Pete Hegseth Didn’t Order a ‘Makeup Studio’—Just a Room With a ‘Director’s Chair, Mirror, and Makeup Light’

“Totally fake story. No ‘orders’ and no ‘makeup’—but whatever,” Hegseth tweeted Wednesday night, after CBS News called the green room renovations a “makeup studio.”

By Lauren Tousignant  |  April 24, 2025 | 12:00pm
Photo: Getty Images Politics
Pete Hegseth Didn’t Order a ‘Makeup Studio’—Just a Room With a ‘Director’s Chair, Mirror, and Makeup Light’

There’s a lot that the Trump administration doesn’t care about: Women, immigrants, the LGBTQ community, people of color, people who aren’t billionaires, Americans in general; they also don’t care about being called fascists or nazis. But don’t you dare suggest that they wear, think, or even know about makeup.

On Wednesday, CBS reported that Hegseth ordered the room next to the Pentagon briefing room get remade into a makeup studio. This actually wouldn’t be an outrageous request—except for the fact that the Trump administration has shut down programs and cut funding from agencies that were researching things like infertility, HIV, and cancer, among about a thousand other things that affect the health, future, and well-being of the country. It’s obviously a bad look when the Department of Education is getting dismantled due to “government waste,” but the Defense Secretary is getting a vanity stocked with (I’m assuming) Charlotte Tilbury and Nars.

Sources told CBS that the remodel was initially supposed to cost over $40,000, but was scaled back to only a couple of thousand due to the unflattering optics. “For this upgrade we were deliberately conservative and opted for several less expensive, on-hand material solutions that provide the Secretary and other VIPs the needed support and space for on-camera press engagements,” a Pentagon spokesperson told CBS.

Hegseth got really mad at all of this—probably because makeup is for girls and not for manly men who refuse to eat soup or drink milkshakes in public.

“1) Totally fake story. No ‘orders’ and no ‘makeup’ — but whatever,” Hegseth tweeted Wednesday night. “2) We should have installed tampon machines in every men’s bathroom at [the Defense Department] instead — the leftist ‘news’ media would have loved that.” I don’t have the energy to get into this, but this administration’s continued obsession with tampons makes me so uncomfortable.

The Defense Department further clarified the renovations in an e-mail to The Hill: “Most of the changes in the Green Room were furniture modifications — a director’s style chair, mirror, and a makeup light — all of which were added from existing inventories.” OK, so not a “makeup studio,” just a room with a…”director’s style chair, mirror, and a makeup light.” Got it!

“A countertop was added and constructed internally by the Facilities Services Directorate, Washington Headquarters Services,” the department added. Another word for a countertop in a green room with a makeup light could be “vanity,” but sure—whatever helps you stay off Signal and out of the liquor cabinet, Hegseth.

Like what you just read? You’ve got great taste. Subscribe to Jezebel, and for $5 a month or $50 a year, you’ll get access to a bunch of subscriber benefits, including getting to read the next article (and all the ones after that) ad-free. Plus, you’ll be supporting independent journalism—which, can you even imagine not supporting independent journalism in times like these? Yikes. 

 
Join the discussion...