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- Trump wore Stephanie Grisham's makeup during a speech in Saudi Arabia in 2017, according to her new book.
- Grisham wrote it "thrilled" her that Trump was wearing her makeup during this "important speech."
- Grisham said Trump's "orange" appearance was due to the makeup he wore every day.
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Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham wrote in her new memoir said that President Donald Trump was wearing her makeup during a major speech before the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, back in May 2017, offering a view into the former reality TV star's dedication to maintaining a particular "look."
Grisham said that Trump's body man, John McEntee, approached her ahead of the speech and asked, "Do you have any face powder?" At the time, Grisham was First Lady Melania Trump's press secretary, and would later serve as the president's press secretary and communications director. It was Trump's first trip abroad as president.
"The president felt he looked 'shiny' and for some reason John didn't have the usual arsenal of products with him," Grisham wrote. "Many pundits, commenting on Trump's extremely tanned (or orange) appearance, assumed that there was a tanning bed in the White House. There wasn't, and I would know. The president's look was created with makeup that he put on his face every morning, as if he were going to be appearing on a TV show. Which, in a sense, he was."
Grisham said she wasn't sure how she felt about the president using her makeup and thought the fact she'd be using it would be a "no-go for our germaphobe president." But McEntee "oddly" told her would it be fine because "you're good looking," Grisham wrote.
"Not going to lie, it thrilled me that during one of his most important speeches up to that point in the administration, the president of the United States was wearing my makeup," Grisham went on to say in the book, "I'll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw at the Trump White House."
Trump in 2019 claimed his "orange" complexion was a result of energy-efficient lightbulbs.
"The lightbulb," Trump said at the time. "People said: what's with the lightbulb? I said: here's the story. And I looked at it. The bulb that we're being forced to use! No. 1, to me, most importantly, the light's no good. I always look orange. And so do you! The light is the worst."