When Marla Maples Wanted to Show Ex-Husband Trump He Could Be 'Loved For His Soul and Not Money'

When Marla Maples traveled to New York in 1985 to work as a model and performer, she met the then-business tycoon Donald Trump while competing as a homecoming queen from Georgia's Bible Belt. When he started seeing Marla after more than a decade of marriage to Ivana, the former president's second marriage and subsequent divorce were heavily criticized. However, Maples revealed that they bonded 'spiritually' during the difficult period of their relationship, "He would go to church with me,' she said. 'That was a very important part of our life. It was the place where I felt that we could ground as a family and get back to truth." Maples added, "It was two people that came together that truly loved each other in a period of time,' she said. "I wanted him to see how loved he could be for his soul, not for his money."

"I never considered myself the mistress. I mean, that’s the truth," Marla said while appearing on Journeys of Faith with Paula Faris podcast in 2018 according to The Daily Mail. Recalling the stressful moments during their relationship the former model shared that they went through a lot of 'a lot of breakups and makeups' before tying the knot. "My intention was never to bring hurt. Do I wish more than anything that we could have had this relationship after his other divorce papers were signed? Absolutely," she said. "But it didn't happen that way, and if you really trust in life, you have trust in the path that it does take you." Marla recalled that they often visited the Marble Collegiate Church on Fifth Avenue to pray together, "It was really the biggest part of my life; it wasn’t the biggest part of his, I would suppose. You know, he was a man on a mission and always has been,' she added. 'But it was beautiful to have that pause together where you know there's more."

She continued, "I was down on my hands and knees, praying and not even knowing how to stand up and move. I was an actor; I couldn't even go to auditions. It was a heart-wrenching period because I really wanted the best for everyone involved, and, unfortunately, the media and, maybe, people feeding the media wanted to turn the whole thing into something that it wasn't." Marla thought Donald saw something in her that 'was different than what he had seen in the past.'  The couple welcomed their only daughter Tiffany in October 1993 following his divorce from Ivana in 1992. Within the next two months, they got married in a lavish ceremony.  

"I know that's inside still. I've seen it," she said. "I would not have been able to love him [if it wasn't]. I don't think there was any way this child, Tiffany, could come into the world if there wasn't that light." Marla concluded: "I know that there was a real purity to our relationship. There was something really pure to it then, and sadly we weren't able to work through it because, in the end, we were too different."