New photographs were uploaded by Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday, December 17, and they looked to be a reaction to the photoshoot that she had just done for Vanity Fair.
During the process of getting ready for an interview, Leavitt, who is 28 years old, posted a fresh image on Instagram in which she showed herself changing her hair. In the photographs, she was seen wearing a jack with a leopard pattern, a black turtleneck, and red nail paint.
“Behind the scenes before a live interview on the North Lawn of the White House, captured by @anna.money 📸,” Leavitt wrote in her article.
The photographs seem to be a reaction to the recent photo session that Leavitt did for Vanity Fair. In the shoot, she posed with other officials of President Donald Trump’s administration for the magazine’s series of interviews with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
Leavitt, who is referred to be the “mouthpiece” of the Trump administration by Vanity Fair, was taken up-close for a picture, and in the image, what looks to be injection sites for lip filler were plainly evident. With one user commenting “jumpscare” and another commentator adding that “no trigger warning is insane” on Vanity Fair’s Instagram post, the picture prompted near-immediate incredulity on the internet.
The shot was taken by Christopher Anderson, a photographer who is well-known for his close-up portraits. His photographs have been featured in a variety of publications, including The New York Times, Esquire, The Wall Street Journal, and other prominent publications.
After the Vanity Fair article and the accompanying photographs went viral on Tuesday, December 16, he told The Independent, “Very close-up portraiture has been a fixture in a lot of my work over the years.” This statement was made just after the story was published. In particular, the political portraits that I have created throughout the course of my experience. I think it would be interesting to have a glimpse of the political drama.
Wiles, Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Homeland Security Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, and Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative, Political, and Public Affairs James Blair were also among the individuals that Anderson captured on camera.
“I know there’s a lot to be made with, ‘Oh, he intentionally is trying to make people look bad’ and that kind of thing — that’s not the case,” Anderson said in an interview with The Independent. On the other hand, if you look at my body of work, you’ll see that I’ve done a lot of close-ups in the same technique with individuals of different political colors.
Taylor Rogers, a spokeswoman for the White House, stated that it was “clear that Vanity Fair intentionally photographed Karoline and the White House staff in bizarre ways, and deliberately edited the photos, to try to demean and embarrass them.” This statement was made in response to PEOPLE’s request for a response to Anderson’s interview.
“Karoline is a beautiful person and truly one of the most incredible people you will meet in politics, and she is doing an extraordinary job serving the American people as the White House Press Secretary,” said Rogers in conclusion.
There has been no public statement made by Leavitt on the Vanity Fair photo as of yet.