Rob Reiner's wife Michele photographed Trump's iconic cover photo for 'Art of the Deal'

WASHINGTON, DC: Long before Donald Trump forayed into politics, an iconic image in his rise to fame passed through the lens of Michele Singer Reiner.

Singer Reiner was a professional photographer before marrying director Rob Reiner. She took the photograph that appeared on the cover of Trump’s 1987 ghostwritten bestseller, 'The Art of the Deal.' The image showed Trump in his 40s, projecting the confidence and ambition that cemented his persona in public life.

That legacy resurfaced this week amid a tragedy that has shaken Hollywood and Washington alike.

Deaths in Brentwood under investigation

Michele Singer Reiner and her husband, filmmaker Rob Reiner, were found dead in their Brentwood home on Sunday, December 14. Police have taken the couple’s son, Nick Reiner, into custody. 

Authorities are investigating the deaths as an “apparent homicide.” On Monday, police announced that Nick Reiner had been booked on murder charges and was being held on $4 million bail.

Trump blames ‘TDS’ in Truth Social post

News of the tragedy sparked reactions across social media, but the most controversial came from Trump himself. In a Truth Social post, the president appeared to blame Reiner’s political views for his death.

“Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS,” Trump wrote.

The term is commonly used by Trump supporters to describe people they believe have an obsessive hatred or fixation on Trump.

The president suggested that Reiner’s “obsession” with him may have played a role in the killing.

“He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before,” Trump said. “May Rob and Michele rest in peace!”

A long-running feud with Trump

Rob Reiner had been one of Trump’s most vocal critics for years.

A strong supporter of progressive causes and Democratic candidates, Reiner publicly questioned Trump’s fitness for office. In a 2017 interview, he described Trump as “mentally unfit” to be president.

The following year, Reiner accused Trump of “treason.” In an October interview with MSNBC (now MS NOW), Reiner said the political climate under the Trump administration was “beyond McCarthy era-esque.”

The ‘Art of the Deal’ connection

As reactions poured in, CNN senior reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere reminded readers of Michele Singer Reiner’s little known role in Trump’s early branding.

“Michele Singer Reiner shot the photo on the cover of The Art of the Deal,” Dovere wrote.

He also recalled a story Reiner himself once shared about the photoshoot. “Rob Reiner in 2017 to me on Trump: [The photoshoot] was overlooking Central Park, and the wind was blowing, and [Trump] said, ‘I gotta get this hairspray. I need this special hairspray.’…He was always larger than life.”

As mentioned, the cover image played an important role in amplifying Trump’s public image. Ghostwriter Tony Schwartz later said the photo reinforced the book’s portrayal of Trump as the “emblem of the successful tycoon.”