Donald Trump Wanted To Make Ex Marla Maples His First Lady Before Melania

Donald Trump's presidency could have looked very different if it weren't for his second ex-wife, Marla Maples. Trump and Maples were married from 1993 until 1999 following his split from first wife, Ivana Trump, and it turns out Trump was actually once pretty keen to have Maples stand by his side as First Lady of the United States.

Though Trump became president in 2017 while married to his third wife, Melania Trump, Maples revealed that Trump was very much considering running for president back in the 1990s — which would have made her first lady. Maples made that revelation during a 2018 interview with "Today," suggesting she encouraged her then-husband not to take on a presidential run because of how it would have affected his family, especially his young children. "I knew it would be difficult on the kids, it takes a big toll on kids, and Donny, Ivanka, and Eric were much younger then," Maples explained. Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump are the former president's children with Ivana (and they have a close relationship to this day), while he and Maples welcomed their daughter Tiffany Trump (who they named after the jewelry brand), in 1993.

But that's not the first time Maples has hinted she maybe wasn't the biggest fan of Trump becoming president. She also reportedly spoke about his hopes to run for president in the late '90s without much enthusiasm.

Marla Maples allegedly spoke pretty candidly about Donald Trump running for president in 1999, making it clear that she wasn't about to let him move into the White House without her putting up a fight. Though Maples has since denied speaking to the publication, she reportedly told Britain's The Telegraph (via The Week): "If he is really serious about being president ... I will feel it is my duty as an American citizen to tell the people what he is really like."

But Trump didn't take those reported remarks lying down. He responded to the supposed interview with a few less-than-kind comments of his own about his ex, which appeared to suggest the former couple weren't on the best of terms. Trump told the Associated Press (via BuzzFeed News): "She's pretty upset that she hasn't been in the limelight. But she got a little limelight today. I guess she wants her day in the sun."

Marla Maples hasn't spoken a lot publicly about Donald Trump since her reported remarks in the late 1990s, but she has given a few select interviews. One of those rarer occasions she's spoken out was in 2016 when she opened up about her ex a few months before he was inaugurated. Though Maples stopped short of explicitly confirming or denying if she supported Trump's presidential run, she previously suggested she may not agree with all his policies. "I have always been more liberal and I believe in gay and lesbian rights and I believe everyone on this planet has a right to choice," she told the Daily Beast. "So, I just don't feel it's productive for me to go judging another person's choices."

Maples shared a similar sentiment with "Today" two years later when asked if she was surprised by what the father of her daughter had done during his time in the White House. "I choose not to judge anybody else. I don't want to be judged, so how can I judge another human being?" she responded.

As for what Maples has had to say about Trump's 2024 campaign? Well, she appeared to hint her ex-husband may have more of her support publicly his second time around. "I try not to be political, but I love this country, and I know this family is in it for our country," she told the Daily Mail in January 2024.