Gina Gershon has explained why she stopped doing her viral impressions of America’s first lady, Melania Trump.
The Showgirls actor, 63, debuted her uncanny likeness to the wife of US president, Donald Trump, in 2016 for Funny or Die. She reprised the role in 2018 on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and then took the impression to the stage in the satirical Off-Broadway musical, The 1st Annual Trump Family Special.
Trump served in the White House between 2017 and 2021 before being re-elected in the 2024 US elections. He was mocked and satirised throughout his time in office as well as during and after his re-election.
But Gershon has said she believes lampooning the Trump family is no longer funny.
“They just started making me feel nauseous,” she told The Independent. “All of a sudden it wasn’t fun, because [the Trumps] weren’t going away. Like, it was funny, but it’s just not funny any more.”
The actor explained that she had held hope that Melania would divorce her husband.
“I had such high hopes – I thought, as soon as he was out of [the White House], she was going to be gone. And she hasn’t left.”
The actor was due to star as Melania in a film by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, which she described as a deepfake comedy that satirised the Trump administration.
“It was going to be the funniest movie ever,” she said of the project, which was due to start filming before Covid. “But then the pandemic showed up and we had to shut down filming. And by the time we were able to film again, I think everyone was so sick of hearing about Trump that [Matt and Trey] decided to move on.”
Gershon is currently starring in High Rollers alongside John Travolta. The film, directed by Cash Out creator Randall Emmett, follows Gershon as Amelia Decker and Travolta as Mason Goddard, who must pull off a casino heist after his enemy kidnaps his lover.
The actor’s next project is Bound, a film she was warned could “ruin” her career – a development that made her “leave those agents”.
Gerhson previously left another team of agents after they clashed with her decision to turn down a Friday the 13th sequel.
“I do think my career would have been much easier if I’d had agents that really got me. I’ve had to go through several different ones, because I just don’t want to spend time playing characters I’m not invested in. It would have been nice if we were all on the same page, but at the end of the day, it’s my book, and it’s my story.”
High Rollers is in cinemas now.
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