After Ivana but before Melania, there was Marla. So why did "The
Donald" split up with the small town beauty queen? And did she really cheat
on him?! Here's why Marla Maples and Donald Trump couldn't make it last.
Even at the peak of their relationship, Marla Maples acknowledged she and Donald
Trump led different lifestyles. Maples was born in 1963 in Cohutta, Georgia,
which reported a population of 700 people in 2020 — the highest recorded
number since the town's beginnings. In 1990, Maples told Vanity Fair,
"I'm like, of the soil, of the country, of a solid, firm belief in God."
Maples also talked to Maximum Ink about her childhood in 2011, telling the outlet,
"I recall climbing trees, wading through streams, chasing cattle through the pastures and being
bucked off a few old paint horses. It was a very healthy and earthy lifestyle. Sports,
family, and church were the center of my life in Georgia."
"I miss being out here in the country, that's for sure."
The small town beauty pageant queen was the polar opposite of Trump, a native of New York,
born 18 years earlier than she was. Trump's father, Fred Trump, was a businessman himself,
who had his own real estate empire that raked in millions for Donald and his siblings.
Maples never even saw the streets of New York until she moved there in 1985. Although she had
ambitious career aspirations, Maples didn't know that type of wealth, telling Vanity Fair in 1990,
"I would be happier living out on a farm away from everyone and not being in this concrete world,
and here he is representing everything that some people think is very materialistic."
Donald Trump's first daughter, Ivanka Trump, has famously been paraded around by her father,
who referred to her as his favorite in a 2004 interview with New York magazine.
After acknowledging playing favorites when it comes to "Daddy's little girl," Donald then
remembered his second daughter, Tiffany Trump, born 12 years after Ivanka in 1993. Tiffany
is the fourth child of Donald, and the only child of Marla Maples. He told the magazine,
"You know I have another daughter, with Marla, named Tiffany? She's just a beautiful great kid
also. But it's very separate. When you have separate wives, it's sort of ... separate."
Donald revealed his true feelings about Maples'
pregnancy while chatting with Howard Stern in 2004, telling the shock jock,
"Honestly, I'm glad it happened. I have a great little daughter, Tiffany. But, you know at the
time it was like, 'Excuse me, what happened?' And then I said, 'Well, what are we going to do about
this?' She said, 'Are you serious? It's the most beautiful day of our lives.' I said, 'Oh, great.'"
In the midst of running multiple casinos, hotels,
and housing developments, it's no surprise that Donald Trump might've been a little too
tied up to spend much time with daughter Tiffany Trump. When Tiffany was born,
Donald's focus was on taking his casinos public to make enough money to pay down some debts.
Marla Maples opened up to US Weekly in 2016 on what it was
like raising their daughter, telling the magazine,
"The challenge was being able to balance being a working mom and being there for
a child full time. Her daddy loves her, of course,
but I was the parent. I was the parent that was there in the flesh and with her all the time."
Marla added that those years were "amazing" and brought her "the greatest joy."
Even prior to their divorce being finalized, Donald published a book that addressed his
views on love and marriage. He wrote in "Trump: The Art of the Comeback,"
"Marla was content when it was just her, Tiffany, and me. I,
on the other hand, realized that business needed to be taken care of constantly."
Maples retreated to California following their divorce and avoided the spotlight
in an attempt to give Tiffany an upbringing similar to her own.
In the couple's prenuptial agreement, Donald Trump presented himself as the
pinnacle of wealth, worth $1.17 billion. Despite that figure,
Trump didn't agree to what Marla Maples initially asked for in the event of divorce.
Maples reportedly sought $25 million from Trump in a prenup, but settled for $1 million
if they separated within five years, plus another $1 million to put toward a home for
her. In March 1994, just a few months after they were married, Maples told Vanity Fair,
"We basically came to an agreement that for the first few years we would agree on
something and then tear it up. So, that way, I feel that we have what he needs right now
for his business. And then, in five years, I have what I need for a true marriage."
Although Maples reportedly wasn't a fan of prenuptial agreements and held off on
signing one for some time, her desire to get married trumped her hesitation. Both
parties agreed to renegotiate the document after five years.
One expert told Vanity Fair in 1994 that Maples
probably didn't understand what she was getting herself into, saying,
"She thinks it’s wonderful, because after a few years the agreement is going to expire.
But let me tell you, it will either be extended after the five years, or Trump is out of there."
Conveniently enough for Trump, they separated after almost four years.
Rumors of Marla Maples and Donald Trump dating began swirling while Donald was still married
to his first wife, Ivana Trump. But during his second marriage, it was Maples making headlines
after being caught with Donald's former bodyguard at the beach near Mar-a-Lago.
Spencer Wagner was the bodyguard in question,
and police found him with Maples on the beach at four in the morning on April 16th, 1996.
"A police officer on duty found Donald Trump's wife here,
under a lifeguard stand, in the company of another man."
Both Maples and Donald denied that anything happened, with Maples claiming she was just taking
a bathroom break. However, Donald fired Wagner four months after the incident. Wagner's ex-wife
Mary Miller alleged that Maples was no innocent bystander, telling Inside Edition in 2016,
"He said she would try to pull him into a bedroom in the house and she
was aggressive. She just loved to party a lot."
"She liked to go down to Miami and party when she was in town."
Wagner's own story flipped over the years. At first,
he also denied the affair, but later said that he and Maples were kissing on that
fateful night. One year later, Donald and Maples announced their divorce.
Marla Maples and Donald Trump separated in May 1997 and officially divorced in June
1999. A few months after their divorce, London's Daily Telegraph published an
interview with Maples and she offered some insight into why their marriage dissolved.
Not only did she say that the marriage was, in her words, "built on an illusion," she
also said that Trump was never the man she wanted to marry. She told the newspaper,
"I'm so happy to be away from Donald and I'm just trying to move as far away as I can. I
finally found the courage to walk away and stay away. After I became a mother,
I was less willing to put up with his behavior."
To top it off, the Daily Telegraph quoted Maples' description of her ex-husband as
an obsessive person driven by his ego. A spokeswoman for Maples claimed that the
interviewer took quotes out of context, but didn't indicate which quotes specifically.
Donald Trump appeared on "The Howard Stern Show" immediately post-divorce in 1999 and
offered a low-key response to his feelings on Marla Maples and their settlement. Stern
stirred the pot when he joked that he knew Donald would get divorced, because too many women were,
quote, "throwing themselves at him." Trump didn't confirm nor deny that claim, but coyly replied,
"[Marla] was really a good — a good person. You know,
with all fairness, we had a great time. [...] She did stick by me. You know,
in the early '90s, I did have a tough time, and it wasn't the greatest time of my life."
Trump seemingly back-pedaled on his comments praising her when he appeared on the show again
later the same year. Stern said he'd recently been looking at pictures of Maples and commented,
"She fell apart. You got rid of her just at the right time."
Trump agreed, telling Stern,
"Just in time. [...] Let's say that I'm very happy."
In 2016, Marla Maples sat down with the hosts of Access Hollywood and spoke more on why her
marriage failed. Maples reiterated how different she and Donald Trump were,
and said they simply couldn't bring out the best in each other.
Maples cited her Georgia roots, family values, and spiritual growth as reasons
she and the business-minded tycoon had to move on from each other. She even
described things between them as a little bit "combative" during their relationship,
explaining that she thought she could change him at the time.
"Girls, when we're in our 20s, we want to change the men we're with.
We just think that love is going to make them a little softer."
Per the New York Times, in May 1997, Donald Trump tipped off Jeane MacIntosh,
a former deputy editor at Page Six, that he was splitting with Maples. Trump said
that Marla's family, which he called "an entourage of dumb Southerners,"
was "essentially" to blame for the divorce. He told MacIntosh,
“Are you old enough to remember the show ‘The Beverly Hillbillies?’ That’s exactly her family,
except they came to New York City instead of Beverly Hills."
There's been plenty of opportunity to reveal the nitty gritty on what went
down in their relationship, but Donald Trump's and Marla Maples' prenup and
divorce settlement prohibit Maples from revealing too much information.
So when rumors of a tell-all memoir from Maples came about,
it seemed too good to be true, in light of their iron-clad confidentiality agreement. The book,
titled "It's About Time," reportedly never came to fruition because Maples
failed to get Trump to sign off on its publication. Maples reportedly even had
a publisher ready to get the book on shelves before the denial, according to Page Six.
This marked the second time that Maples had tried to tell her side of the story,
as another book set to publish in 2001, "All That Glitters Is Not Gold," never made it to shelves,
after both the publisher and Maples agreed to not follow through with publication. With the
possibility of any memoir leading Maples to face a lawsuit, considering the non-disclosure agreement
she signed, fans can understand why she can be dodgy or vague when asked about her ex.
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