Sadly, Donald Trump Jr. and his socialite girlfriend's best efforts to convince the world that their relationship is thriving only fuel the contrary belief. In March 2025, Don Jr. and Bettina Anderson rubbed their romance in his former fiancée Kimberly Guilfoyle's face with their flirty PDA. For some reason, romance was in the air while the couple waited for Donald Trump to address Congress. Anderson couldn't help but caress her beau's beard as he either looked down at his phone or took a selfie
of their PDA.
Don Jr. and Bettina Anderson similarly laid their social media romance on way too thick in July 2025, leaving us to scream "Kimberly knows you're together!" in response. The model took to her Instagram Stories to share photos from their Fourth of July celebrations and she couldn't resist including a shot of them smooching as the happy couple practiced their shooting skills together. Just a few days later, Anderson and Don Jr. paused their awkward hand-holding on the streets of New York to take a pic of her kissing his cheek.
These moments failed to have the intended impact for one big reason: They all happened when the cameras were pointed right at the celebrity couple. To better understand whether they may be engaging in performative PDA, The List chatted with celebrity love coach Nicole Moore. The expert professed that sharing too many PDA-filled snaps could indeed be a sign of performativity, elaborating, "They're trying to project a certain image of their relationship, one that might not be true to what's actually going on." Moreover, Moore believed that the often awkward and forced posing in such photos served as a glaring sign that a couple wanted to make their relationship seem better than it actually was.
Read more: How Melania Trump Responds To Donald's Alleged Infidelities By Barely Saying Anything At All
Don Jr. And Bettina Anderson's Relationship May Not Be As Strong As They Make It Seem
While exclusively speaking to The List, Nicole Moore shared another reason why Don Jr. and Bettina Anderson may be playing it up for the cameras, arguing, "Truly happy couples are often too busy actually enjoying each other and being present with each other to take pictures and post them online." However, she clarified that candid photos of couples engaging in PDA would not necessarily be performative because they were sharing an intimate moment without any awareness that they were even on camera. Ultimately, though, the supposedly performative PDA isn't the only sign that Don Jr. and Bettina Anderson's relationship will never last. In January 2025, an insider informed Mediaite that the president's eldest son's inner circle was concerned about his new romance because they reckoned the socialite's party girl days and track record of dating rich men were glaring red flags. However, a spokesperson for Anderson denied this.
Still, several other sources posited that Donald Trump himself wasn't best pleased about their relationship either, with one family friend dishing, "Donald Trump does not approve of his son's association with Bettina. Bettina's presence is seen as a liability rather than an asset." Unfortunately, it seems like the model's addition to Don Jr.'s life didn't have the intended effect. In December 2024, an insider informed People that the businessman wanted to "impress" his father with a Florida-based model like Anderson, who runs in the same social circles as him. However, he may have ignored that Bettina Anderson had a bad habit, which wouldn't earn her any brownie points with Donald Trump.
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