's been widely reported that Melania had trouble adapting to her role as first lady because she's an extremely private person, calling herself "most bullied" still sounded like a stretch to a lot of critics. Anett Grant, public-speaking coach and CEO of Executive Speaking, Inc., said she thought Melania's body language while she made the comment was curious.
"What I saw that was very dramatic to me was when she talked about being the person who had been bullied the most, you saw a smile," Grant told Refinery29. Her body language didn't mirror her words here, and Grant said she seemed to be sending mixed signals.
"I think that's important, because to have powerful communication you have to have your behaviour integrated, and that's an example where the behaviour wasn't integrated," she said. "Whenever there is a disconnect when the behaviour doesn't match what someone is saying, then audiences speculate on why."
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