If you’re going to marry someone more than 30 years your senior, you have to have a thick skin. The jokes, whispers, and rumors are bound to come, regardless of whether you are an average Joe or, oh I don’t know, the White House press secretary. While Karoline Leavitt has yet to comment on allegations that she airbrushed her older husband’s wrinkles in a family Halloween photo on Instagram, plenty of people think she altered it in some way to make him look younger.
Leavitt and her husband, Nicholas Riccio, got married in January 2025 when she was 27 and he was 59. When she posted the Halloween photo in question, which some of her critics are sure was airbrushed in some way, Riccio was 60 and, by most standards, elderly.
Of course he is bound to have wrinkles or spots that a person half his age wouldn’t have. But his smooth-as-eggs forehead in that Halloween post says differently.
People really think Karoline Leavitt airbrushed her husband’s wrinkles.
@ln052480wkc Have you noticed that Karoline Leavitt seems to have used photo editing software? #fyp #foryoupage #tiktok #karolineleavitt #celebrity ♬ original sound – ln052480wkc
When Leavitt posted a handful of photos from Halloween 2025, one from the White House stood out to her followers and, well, her haters. Which she has more of isn’t totally clear, but let’s just say her comments are a mix of people accusing her of airbrushing her husband’s forehead wrinkles and people praising her for her “adorable family.”
Someone on Leavitt’s social media is doing double time on weeding through the comments, though, because each time you go back to the post, some of the more scathing accusations and observations about Leavitt’s May-December marriage are scrubbed from the feed.
Unfortunately for Leavitt, her team can’t get rid of all of the internet comments against her and her much older and much more wrinkly husband. And that isn’t even shade, because there are legitimately other photos on Leavitt’s Instagram that show Riccio with obvious signs of aging on his face, however much work he might or might not have to maintain a somewhat youthful glow.
On TikTok, one video about Leavitt allegedly airbrushing her husband’s face has a bevy of comments about the way they both look.
“Can we find a way to raise some funds to get a White House journalist to print this out huge and ask her about it at the next press thingie?” Someone commented. It was a joke, obviously, but, um, can we?
Another user pointed out what they see as Leavitt’s possible insecurities about her husband’s age.
“Someone is quite sensitive, one might even say embarrassed, about their much older husband,” they commented on the TikTok.
Other users quickly pointed out how they think, regardless of any possible airbrushing, Leavitt herself looks older than her 28 years. Another person pointed out that the editing should have been much more seamless than potential airbrushing or filters.
“Oh stop. That’s bad!” They wrote. “They are millionaires and can’t afford professional editing?”
The photo does look like it was hastily airbrushed or even edited with a filter. If you’ve ever seen a Facebook or Instagram friend use smoothing filters to high Heaven, then you know exactly what I’m talking about.
It’s obvious, and it looks like anything but natural.
