New York Magazine unearthed a 2002 cover of a publication for Valentine’s Day 'Singles' that features the present first lady of the United States planting a kiss on a firefighter.
According to the magazine, at the time of the photo the wife of the current US president was a little-known model named Melania Knauss, and that her appearance on the cover was her last for the publication.
The magazine revealed that Knauss was, at the time, dating Donald Trump, a notorious celebrity self-promoter. The model was reportedly hired for a cover paying homage to the 'first responders' the earliest rescuers at the horrific scene.
The magazine explained that the idea of the pose was inspired by the iconic 1945 Alfred Eisenstaedt photograph of a sailor and a nurse smooching in Times Square on V-J Day.
“We did not, at the time, expect to be working with the future first lady of the United States,” the report remarked.
A few netizens were shocked, some responding with a wondering: “Whaaaaaat?”
Some Twitter users compared her life between 2002 and now, suggesting that the first lady was “happy back then”.