- 6 weeks ago
Inside the White House through the eyes of Trump family’s makeup artistThe Independent/ Camille Chorley
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00So I worked with the Trump's family during the inauguration in 2017, the whole family.
00:06I worked with Joe Biden. I worked with Bill Clinton.
00:10I worked with the family Bush, the Bush family.
00:15And I worked with Prime Minister Netanyahu.
00:23I thought at that time that I was working for congressmen, senators,
00:29you know, maybe celebrities, because there's a lot of celebrities invited during the inauguration.
00:35I was on my own. I was with all my material, my stuff.
00:39It was heavy. And I remember I was alone on the street.
00:44There was nobody. And I was walking through the security.
00:49I gave my name. I passed the security, the secret services.
00:54And I reached out. So it was like a townhouse.
00:59A small townhouse, some stairs to go up.
01:03And I remember I started to go up the stairs.
01:07I was alone.
01:08And suddenly, like, there was maybe 20, 25 secret service people around me,
01:15yelling at me, go down, go down, go down, push you on the side.
01:20So I was like, okay.
01:24Walking down the stairs, I was the only one on the side with the secret service.
01:29And at that time, big SUV, black window coming.
01:33And they stopped in the front of the house.
01:37And President Trump and Melania were getting out of the cars.
01:42And I was like, of course, I recognized them, you know.
01:45And I was the only one down the stairs who was like, hey, how are you?
01:49Good to see you.
01:51I have no idea why they say that.
01:53But good to see you.
01:54They were very kind and calm.
01:58And they were going up the stairs.
02:00And I remember at that time, I was very naive, I guess, at the time.
02:05But I said, oh, that's funny.
02:07The president is going the same way than me.
02:10But I thought like they were visiting people that I was going to do.
02:17I figured that the whole family was there in this house.
02:22And I didn't know at this time, but it's called the Blair House,
02:26which is like the guest house where all the presidents from all around the world,
02:31they are coming there, they are living there
02:33when they have to meet the president of the United States.
02:36The whole team that I was with, they were already there.
02:42And then there was this other makeup artist and hairstylist
02:46who were assigned to the president and Melania.
02:50But we were like whole, everyone was in the same room.
02:53So we were like interacting together.
02:58And it was crazy.
03:01This time was crazy.
03:03They are like a regular family, you know.
03:05Everyone is happy to be here.
03:08The children, they are playing together.
03:11I could see like a president playing with his grandchildren.
03:16I don't think President Trump's wear a lot of makeup all the time
03:20because I don't think he likes that.
03:22Obviously, for TV, you have to.
03:25It's like kind of mandatory.
03:27But it's mostly like a spray down, in my opinion.
03:33I haven't seen him like putting this spray down.
03:37But as a makeup artist, this is my opinion
03:39because like we can see otherwise on his hairlines
03:45and he has this very like fair skin, very fair, very blonde, very fair skin.
03:50And he has like this white house covered, probably, when he got the spray tan.
03:55And maybe to hide, you know, like some skin issues or something like that.
04:01But it's no makeup, this orange situation.
04:05The White House, it's a big house.
04:10And there's a lot of people working there.
04:13There's not only the president.
04:16Like he's surrounded by so many people.
04:18So sometimes I've been asked to come back and do different people
04:22working for what we call the government.
04:25But they were working for the White House.
04:27Some journalists, too.
04:28They need makeup.
04:29I understand why people are so interested to know like kind of behind the scene
04:35of this White House.
04:37But my work there was very normal.
04:41And it became very normal.
04:44It was my routine.
04:46And when I was saying to my children,
04:48oh, I'm going to work to the White House today.
04:50They were like, oh, good for you, Mom.
04:52Have a great day.
04:54That's it.
04:55It was like, no.
04:56It was not, wow, Mom, you're so lucky.
05:00I would love to go with...
05:02None of that.
05:03The only thing that it's not normal, I would say,
05:06is the amount of president that I've done this past 10 years.
05:10The amount of pressure is very high.
05:14And I feel like when I do makeup, I'm someone very calm, very gentle.
05:20I can see when a big figure is coming, they are surrounded by assistants, stylists, press people.
05:32And they're all the time surrounded by noise.
05:35Like it's, you know, it's noisy.
05:38It's like, it's a lot.
05:39And American people are like, they speak loud.
05:40And when they sat in my chair, I'm like, okay.
05:45Sometimes I'm whispering to them.
05:47I'm like, I'm going to take good care of you, of your image, which is very important in the U.S.
05:52And I'm like, don't worry, you can just like breathe for an hour.
05:57I'm going to take good care of you.
05:59I'm kind of like in between the amount of stress that they have before.
06:05When they're with me, they can just like slow down and prepare themselves for what's going on after.
06:12I don't have any contract with the White House.
06:16So they call me when they need me.
06:18I went to like Bill Clinton's house and Bush family, you know, like different, yeah, different people.
06:27But like big senators also, like big, big Congress.
06:31People who take like big decisions for the world.
06:34But it's big, like billions of people are going to watch this inauguration.
06:40So they are surrounded by so many, again, people and noise, secret services.
06:48They're all around.
06:51It's chaos.
06:53It's chaos.
06:54What I lived to was chaos during the inauguration in 2017.
06:59They're watching your material.
07:02They are, you know, looking the powders and all the things that can be, you know, like a danger.
07:10For the president and the family.
07:13So, yeah, of course, we're being watched.
07:16You can feel the transition.
07:17You can feel like it's different.
07:21It's when Trump came to the power in the first place, people didn't know what to expect.
07:27So it was kind of like, okay, let's see what's going on.
07:31And then when Joe Biden arrived at the power, the administration was, I would say, it was more chill.
07:44It was more relaxed.
07:47Like the city was quieter.
07:50But obviously with everything that happened, you know, at the Capitol and all of this, they were so different.
07:59So how was it to do Joe Biden's makeup?
08:01It was an amazing experience that I will never forget.
08:09I had to pinch myself after this meeting because, again, I didn't know who I was supposed to do.
08:19Because the company called me.
08:21I was driving back to my house and they said, no, no, no, no.
08:25You have to go to that place.
08:27It was like the building where the headquarters of the Democrats.
08:31You have to go to there.
08:33We're going to, we have a VIP.
08:35You have to do a VIP makeup.
08:37So you have to go there.
08:38We will give you the information later.
08:40I went there.
08:42I parked my car.
08:43And I received the information.
08:45And I could see, like, Carla Frank, my client.
08:50Okay.
08:50I go to the lobby in the headquarters of the Democrats' building.
08:54And I ask for Carla Frank.
08:55And the lady, I remember her face.
08:59She was like, who?
09:01Carla Frank.
09:02And then she said, she did this face, like, not knowing who was this lady.
09:09She was like, have a seat.
09:11Ten minutes after, a guy came.
09:14And he asked me again, like, who are you here for?
09:17And I said, Carla Frank.
09:18And I'm already late.
09:20So I don't know the company.
09:22They sent me here.
09:23I have to do makeup at 3 p.m.
09:25And he looked at me and said, wait a minute.
09:30No one told you anything?
09:31So I was like, no one told me anything about what?
09:35And then he looked at me and said, oh, my God.
09:39You have no idea who you're going to do.
09:41And I started to panic because I did not recognize this name.
09:46So I started to look in my head.
09:47I was like, who is this woman?
09:49Did I miss something?
09:50And the guy was like, no, you're going to do the former vice president of the United States.
09:58At that time, it was Joe Biden.
10:01And I was, like, kind of shocked because I did not expect at all I was supposed to do a woman, makeup's a woman.
10:08And I, you know, I was like, okay, okay, that's fine.
10:15And we went to the basement of the building.
10:18And 20 minutes after Joe Biden came, immediately he started to ask me questions about, like, oh, what are you doing here?
10:27How long have you been here?
10:29And he recognized my French accent.
10:32And at that time, I was studying the Constitution to get my citizenship.
10:37And I don't know.
10:38I was very spontaneous.
10:41I told him this, like, oh, I'm going to have to pass my citizenship.
10:46And he said, oh, my God, that's amazing.
10:49I love that.
10:50Congratulations.
10:51That's great.
10:52I'm happy for you.
10:53And I remember I said, yeah, but no, listen, you have to do something for this Constitution because I don't get it.
11:03So he looked at me with his big eyes like that, big blue eyes.
11:08He was like, oh, really?
11:09How so?
11:11And I said, listen, I don't understand.
11:13As a foreigner, what's the difference between the senators and the congressmen?
11:18For me, they are doing the same job.
11:19So what's the difference?
11:22But I was so natural, so I guess he saw me, like, panicking for this citizenship.
11:29And he said, Audrey, let me explain to you.
11:34So I had my powder in one hand.
11:39I had my brush in the other hand, ready to do makeup.
11:43And him, he was talking about, like, telling me about this Constitution for 10 minutes, like, basically giving me a historic lesson on the Constitution.
11:53So I was like, this is crazy.
11:56This is what I'm living right now isn't real.
12:00And no one is going to believe me.
12:02That's what I thought.
12:04So after that, he said, do you get it now?
12:12And to be honest, I did not listen to anything.
12:16I was just, like, processing what was going on.
12:20And I started the makeup.
12:25It was kind of difficult makeup because he has, like, very dry skin.
12:30But then something happened.
12:35He grabbed his phone, and he started, like, to show me his family on his phone, his wife.
12:42He was very proud of his wife, all his children, grandchildren.
12:46And then he had a picture of his son, Beau, who died from cancer.
12:51And I could feel, like, the emotion at that time.
12:54He was, like, getting emotional about, like, telling his son.
13:00And then he was like, what about you?
13:03Show me your family.
13:05So I grabbed my phone, and I showed him my family.
13:10And we just had, like, a nice conversation on life.
13:15I was supposed to stay 30 minutes with him, but I stayed over an hour with him.
13:19Did you understand the Constitution?
13:22I did.
13:22I got my citizenship.
13:25Well done.
13:27Thanks, Joe Biden.
13:30When you reach those people, you have to learn how they are functioning, if I can say something like that.
13:38And all of them, they are so different.
13:41Like, I'm not going to approach the same way a president than a billionaire.
13:47Those have different codes.
13:49And you have to learn how to reach out to them, how to bring something up to them.
13:57I started to work for Ivanka Trump right after the inauguration in 2017.
14:03She asked me to come to her house for different occasions that she needed makeup.
14:11And it was a very good experience, too.
14:15So this woman, she knows what she wants, she knows what she doesn't want, and she's very professional and precise.
14:25She wanted us to start to work for her at 6 a.m. in the morning, 6 a.m. sharp.
14:32And then going to her house, but then you have to pass the security, the secret service.
14:39And they're all searching your stuff, you know, like digging.
14:44And once you pass this, then you have to wait for the green light of the assistant.
14:52So you're waiting, waiting, waiting.
14:55And then when you have the green light, you have to go up the stairs, the three levels of the house, quietly, because everyone is sleeping.
15:04You cannot be waking up everyone.
15:07And then you have to install your material in the office, quietly, again.
15:12And we don't want to wake up the children.
15:16And 6 a.m. sharp.
15:18She's on the chair.
15:20And here we go.
15:22Like I said, she's very precise on what she wants.
15:24So she said, okay, this is this kind of event.
15:27I'm going to wear this.
15:29She showed us the outfit.
15:32She took me apart and said, okay, what we can do for makeup, since I'm going to wear this, this is this kind of event.
15:40What do you think would be the best for me?
15:42And she has also some preposition to do.
15:46She knows very well her face.
15:49And she's like, I was thinking maybe doing this kind of makeup.
15:52What do you think?
15:53We exchange, actually.
15:55The hairstylist, she wanted like a bun, a bun.
15:59But she didn't know which one, like a high bun or a low bun.
16:03And she asked the hairstylist, like, what do you think?
16:06And I could tell like the hairstylist, she was confused.
16:09She was like, hmm.
16:10But when you work for this family, you have to be like sharp on the answer.
16:17They need an answer like right away.
16:20And the hairstylist, she was hesitating a lot.
16:22So she turned towards me and said, what do you think about that?
16:27And the time that I was thinking in my head, imagine her with the high bun or the low bun.
16:35Okay.
16:36Low, low bun, high bun.
16:39Three seconds.
16:40And then she's like, okay, never mind.
16:43We're going to see this later.
16:44I didn't have the time to think about it.
16:49Like she was already on something else.
16:51And that's what struck me.
16:53It's like they need, and I said they, because the whole family like that, they need like an answer right away.
17:00I'm not supposed to say anything.
17:03That's it.
17:03And I'm getting out of her house, and I go back to my house.
17:08And the next day, the next morning, I received on my phone like 100 messages saying, oh my God, congratulations.
17:19That's amazing.
17:20I love that.
17:22That's good for you.
17:24I'm like, what's going on?
17:25I don't get it.
17:26The company asked me to call them immediately, and I started to freak out because I was like, oof, that's not good.
17:34I've seen her yesterday.
17:36That means something happened.
17:38Maybe something with the makeup went wrong.
17:43So I started to panic, and they were like, well, good job, Audrey.
17:49You did good because, you know, like you have been taken by a paparazzi.
17:55And I was like, what?
17:57And you could see my picture like taken by a paparazzi getting out of her house.
18:04So of course, she was not happy.
18:07The company after that told me, listen, starting from now, you don't put any tag, any brand, nothing.
18:17You go with nothing during your makeup.
18:20So yeah, that was funny.
18:23But of course, after that, I got a lot of publicity from this story.
18:29So I started to get like more clients of it.
18:33Yeah, it was a big difference.
18:34And she's still the daughter of the president of the United States.
18:40So that means, oh my God, if she's hiring this makeup artist, that means this makeup artist must be very good.
18:49And I am, of course.
18:52But yeah, I got more clients after that.
18:56They want to be very quiet because all the attention are on them.
19:00They chose that life, but it's very stressful, still very stressful and very suffocating.
19:10I've experienced this with them.
19:12And so with my family, we have been invited to the White House for the egg hunt party.
19:17And the president is getting out to do a speech with Melania.
19:22And after the speech, he came down to like say hi to people.
19:27And we were like the first family that he came, he stopped by.
19:30And my son had a handshake with the president.
19:35And I experienced with Netanyahu, I was not able to go to the bathroom by myself.
19:43Like I had someone from Secret Service who was assigned to me.
19:48So every time that I stood up and go to the bathroom, I had someone coming to the bathroom with me, staying there.
19:58I was getting out of the bathroom.
20:00He was watching me up and down to see if I didn't bring anything or didn't change or did not receive anything from the outside.
20:10And they were bringing me back to my chair.
20:13So that was a weird sensation.
20:17I went to the hairdresser.
20:19I didn't know this hairdresser.
20:20He was kind of popular.
20:23And the owner of the hair salon get to me and say, oh, what do you do in life?
20:28And I said, well, I'm a makeup artist.
20:30Oh, that's great.
20:32Yeah, that's great.
20:34What do you, what kind of makeup do you do?
20:36So I started to show him some pictures that I have on my social.
20:41And then he realized, like, oh, she must be a good makeup artist.
20:45So he said, like, naturally, listen, I might have a job for you.
20:52Okay.
20:53With who?
20:54Well, you know, he was like kind of, you know, you have to contact the Israel embassy and check this with them.
21:04And when the embassy called me and say, the prime minister and his wife, they are coming to sign the Abraham Treaty, we need a makeup artist.
21:14I said, yes, immediately.
21:16All the delegation was in a hotel, a very chic hotel in D.C.
21:21I was there, too, for two days.
21:24My mission was two days, but they were there for three days.
21:26He wasn't stressed.
21:27He was very concentrated to his speech.
21:33Very, you know, close face, concentrated.
21:38Of course, he's surrounded by secret service, Israeli secret service.
21:44And I remember that time I was using my own product, my own brushes.
21:48And when I started to approach him to put the product on his face, like, someone stopped me.
21:57I said, stop.
21:58So I got scared.
22:00I was like, oh, my God, what did I do?
22:01So everyone started to watch me.
22:05An assistant came.
22:06He was like, no, no, no, no, you don't use your product.
22:09You're going to use those products.
22:11And they brought me, like, a trouser with some makeup product inside, his product.
22:17And I had to do makeup with his product.
22:21I had to adapt because I didn't know those products.
22:24I didn't know those brushes.
22:26I didn't know anything.
22:27So I had to improvise and adapt myself to do his makeup.
22:32So, yeah, I worked for the last inauguration in January.
22:37I knew after that day that it would be the last one.
22:41Because this one, I've done three different inaugurations.
22:45And this one was, in terms of pressure, and it was too much.
22:54Too much for me.
22:55I was completely upside down emotionally, too, physically and psychologically.
23:04We don't realize on TV, but the amount of security.
23:08And it was a high-risk ceremony because of what happened with President Trump,
23:15with the attempt of assassination and all of this.
23:18It was too much.
23:19Sometimes, yeah, there's some stuff that I could hear that I shouldn't, that I could see that I shouldn't.
23:28But there's also, like, a respect to have.
23:32I'm telling my story, but there's some stuff that I will never, never say.
23:38Because I respect also the privacy on some people.
23:42And there's some stuff that, like, it doesn't matter for the people to know that.
23:48Yeah, sometimes they ask me, like, Audrey, it has to, you have to be quiet on this one.
23:54And, yeah, there's some stuff that I will never say.
23:58But, again, I am, I was and I am very grateful.
24:04I embrace everything and will see for my next challenges.
24:10I am Audrey Lefebvre and this was my story.
Recommended
1:03
|
Up next
0:58
Be the first to comment