Shailene Woodley Defends Release of Melania Trump’s Statement on Shooting

Shailene Woodley doesn’t regret her decision to share Melania Trump’s statement about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

Woodley, known for her roles in “Divergent” and “Big Little Lies,” sparked fan backlash 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 his sharing of the former first lady’s remarks was not meant as an endorsement.

“I read it and I thought, ‘This is so beautiful,’” she said. “I was surrounded by people I deeply respect — friends, colleagues, progressives, very intelligent thinkers, agitators and doers — and many of them were saying, ‘He missed! This fucking murderer missed! Maybe it was a trap. Maybe it was a conspiracy.’ I thought, ‘Have we forgotten that two human lives were taken?’”

“I couldn’t understand how people could talk about something with such passion for death,” Woodley added.

Although 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 wound to his ear.

In it, she describes suspected shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was killed by Secret Service agents at the scene, as “a monster” while calling for “love, compassion, kindness and empathy.”

Woodley, who will next star in the Starz drama “Three Women,” which premieres Friday, told Bustle that she did not share the second page of Melania Trump’s letter, which she called “more political.”

“The first page was like, ‘Look, under the political mask, there’s a man, a grandfather, who goes home to his children, his grandchildren, and plays music,'” she said.

Woodley said she only became aware of the online criticism her repost sparked after a friend asked about her well-being via text message.

“I Googled my name, because I was like, ‘Oh, what did I say?’” she recalled. “And of course, there were all these articles about Melania Trump, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, that is now This? Hundreds of articles because I wrote an article about a woman who said she was grateful her husband was alive? Really?

A California native, Woodley is a vocal environmental activist who endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for president in 2016 but has recently refrained from political support.

Still, the actress’s political and social views have come under intense media scrutiny during her relationship with New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, a vocal critic of COVID-19 vaccines. The former couple called off their engagement in 2022 after about two years together.