14 The Times Magazinehe unelected role of political wife
is not one to be assumed lightly.
When your husband is appointed
to a cabinet role, part of the
presidential A-team, it is not
enough simply to relocate your
life to Washington DC, fill your
wardrobe with sober, sensible
twinsets and trouser suits, and
start referring to that meal in the
middle of the day as “luncheon”. It’s also
a good idea, it seems, to avail yourself of a
“protocol expert”, a professional to help
navigate the nefarious crises you could
unwittingly land yourself in. At least, that is,
if you happen to be Louise Linton.
“When I stepped off the plane from Los
Angeles, I was in this new world and you don’t
have anyone to hold your hand or to shepherd
you through it,” she says of decamping to
the US capital in 2016 with her fiancé (and
now her husband), Steven Mnuchin, who was
to become Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary.
“There’s a formality in every interaction,
particularly in the world that I was in,” she
continues. “It’s not at all like kick-back LA,
where you can wear denim shorts everywhere,
do anything and say anything.
“In retrospect, from day one I should have
said, ‘What am I supposed to be? What am I
supposed to do? What am I supposed to say?
What should I not say?’ I had no idea how
intense the focus would be,” she admits. “But
I realised very quickly that protocol is a really,
really big deal in Washington DC.” Happily,
she also found that she could hire someone
to help, a protocol expert, “who was very nice
and helped me to learn the ropes, and some
of the do’s and don’ts.” Not, however, before
she’d learnt a few for herself, the hard way.
Lads’ mag Maxim once declared Linton “thehottest thing to come out of Scotland since
microwaved haggis”, and, it must be said, the
Edinburgh-born actress, a pneumatic blonde
with a strong resemblance to January Jones,
positively sizzles. On Zoom this morning, from
her 22,700 sq ft mansion in LA’s millionaire
enclave of Bel Air, she looks dewy and smooth,
in the manner of Love Island contestants. She’s
40 but could pass for 25 (sort of).
Linton has now lived more than half her
life in Los Angeles, having left the “small”
castle in which she was raised to pursue her
screen ambitions in Tinseltown. And while
she’s had roles in series such as CSI, the short-
lived scripted reality show Hopelessly Rich, and
some small, unremarkable independent films,her acting career has so far failed to ignite
in quite the way she might have wished.
However, over the past four years, Linton
has achieved a public profile of sorts.
In 2017, two months after her wedding
to Mnuchin, the pair flew to Fort Knox in
Kentucky, a work trip for Mnuchin. Linton,
along for the ride, later posted a shot of herself
to Instagram, all in white, descending the steps
of the United States Air Force jet, with the
perky caption: “Great #daytrip to #Kentucky!
#nicest #people #beautiful #countryside”.
And, in case anyone might have been
wondering what the wife of the guy in
government who was busy pushing through
$1.5 trillion of tax cuts was wearing, she
helpfully posted the credits: “#rolandmouret
pants #tomford sunnies, #hermesscarf
#valentinorockstudheels #valentino #usa”.
Unsurprisingly, the backlash was swift and
brutal, with Linton labelled “Treasury Barbie”,
“Marie Antoinette”, and “the Real Housewife
of the Treasury”. “Glad we could pay for
your little getaway. #deplorable,” wrote one
correspondent in response to the detailed
styling post. Unfortunately for Linton, she
chose to reply in kind. “Have you given more
to the economy than me and my husband?
Either as an individual earner in taxes or in
self sacrifice to your country. I’m pretty sure
we paid more taxes toward our day ‘trip’ than
you did,” she wrote. “Pretty sure the amount
we sacrifice per year is a lot more than you’d
be willing to sacrifice if the choice was yours.
You’re adorably out of touch.” There was
more, but you get the idea.T
A LADS’ MAG CALLED HER ‘THE HOTTEST THING
OUT OF SCOTLAND SINCE MICROWAVED HAGGIS’
With Mnuchin in 2017 – an image
that led to intense criticism of herOutside her family castle in Scotland, as a teenagerMnuchin and Linton on their honeymoon in Scotland, 2017PREVIOUS SPREAD: GETTY IMAGES, JOHN TSIAVIS.THIS PAGE: GETTY IMAGES, SWNS, SPLASH NEWS