Donald Trump and Marla Maples’ relationship was always at a crossroads despite their strong romantic connection. The couple broke up several times due to the media hype surrounding their secretive affair. Additionally, Trump was still married to his first wife Ivana when he fell for the stunning model and actress. According to the Daily Mail , to avoid getting caught Trump compelled executives at his casino in Atlantic City to act as his mistress’s “beards”. “I picked her up and we went out to dinner,” Alan Lapidus, Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino architect recalled. “I love the fact that when we went into the restaurant, all the women looked at her like they would want to chop her up into little pieces and have all the pieces burned,” he said.
The two enjoyed a “delicious meal” and then spent some time driving in the limousine until Trump arrived to pick up his mistress, according to Lapidus, who called his date with Maples “amazing.” “We went out to the limo, drove a couple of blocks, another limo pulled up and she got out and there was Donald in the other car.” He added, “I went home to my wife.” Jack O’Donnell, COO of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino confirmed that several of the real estate magnate’s executives were asked to do similar favors.
He also went on to reveal the unique code word they coined for the task, “We called it the ‘beard’ so that it would look like this individual was with Marla and not Donald,’ recalled O’Donnell. “Donald used a lot of us that way. We wound up comping all of her services and stays and food, whatever it might be.” According to both Lapidus and O’Donnell, Maples was far more approachable than Ivana, and they both liked their time with her. “And she smiled. It was very rare to see a smile from Ivana” the then COO recounted. “Ivana was a tough woman. And there was nothing tough about Marla Maples.”
As per People , Ivana and Trump’s divorce was dubbed as the ‘billion-dollar blow-up”. It is reported that gossip tabloids in New York City featured their controversial divorce on their front pages for eleven consecutive days. “I can only shake my head at how insane it was,” the businesswoman wrote recalling the turbulent time in her 2017 memoir Raising Trump . “I couldn’t turn on the television without hearing my name.”
After an explosive unexpected confrontation with Maples during a Christmas ski vacation in Aspen in 1989, Ivana claimed in the book that she realized her marriage was heading for a disastrous divorce.”This young blonde woman approached me out of the blue and said ‘I’m Marla and I love your husband. Do you?'” Ivana wrote. “I said ‘Get lost. I love my husband.’ It was unladylike but I was in shock.” Although Ivana won a portion of Trump’s fortune, she never received recognition for her efforts to propel the Trump organization to unprecedented heights.