--- title: First Lady Says Controversial Jacket Was Meant for Critics description: Melania revealed that her "I don't really care, do u?" jacket was actually meant to send a message to the "left wing media." canonical: https://time.com/5424073/melania-trump-i-dont-really-care-jacket-message/ author: Gina Martinez article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-13T17:39:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T21:44:14.200Z article:section: Politics og:title: Melania Trump: 'I Don't Really Care' Jacket Was a Message to 'Left-Wing' Critics og:description: "It's obvious I did not wear that jacket for the children" og:url: https://time.com/5424073/melania-trump-i-dont-really-care-jacket-message/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41b2003ca47b91ae/6989339cbc6cfc33d43e646f/melania-trump-jacket.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Melania-Trump-Jacket og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Melania Trump: 'I Don't Really Care' Jacket Was a Message to 'Left-Wing' Critics twitter:description: "It's obvious I did not wear that jacket for the children" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41b2003ca47b91ae/6989339cbc6cfc33d43e646f/melania-trump-jacket.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Melania Trump: 'I Don't Really Care' Jacket Was a Message to 'Left-Wing' Critics by [Gina Martinez](https://time.com/author/gina-martinez/) ## Gina Martinez Oct 13, 2018 5:39 PM UTC  U.S. first lady Melania Trump boards an Air Force plane before traveling to Texas to visit facilities that house and care for children taken from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border June 21, 2018 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. U.S. first lady Melania Trump boards an Air Force plane before traveling to Texas to visit facilities that house and care for children taken from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border June 21, 2018 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images by [Gina Martinez](https://time.com/author/gina-martinez/) ## Gina Martinez Oct 13, 2018 5:39 PM UTC Melania Trump sat down with ABC last night for her first solo on-air interview since President Trump’s inauguration. There, she revealed that her [“I don’t really care, do u?” jacket](http://time.com/5319414/melania-trump-jacket-texas-immigration/) was actually meant to send a message to the “left wing media.” The First Lady shocked many last June when she wore the boldly printed jacket as she visited a Texas holding center where undocumented children were temporarily placed after being separated from their parents. Many interpreted the jacket as insensitive considering the outrage over [her husband’s “zero tolerance” immigration policies](http://time.com/5314128/trump-immigration-family-separation-2000-children/). Initially, the First Lady’s spokespeople said there was no message behind the jacket, but Melania revealed to ABC’s Tom Llamas, during an hour special “Being Melania- The First Lady” that aired Friday, that it was a direct message to her left-wing critics. > [](https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1050936978026389504) “I often asking myself if I would not wear that jacket if I will have so much media coverage,” she said. “It’s obvious I did not wear that jacket for the children. I wore that jacket to go on the plane and off the plane and it was for the people and for the left-wing media who are criticizing me and I want to show them I do not care.” Asked if she was intentionally sending a message, Melania said, “Yes, it was kind of a message.” She said she purposely put the jacket back on when boarding the plane after seeing how “obsessed and upset” the media got over it. “I said ‘you know what? that’s what I’m talking about,'” she said. “I would prefer that they would focus on what I do and on my initiatives than what I wear.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5424073/melania-trump-i-dont-really-care-jacket-message/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5424073/melania-trump-i-dont-really-care-jacket-message/"},"headline":"Melania Trump: 'I Don't Really Care' Jacket Was a Message to 'Left-Wing' Critics","datePublished":"2018-10-13T17:39:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:44:14.200Z","description":"\"It's obvious I did not wear that jacket for the children\"","url":"https://time.com/5424073/melania-trump-i-dont-really-care-jacket-message/","keywords":["Melania Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41b2003ca47b91ae/6989339cbc6cfc33d43e646f/melania-trump-jacket.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Gina Martinez","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/gina-martinez/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41b2003ca47b91ae/6989339cbc6cfc33d43e646f/melania-trump-jacket.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Melania-Trump-Jacket","caption":"First lady Melania Trump wears 'I Really Don't Care. Do U?' jacket","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/melania-trump/","name":"Melania Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5424073/melania-trump-i-dont-really-care-jacket-message/","name":"Melania Trump: 'I Don't Really Care' Jacket Was a Message to 'Left-Wing' Critics"}}]}] ```