Tony Award winner Laura Benanti was forced to relocate her family after Trump supporters doxxed her and photographed her walking her young daughter to school, all in retaliation for her satirical portrayal of First Lady Melania Trump on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” The actress revealed the harrowing details on July 14 during an appearance on “The Downside with Gianmarco Soresi” podcast, hosted by comedian Gianmarco Soresi.

A right-wing activist distributed a mass email that included Benanti’s impression clips, her past statements, and her political affiliations, then encouraged recipients to “let her know” their opinions — and published her home address. The threat became personal when someone photographed her accompanying her daughter, who was around two years old at the time, on the way to school. The incident occurred before the coronavirus pandemic, which later prompted a second family relocation.

How a MAGA Driver Sounded the Alarm

Benanti discovered the email existed because her own driver, who provided security and was himself a Trump supporter, received it on the activist’s distribution list. He texted her to warn her and asked how he should respond.

“He was so upset that they would do this, and I was like, ‘This is what I’m talking about!’” Benanti recalled. She told him the choice was his to make, pointing out that these were, after all, his people.

The threat level was severe enough that Benanti and her family left their owned apartment for a rental property. They moved again when the pandemic arrived, this time to New Jersey. The double burden was expensive, and she did not mince words about the financial strain, noting the family ended up paying both rent and a mortgage at the same time. She described the ordeal simply: it was “so scary.”

Would She Do It Again?

Asked whether she would have signed on for the role had she known what it would bring, Benanti admitted she might have reconsidered. She said she didn’t think she would have done it.

But she didn’t quit. Benanti said she and those around her considered putting the impression on hold for a time, but avoiding it began to feel cowardly. She pointed to satire’s importance and noted that many people had thanked her for it over the years.

A Decade of Pouty Lips and Exaggerated Accents

Beginning in July 2016, Benanti became a recurring guest on “The Late Show,” delivering a spot-on Melania Trump complete with an exaggerated accent and a signature pout. She appeared as the first lady more than a dozen times over the years. After leaving the show when Trump’s first term ended, she came back in 2023 and kept performing the character through its final season.

She reprised the role three times in 2025 and twice more in 2026. In February 2026, she took aim at the first lady’s multi-million-dollar vanity documentary. Her final visit came in April 2026, in a cold open sketch titled “A Message From First Lady Melania Trump,” arriving just before the program aired its last episode in May 2026.

Benanti’s résumé stretches well beyond late-night parody. She has appeared in “Mayor of Kingstown,” “Life & Beth,” “Nashville,” “Supergirl,” “The Detour,” “Gossip Girl” and “The Gilded Age.” A celebrated Broadway performer, she has starred in stage productions including “The Sound of Music,” “Gypsy,” “Into the Woods,” and “She Loves Me.”

These days, Benanti is channeling her energy into her comedy-music show “Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares.” The tour opened in London and is set to travel to Chicago, New Brunswick, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Costa Mesa and Boston, before wrapping with an engagement in Arlington, Virginia, in spring 2027.

For Benanti, the decision to keep going — even after the doxxing and the fear — comes back to a conviction that laughter matters, especially when the stakes feel high. It’s a lesson she learned the hard way, one email blast at a time.