Shailene Woodley Defends Sharing Melania Trump’s Shooting Statement

Shailene Woodley has no regrets about her decision to share Melania Trump’s statement on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

Woodley, known for her roles in “Divergent” and “Big Little Lies,” drew backlash from fans when she reposted the former first lady’s open letter on Instagram about the July 13 campaign rally shooting.

In an interview with Bustle published Monday, however, the actor praised the first page of Melania Trump’s letter as “a beautiful message of human compassion” and suggested that her sharing of the former first lady’s remarks was not meant as an endorsement.

“Literally, I read it and I was like, ‘This is so beautiful,’” she explained. “I was in circles of people that I deeply respect — friends, colleagues, progressive, very intelligent thinkers, shakers and movers — and many of them were saying, ‘He missed! F*cking assassin missed! Maybe it was a setup. Maybe it was a conspiracy.’ I was going, ‘Have we forgotten that two human lives were taken?’”

“I could not understand how people were speaking about something with such passion for death,” Woodley added.

Though Melania Trump has been largely absent from former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, she released a two-page statement on social media the day after the shooting, which reportedly left her husband with a 3/4-inch ear wound.

In it, she described suspected gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was killed by Secret Service officers on the scene, as “a monster” while calling for “love, compassion, kindness and empathy.”

Woodley ― who will next be seen in the Starz drama “Three Women,” due out Friday ― told Bustle that she did not share the second page of Melania Trump’s letter, which she said was “more political.”

“The first page was very much like, “Look, underneath the political mask is a man, a grandpa, who comes home to his children, his grandchildren, and plays music,” she said. “The man underneath that mask is my husband.”

Woodley said she became aware of the online criticism her reposting had drawn only after a friend asked about her well-being via text.

“I Googled my name, because I’m like, “Oh f*ck, what did I say?” she recalled. “And of course, there were all these news articles about Melania Trump, and I was like, “Oh my God, that is now this? Hundreds of articles because I posted about a woman saying she’s grateful her husband is alive? Really?”

Woodley, a California native, is a devout environmental activist who backed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for president in 2016 but has more recently steered clear of making political endorsements.

Still, the actor’s political and social views became the subject of media scrutiny during her relationship with New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, an outspoken critic of COVID-19 vaccines. The former couple called off their engagement in 2022 after about two years together.