When Donald Trump Said He Will Not Remarry After Ugly Divorce With Ivana Trump, But Then He Did

Former President Donald Trump was married to the late Ivana from 1977 to 1990, the couple shared three children — Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric. The power couple's decade-long marriage suddenly came to an end when Trump started an affair with model Marla Maples. As per People, Ivana formally filed for divorce in March 1990, and she left the Trump Organization a few months later. The couple fought each other in court for the following two years. Even though Ivana supposedly signed a nuptial agreement that limited her divorce compensation to $25 million. During their explosive divorce, Trump sat down with Joan Rivers for an exclusive interview in September 1990, “Do you think you will ever get married again?” Rivers asked Trump. “I don’t know. It really depends on what happens with life,” Trump stated on The Joan Rivers Show. “I really don’t know. It’s sort of difficult right now in terms of that.”

As per People, Rivers then inquired further,  “If you had slept with every woman they [the media] claimed you slept with…” The Republican leader responded emotionless: “I’d be dead. One way of the other, from whatever or whatever.” “You have a big smile on your face,” Rivers said. “Happy but dead,” he replied. Rivers added: “But you did fool around, seriously.” Trump also confessed during the hour-long interview that he did not want to run for the White House, “I don’t think I’ll be running for public office.” Trump and Marla Maples kept their affair a secret after meeting in 1985, during Trump's divorce from Ivana the model became a media target. Despite spending two months hiding from photographers, Maples could not avoid making headlines.

Despite Trump famously claiming in the interview that 'he had no plans to get married again', they tied the knot shortly after their daughter Tiffany was born. The couple had a lavish ceremony in the grand ballroom of the Plaza Hotel on Dec. 20, 1993. They ultimately separated in May 1997. Maples received only $1 million from the lengthy divorce settlement and another $1 million to buy a house.

While still in the middle of an ugly divorce from Maples, Trump met his third wife model Melanija Knavs. The couple briefly parted ways in 2000 and then rekindled their romance. Trump proposed to Melania at the 2004 Met Gala. On Jan. 22, 2005, they had an extravagant wedding at Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Palm Beach, Florida. 

In 2006 the couple welcomed their son Barron. After Trump was formally elected president in 2017, Melania became the first First Lady of foreign origin to reside in the White House since 1829. Since leaving the primary public office residence the former First Lady has kept a low profile amid Trump's escalating legal problems. “Melania is leading her own life, and still feels happy being at Mar-a-Lago, surrounded by people who love her and who never talk about reality or bad things about her husband," a source said in 2023, noting that she “remains angry” about the alleged hush money payment to Stormy Daniels and does not wish to speak about it.