In late-July 2025, an apparent screenshot of an X post written by Karoline Leavitt, the White House's press secretary, spread over social media. Snopes readers wanted to know if the screenshot was real.
In the screenshot, which was liked over 2,000 times on X (archived), over 1,000 times on Threads (archived) and was shared as if authentic on Bluesky (archived) and Facebook (archived), Leavitt purportedly used religious and historical examples to argue, "when a girl is 'ready' is predicated purely on arbitrary cultural norms."
(X user @commons96055467)
Scholars say Mary was as young as 12 when she gave birth to Jesus. Mohammed consummated his marriage with Aisha when she was just 9. Juliet Capulet was 14 in Shakespeare's famous story. The point being that a when a girl is "ready" is predicated purely on arbitrary cultural norms
The screenshot, however, was not of a real Leavitt post. It originated from a subreddit dedicated to fake, satirical screenshots.
It was first posted online to the r/TOTALLYREALTWEETS subreddit (archived), about 10 minutes after the timestamp of the screenshot's fake post. All of the threads in r/TOTALLYREALTWEETS are screenshots of fake X posts made by u/SOYBOYPILLED. SOYBOYPILLED's profile described its owner as the "Dips**t fake tweet writer for r/totallyrealtweets."
In the replies (archived) to the thread containing the Leavitt screenshot, u/SOYBOYPILLED explained that "This sub is and always has been fake tweets, all written by one lone idiot." After a brief mention of experiments with guest posters, they then continued:
But there have never been any real tweets here. People sure do think my work is real a lot, as it tends to skate a fine line between absurdity and believability. Some say that's the mark of good satire. Some say it's deeply irresponsible. And for as often as I've belittled or sparred with my detractors in the comment sections of other subs, those who say I'm causing legitimate harm, I actually believe in the merits of their arguments.
On the other hand, I do think that this kind of satirical work is valuable. And I enjoy doing it very much
A search (archived) on X for posts from Leavitt's @PressSec account including the phrase "Mary was as young as 12" yielded no results. A Google search found no reporting from mainstream news sources on such a post from Leavitt.
The screenshot spread in the context of the White House's recent struggles to move on from discussions of Trump's connections to Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender who authorities said died by suicide in his jail cell in 2019. Trump and his administration faced increased scrutiny after his Justice Department declared it would not release any new files from the Epstein investigation.
Snopes has previously reported on other claims that have stemmed from the scandal.