Donald Trump's Ironclad Prenup With Marla Maples Shows Just How 'Wary' He Was About the Marriage
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Donald Trump’s affair with Marla Maples was front-page news in New York when it happened, thanks to a New York Post headline that read, “Best Sex I’ve Ever Had” on Feb. 16, 1990. While most people would prefer not to know that information, the details of the former couple’s prenuptial agreement have resurfaced and it shows how rocky things were from the start.
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By October 1993, Maples already had already given birth to their daughter, Tiffany Trump, but that walk down the aisle had eluded her so far. Donald Trump reportedly hemmed and hawed about getting married for the second time, especially since his divorce from first wife Ivana Trump cost him $14 million, $650,000 a year in alimony and child support, a Connecticut mansion, and an Upper East Side apartment, according to The Atlantic. Not wanting to make the same mistake again, and with a dwindling fortune at the time, Donald Trump locked up his finances in an ironclad prenup with Maples.
He reportedly inflated his net worth (sounds familiar) to the tune of $1.17 billion because as a divorce lawyer told Vanity Fair, “When you’re doing a prenup, the worry is you understate your assets. If you overstate it, then you’re protected.” Maples wanted $25 million in the event of a divorce, but Donald Trump got her down to $1 million if they split within the first five years, plus $1 million to purchase a home.
Donald Trump would also pay $100,000 year in child support for Tiffany up until that age of 21, but if she “got a full-time job, enlisted in the military, or joined the Peace Corps,” then the money would end earlier. “The way it was drawn up is ironclad and shows how wary he was,” celebrity divorce lawyer Raoul Felder told Vanity Fair. “He was leaving nothing to chance.”
Shockingly, Maples decided to sign the prenuptial agreement and hoped to renegotiate a fairer deal in five years. After reportedly giving him a Christmas Day ultimatum, she knew this was the only deal. “We basically came to an agreement that for the first few years we would agree on something and then tear it up,” she told the media outlet before their wedding. “So, that way, I feel that we have what he needs right now for his business. And then, in five years, I have what I need for a true marriage.”
Donald Trump and Maples didn’t make it to their fifth wedding anniversary — they separated in 1997 and divorced in 1999. In the end, she never renegotiated the prenup and received $2 million.
Before you go, click here to see celebrity couples who were married to other people when they met.
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