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Trump Jr.'s Instagram Photo Of His Mullet Is The '80s Throwback You Didn't Ask For

by Seth Millstein
Pool/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Donald Trump Jr. drew attention Sunday for two photos he posted to his Instagram story. One showed him looking sweaty and exhausted, supposedly after a CrossFit workout, while the other depicted him getting a haircut, complete with the caption "time to chop off the mullet." On Thursday, a much older picture of Trump Jr. with a mullet graced his Instagram feed, providing a glimpse of what his mullet looked like back when mullets were still in style.

"Here you go folks. While my haircut/mullet joke somehow made national news this week here’s a legit #throwback#mullet pic," the president's eldest son wrote. "I think I pull it off well, though my attempts to revive the look in 20 teens has fallen flat. That is some serious #80s / #90s#flow. #yourewelcome#tbt#throwbackthursday"

The president's nearly-single son is right about one thing: This photo is dripping with late 1980s/early 1990s aesthetic. From the purple-tinted sunglasses and pink headband to the multi-colored strap holding the sunglasses to Trump Jr.'s head, everything about the photo looks several decades out of date.

And then there's the hair. In contrast to the slicked-back, jet black style he's sported for the last several years, Trump Jr.'s hair in this photo is long, blond, and positively free-wheeling. His mullet is indeed "legit," as he put it, curling and creeping behind his head and around the sides of his neck with reckless abandon.

When Trump Jr. posted the first two photos Sunday, many speculated that they depicted a post-breakup makeover, as the president's son posted them just days after his wife, Vanessa, filed for divorce.

“After 12 years of marriage, we have decided to go our separate ways,” the couple said in a joint statement to Page Six. “We will always have tremendous respect for each other and our families. We have five beautiful children together and they remain our top priority. We ask for your privacy during this time.”

According to the New York Times, Donald Jr. and Vanessa met each other in 2003, when the elder Donald Trump introduced them at a fashion show. After what the Times characterized as a "brief, awkward conversation," the now-president then reintroduced the two several minutes later, Vanessa said.

"Donald comes back up to me again, 'I don't think you've met my son Donald Trump Jr.,'" Vanessa recalled. She says she responded, "yeah, we just met, five minutes ago." After being introduced yet a third time at a restaurant six weeks later, the two began dating, and were married in 2005.

However, Page Six reported in March that trouble was brewing in their relationship. “Don Jr. has been busy traveling, which has contributed to their problems," a source told the magazine. "Vanessa is a devoted mother, but she is increasingly lonely and alone in the house with the children.”

Soon thereafter, Us Weekly reported that Trump Jr. had had an affair with Danity Kane singer Aubrey O'Day in 2011 and 2012, and that this also contributed to the couple's impending divorce. Neither Donald Jr., Vanessa nor O'Day has commented on these reports, although O'Day sent a tweet the night Donald Sr. was elected that some later interpreted as an allusion to the reported affair.

"My story I didn’t tell is worth millions now 😉," O'Day wrote in a now-deleted tweet on election night.

Since Vanessa filed for divorce, Donald Jr. has remained active on Instagram, posting images of his family, news stories about himself, quotes from elected Republicans, his own tweets, and the occasional anti-socialism meme.

Two days after posting about his haircut, Trump Jr. chastised the media for publishing articles about it, writing in one post that "it’s a haircut people" and that he "literally did nothing more than cut it a bit."

"Must have been a slow news weekend," he quipped, just three days before posting about his hair again.