There are many celebrities and politicians that we often describe as “divisive.” Donald Trump crossed that line long ago and became downright polarizing. Eventually, he became the kind of person that you either love or hate, with no real middle ground.
Of course, that brings up an obvious question: what about those who loved Trump before? Various ex-girlfriends and ex-wives have known the former president better than almost anyone else. What do these exes have to say about the world’s most polarizing figure?
Some of the answers may stun you. And without further ado, here are the most shocking things Donald Trump’s exes have ever said about him.
Ivana Trump said he was an absentee father
While she had no way of knowing it at the time, the late Ivana Trump had the dubious distinction of being Donald Trump’s first wife. She is the father of three of his children. And while Donald seems to have a good working relationship with those kids now, she told a very different story of what it was like when they were younger.
In 2017, Ivana Trump published a memoir with a provocative title: Raising Trump. Much of that book focused on what it was like to raise the wealthy and famous Trump children. And to hear Ivana tell it, she was often the only one doing so. As reported by Time, she wrote in her book that “I believe the credit for raising such great kids belongs to me.” This allegedly remained true both before and after her divorce from Donald Trump. “I was in charge of raising our children before our divorce, and I had sole custody of them after the split.”
Interestingly, Ivana seemingly saw it as her job to raise the kids and then Donald’s job to take it from there. “When each one finished college, I said to my ex-husband, ‘Here is the finished product. Now it’s your turn.” However, she wasn’t completely harsh about Trump’s role as a father. In the book, she clarified that he was a “good father to the kids” despite being a not-so-great husband. And she made the very important point that the children are now “fiercely loyal” to their father. If he was actually a bad or neglectful father to them, they would likely have a very different relationship by now.
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Kylie Bax said he was presidential
When Donald Trump announced his initial goal to become president, many were understandably skeptical. How could this real estate mogul and television celebrity think he would make a good president? But one person who stuck up for him was Kylie Bax, a New Zealand model that many believe dated Trump in the ‘90s, though this has never been confirmed.
When Trump was being credibly accused of sexual assault by Celebrity Apprentice star Summer Zervos and other women, the NZ Herald reports that Kylie Bax stuck up for Trump. “When you are trying [to] aim for something as important as presidency every worm or negative thing is going to come out of your closet. Nobody is squeaky clean.” Continuing, she said that “It may be scary for people to think of him as being the President, but I think he will do an outstanding job.”
That last part is quite debatable, but Bax deserves belated credit for seeing the presidential potential posed by Trump.
Kara Young called out Donald Trump’s racist joke
Nobody rebounds quite like Donald Trump. For example, after he divorced his second wife Marla Maples, he began dating supermodel Kara Young (yes, Virginia: Trump really does have a type). For the most part, Young seemed to enjoy her relationship with Trump, but she did acknowledge an uncomfortable moment of alleged racism.
White House correspondent Maggie Haberman released a book in 2022 called Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, and this book alleged that Trump made a racist comment to Young about her Black mother. “Trump told her that she had gotten her beauty from her mother and her intelligence ‘from her dad, the white side.'”
As Yahoo! reports, Young acknowledges that this was an attempt at a joke, but she still called Trump out on it. “’No. Don’t say that, it’s not funny.” Trump quickly pointed out that he didn’t actually believe the racist sentiment, though bringing it up in a joking manner is still pretty cringe.
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Marla Maples called him egotistical
Marla Maples was Donald Trump’s second wife after his divorce from Ivana Trump. She hasn’t said too much about the marriage over the years since her own divorce, but she was surprisingly candid about Trump in a 1999 interview.
As reported by the New York Post, she bluntly said “Donald was never the man I wanted to marry. He and his world were alien to me. I’m so happy to be away from Donald, and I’m just trying to move as far away as I can.”
She went on to describe Trump as ruthlessly ego-driven and that he was aggressive in trying to hook up with her long before they actually began dating. “I couldn’t get away … and, foolishly, I listened to some of his promises.” Maples has been tight-lipped since then, but many think this old interview was where she gave us a glimpse into what the real Donald Trump is like.