Inside Donald Trump Jr.’s Racy Twitter Exchanges with Former Model While Married to Wife Vanessa

While some were surprised to learn that Donald Trump Jr.‘s wife, Vanessa, is divorcing him after 12 years of marriage, former model Melissa Stetten was not among them.

After news broke of the split on Thursday evening, Stetten took to Twitter to reveal a direct message (DM) and tweets that Trump sent her in November 2011, just weeks after wife Vanessa had given birth to son Tristan, their third of five children together.

“Surprised his marriage didn’t work out since he was sending me DMs a month after his wife gave birth,” Stetten tweeted, also sharing a screen shot of Trump Jr.’s DM, which read: “Well Im getting s–t 4the bacon comment glad I opted not 2send the tweet asking 4pics from ur bathroom tweet last night;) people need2chil.”

Melissa Stetten and Donald Trump Jr.
Melissa Stetten and Donald Trump Jr.

Stetten explained Thursday that his DM came after she tweeted a “joke about pulling a muscle changing a tampon” and — to her bafflement — “he replied asking if I smelled bacon?”

(A spokeswoman for Trump Jr. provided the full thread of their DMs, which she said showed that the exchange was just a joke.)

Stetten told PEOPLE that she had “no idea” what he meant by the bacon reference but pointed to tweets from November 2011 suggesting Trump Jr. has “some weird obsession with bacon.”

One tweet from Trump Jr. that day read: “Does anyone else have a Bacon fetish??? It sounds so wrong but tastes so right!”

Stetten tells PEOPLE that she didn’t know Trump Jr. personally before he reached out on Twitter. “He just started following me so I followed back. He would favorite my tweets and occasionally reply,” she explains. “I always thought of the Trumps as idiots so it was entertaining to see his failed attempts at hitting on me.”

According to her Twitter profile, Stetten is a retired model who plays for a recreational league basketball team called the Pistol Shrimps, along with other models, writers and actresses, including Aubrey Plaza. She’s also the owner of Patti Lapel, a company that makes novelty enamel pins, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Donald Trump Jr. and Vanessa Trump
Donald Trump Jr. and Vanessa Trump

Stetten also tweeted further messages from Trump Jr. in their November 2011 exchange. After she responded to his initial comment by joking, “@DonaldJTrumpJr soaking my body in bacon today,” he replied via tweet, “Now you’re just toying w my emotions. Why don’t women come up w bacon perfume? Seems so much better than that channel [sic] crap” and later, “Stop that!!! I am a happily married man,” with a winking smiley face.

“His dad is president why hasn’t he deleted these tweets?” Stetten wondered in one of her tweets on Thursday.

Trump Jr. has not publicly responded to Stetten’s tweets.

RELATED VIDEO: Vanessa Trump Was Sister-in-Law Ivanka’s ‘Wonder Woman’ Before Calling it Quits with Donald Jr.

PEOPLE confirmed that former model Vanessa filed divorce documents late Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court, according to court records. Page Six, who first reported the news, said she filed for an uncontested proceeding.

In a statement obtained by PEOPLE on Thursday, Trump Jr. and Vanessa said, “After 12 years of marriage, we have decided to go our separate ways. We will always have tremendous respect for each other and our families. We have five beautiful children together and they remain our top priority. We ask for your privacy during this time.”

The couple share five children together: Kai, 10, Donald III, 9, Tristan, 6, Spencer, 5, and Chloe, 3.

  • With reporting by DIANE HERBST