In a candid interview that resurfaced in recent discussions, the late Ivana Trump, the first wife of President Donald Trump, made clear her preference between the two women who succeeded her in marriage to the former real estate mogul. Speaking with CBS Sunday Morning, Ivana drew a stark distinction between Marla Maples, Trump’s second wife, and Melania Trump, the current first lady, dismissing Maples as a “nobody” while expressing acceptance of Melania.
When asked about the two women during the interview, Ivana stated bluntly: “One is a nobody, the other is First Lady.” The comment encapsulated her enduring resentment toward Maples, whose affair with Donald Trump in the late 1980s ultimately led to the start of Ivana’s contentious divorce from the businessman in 1990. The couple had been married since 1977 and were considered New York society royalty during their time together.
Ivana and Donald Trump raised three children together—Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric—who later became prominent figures in their father’s business empire and political campaigns. Despite the acrimonious end to their marriage, Ivana and Trump maintained a civil relationship for decades following their split, with the former president speaking warmly about his first wife at her funeral in 2022. She died at age 73, with Trump noting at her memorial service that she never gave up and took nothing for granted.
The interview revealed the depth of Ivana’s lingering animosity toward Maples. When CBS correspondent Jim Axelrod asked about Trump’s second wife, Ivana firmly stated she did not want to discuss her. She referred to Maples as “a showgirl” who had never accomplished anything in life, refusing even to speak Maples’ name during the conversation.
Ivana’s resentment traced back to a highly publicized incident during a ski trip to Aspen in 1989. In her memoir Raising Trump, she recounted a confrontation with Maples on the slopes. According to Ivana’s account, the blonde woman approached her and declared her love for Donald Trump, asking if Ivana loved her husband. Ivana responded by telling Maples to get lost, later describing the encounter as shocking and unladylike on her part.
Trump himself acknowledged the Aspen confrontation in a 1994 interview, describing visible friction between the two women though no shouting occurred. The incident proved fatal to his marriage with Ivana, who filed for divorce the following year. Trump and Maples married in 1993 and divorced in 1999, sharing one daughter together, Tiffany Trump.
During the same 1994 interview, Trump expressed some regret over the affair, praising the life he had shared with Ivana. He suggested that without the affair with Maples, his first marriage might have continued, describing his former life as having a beautiful girlfriend, beautiful wife, and beautiful everything—life was just a bowl of cherries, he reflected.
Yet Ivana notably exonerated Donald from blame for the affair during her CBS interview. When Axelrod questioned whether she faulted Maples for the relationship but not Trump, Ivana clarified that Maples was flirting and got away with it. She suggested that women constantly threw themselves at Trump, claiming he received a thousand business cards in his pocket every night and could choose any woman he wanted.
In contrast to her feelings about Maples, Ivana held no apparent grudge against Melania Trump. The acceptance may have stemmed partly from Melania’s elevated status as first lady during Trump’s presidency, a position that seemed to earn her respect in Ivana’s eyes. The strategic maintenance of civil relations also benefited the three children Ivana shared with Trump, who remained central figures in both parents’ lives.
Trump met Melania in 1998 while still navigating divorce proceedings with Maples. After an on-and-off courtship, Trump proposed to Melania at the Met Gala in 2004. The couple married in Palm Beach, Florida, at a ceremony attended by high-profile guests including Rudy Giuliani, Barbara Walters, and President Bill Clinton. They share one son, Barron Trump.
When Trump assumed the presidency in 2017, Melania became the first foreign-born first lady since Louisa Adams in 1829, wife of President John Quincy Adams. Ivana expressed pride in her children’s involvement in their father’s political endeavors, with Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric frequently appearing at campaign events and serving in various capacities during Trump’s administrations.
The relationship dynamics among Trump’s three wives reflected the complicated personal history of a man who has been married three times while maintaining a prominent public profile. Ivana’s candid assessment of Maples versus Melania provided insight into how she navigated her position as Trump’s first wife while watching two other women occupy roles she once held.
