Remember That Time Donald Trump’s Marriage Broke Up on a Ski Slope
Before Donald Trump was the presumptive Republican presidential candidate — even before he was a reality star who hung out with rappers — he and his wife, Ivana Trump, were basically the Jay Z and Beyoncé of 1980s excess.
And as we discovered when we unearthed a 1990 People magazine feature about their marriage breakup, their lives were hella dramatic. Like, more than 10 Met Ball elevator fights combined.
One particular ski-resort meltdown really caught our eye. To set the scene: Donald and Ivana Trump were married at this point, but their relationship was quickly dissolving because the orangey titan couldn’t keep it in his pants.
He also never got the memo that you shouldn’t shit where you eat. While Trump was on vacation with his wife at the resort in the Alps, his then-mistress and soon-to-be-second-wife, Marla Maples, was staying at the exact same place, presumably to be near Trump. Ivana and Marla bumped into each other on the mountaintop, and quite a ratchet scene ensued. From People:
[Donald and Ivana] were seen arguing on the slopes and outside Bonnie’s, a popular restaurant on the mountain. Another vacationing skier reports that on Dec. 29 Ivana became enraged when she learned that actress-model Maria Maples was also at the resort.
Two days later, according to one witness, when Maples, 26, walked out of Bonnie’s, Ivana confronted her, demanding, “You bitch, leave my husband alone.” Trump, who was sitting within earshot putting on his skis, took off down the mountain. Wrong move: Ivana is an excellent skier; Donald is not. When the formidable Czech pushed off in hot pursuit, fascinated observers swear they saw her whip in front of Donald and then ski backwards down the slopes, wagging her finger in his face.
Yes, People referred to Marla Maples as Maria… the shade of it all.
Anyway, isn’t that a great mental image? Donald Trump taking off down the hill like a whiney little baby who’s terrified to face up to his actions? Sort of like how he always manages to bail out of a business venture the moment before it goes into bankruptcy. The moral of this story is that the Donald’s ability to fuck shit up then bounce isn’t just a professional skill — it also translates to his personal life.
The other moral: Ivana is a badass.
So, where are they now? Donald Trump is running for president, obviously, but what happened with his personal life? He and Ivana, the mother of three of his children, divorced; he married Marla Maples and divorced her shortly thereafter (they share daughter Tiffany); and now, he’s married to Melania Trump, a former model and the mother of his youngest son.
While it’s tempting to dismiss the aforementioned Alps incident as comical behavior from a buffoon, keep in mind that Trump’s marital transgressions go way beyond cheating on his wives. Ivana once testified that he “raped” her during their marriage. She later backpedaled by saying she didn’t mean “rape” in a criminal sense, but she never said that the abusive situation she described didn’t occur. Just that she wouldn’t consider it rape.
Anyway, happy #TBT y’all. Read the rest of the weirdly well written 1990 People feature here.
