"Best Sex I've Ever Had" is a headline that appeared on the front page of the New York Post on February 16, 1990. The headline is purportedly a quote from Marla Maples, who would become the second wife of businessman Donald Trump. The quote refers to Trump's supposed sexual prowess. Trump was married to Ivana Trump at the time of the headline; the couple's divorce was granted that year. [1] The headline appeared during a media frenzy concerning the Trumps' marriage and his affair with Maples.
At the time of the publication of the headline in 1990, the American businessman and property developer Donald Trump had been married to the Czech model Ivana Trump (née Zelníčková) since 1977. In December 1989, while on a family skiing holiday in Aspen, Colorado, Ivana and Marla Maples had encountered each other for the first time. Trump had secretly arranged for Maples, his mistress, to be present in Aspen at the time of his family's holiday. [2] A February 11 article by Liz Smith in the New York Daily News had reported that the Donald and Ivana Trump were no longer together. [3]
In their 2017 biography of Trump, Trump Revealed , Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher detailed the media coverage of the breakdown of the couple's marriage, writing that in February 1990, despite the release of Nelson Mandela from prison and the bankruptcy of bankers Drexel Burnham Lambert, the Trumps' marriage "dominated the front pages of [New York City]'s tabloids" for "weeks". [4]
Trump married Maples in 1993; the couple divorced in 1999. [4]
The New York Post and the New York Daily News were rivaling each other for stories on the couple's marriage at the time of the headline. Jill Brooke, the television and radio columnist for the New York Post at the time of the story, recalled in a 2018 article for The Hollywood Reporter that Trump had telephoned the editor of the New York Post, Jerry Nachman, in a rage as a result of an article in the Daily News by Liz Smith that he perceived as sympathetic to Ivana. [5] In reference to his wife and Smith, Trump shouted "Those fucking bitches ... I want a front-page story tomorrow". The conversation was heard on speakerphone by Brooke. [5] Nachman informed Trump that "Donald, you just don't demand a front-page story. There has to be a story" to which Trump replied that "For all the newspapers I've sold for you, you should give me one". [5] After Trump asked Nachman how he could get a front-page story, Nachman told him that "murder, money or sex" would usually suffice as subject matters. Trump then told him "Marla says with me it's the best sex she's ever had". [5] Nachman informed Trump that he needed corroboration for such a claim, at which point Trump shouted "Marla ... Didn't you say it's the best sex you ever had with me?". Brooke recalled that a "faint voice" could be heard replying "Yes, Donald" to Trump's question, and subsequent revelations that Trump adopted pseudonyms in conversations with journalists led Brooke to doubt whether the voice she heard in reply was actually Maples or Trump himself. [5] Prior to the publication of Brooke's 2018 article, the New York Post reporter Bill Hoffmann had reported that the story had derived from his interview of two of Maples's friends from an acting class that she had been taking, and the friends had told Hoffmann that Maples had confided in them about her and Trump's love affair, and told them that Trump was "the best sex I've ever had". [4]
Brooke felt the significance of the story stemmed from its novelty as prominent men "didn't discuss their sex lives on the record" at the time of the headline as it was a time "... before Facebook. This was before reality TV. This was when privacy mattered and oversharing was considered crass". [5] The story was approved by Lou Colasuonno, the managing editor of the New York Post, who believed the story to be unlikely to be the target of a libel suit from Trump as "Donald will never complain about this one". [4]
In February 1990 the Daily News ran Trump related stories for 12 successive days; with the New York Post running stories for eight days in succession. The Trump stories were described by Kranish and Fisher as having "reached their apex" when the "Best Sex I've Ever Had" headline was printed on the cover of the February 16 edition of the New York Post. [4] The New York Post published 35 column inches on the Trumps' marital travails that day, with The New York Times publishing 49 inches, including detailed legal analysis of their marital split. [3]
The front-page story that accompanied the headline was written by the New York Post reporter Bill Hoffmann. A photograph of Trump grinning was set alongside the article. [4] The opening text of the article stated "We always knew Donald Trump was a tiger in the corporate board-room but now we know he's a wildcat in the bedroom too". [4]
Trump met the New York magazine writer John Taylor on the day of the publication of the story; Taylor recalled that Trump was relaxed and was impressed by the level of media coverage that the breakup of his marriage was receiving. Trump told Taylor that he had "never seen anything like it in my life. One day it was eight pages in the tabloids. Even The New York Times is doing it ... One of the papers had twelve reporters on it". [4] Taylor felt that Trump had understood that there was "no such thing as bad publicity" and Trump was "able to spin [the story] like he was this irresistible macho guy that was being chased by these blonde beauties all over town". [4] New York reported that Hoffmann had received interview requests from ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and CNN following his scoop. [3]
Maples subsequently appeared on the episode "Marriage Most Foul" of the sitcom Designing Women as herself in 1991. The characters of the show asked Maples about the veracity of the quote in the headline, and she told them that it was untrue and that she had never said it. [6]
Hilary Weaver, writing for Vanity Fair in 2018, described the quote as Maples's "most famous quote by far, and maybe the peak of her prominence in pop culture". [7] Kranish and Fisher described the headline as a "tabloid classic". [4] Barbara Res, an executive at The Trump Organization, recalled that Trump proudly showed her a copy of the New York Post on the day of its publication, and that he was in "a great mood ... a big smile plastered on his face". [8] Res and other executives at the company thought the headline was "terrible", she personally worried about the effect of the headline on Trump's children, recalling that Trump had a "six-year-old at home. He's got a twelve-year-old that can read the papers ... we thought that was terrible. He thought it was the greatest thing". [4] Donald and Ivana Trump's daughter, Ivanka, recalled in her 2009 book, The Trump Card , that "one idiot reporter" asked her if "Marla Maples's claims were true". Ivanka was 9 years old at the time of the headline and felt her family's life was "fair game, on full display ... It was so insane, so offensive, so upsetting, and there was no let-up". [9]
The headline gained renewed prominence in the wake of Trump's election to the presidency of the United States in 2016. In 2018, Maples denied that she had said the quote, telling reporters from the New York Post's Page Six gossip column that "I never said that, someone else said that ...[But] is it true? I'm not going to talk about that. The truth will come out, just not here". [7] Maples winked at reporters after denying that she had given the quote. [7]
In 2016 journalist Natasha Stoynoff accused Trump of forcibly kissing her in 2005 during a scheduled interview at Mar-a-Lago. After the alleged attack, Stoynoff said Trump referenced the New York Post cover and said, "You remember. Best sex I ever had." [10]
Marla Ann Maples is an American actress, television personality, model, singer and presenter. She was the second wife of former U.S. President Donald Trump. They married in 1993, two months after the birth of their daughter Tiffany, and divorced in 1999.
Ivana Marie Trump was a Czech-American businesswoman, socialite, and model. She lived in Canada in the 1970s, before relocating to the United States and marrying Donald Trump in 1977. She held key managerial positions in The Trump Organization, as vice president of interior design, as CEO and president of Trump's Castle casino resort, and as manager of the Plaza Hotel.
Frederick Christ Trump Sr. was an American real-estate developer and businessman. He was the father of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States.
Melania Trump is a Slovenian-American former model who served as the first lady of the United States from 2017 to 2021 as the wife of former president Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States. She is the first naturalized citizen to become first lady and the second foreign-born first lady after Louisa Adams.
Ivana Marie "Ivanka" Trump is an American businesswoman. She is the second child of Donald Trump and his first wife, Ivana. Trump was a senior advisor in his administration (2017–2021), and also was the director of the Office of Economic Initiatives and Entrepreneurship.
Tiffany Ariana Trump is the fourth child of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, and his only child with his second wife, Marla Maples.
Trump Ocean Resort Baja Mexico was a failed luxury condominium-hotel resort to be located at Punta Bandera in the Playas de Tijuana borough of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, approximately 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from the San Ysidro border crossing.
Trump: Surviving at the Top is a 1990 book written by businessman Donald Trump and journalist Charles Leerhsen, and published by Random House. In 1991, Warner Books purchased the paperback rights to the book and re-released it as The Art of Survival.
Trump: The Art of the Comeback is a 1997 book written by businessman and future President of the United States, Donald Trump and journalist Kate Bohner.
Donald Trump, an American businessman, politician, and former president of the United States has used several pseudonyms, including "John Barron", "John Miller" and "David Dennison". His practice of sometimes speaking to the media under the guise of a spokesperson has been described as "an open secret" at the Trump Organization and in New York media circles.
The sketch comedy television series Saturday Night Live (SNL) has parodied Donald Trump since 1988, covering his time as a real estate broker to his popular run as host of The Apprentice, and during as well as after his presidency.
Donald Trump, the president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, has a history of insulting and belittling women when speaking to the media and on social media. He has made lewd comments, disparaged women's physical appearances, and referred to them using derogatory epithets. Since the 1970s, at least 26 women have publicly accused Trump of rape, kissing, and groping without consent; looking under women's skirts; and walking in on naked teenage pageant contestants. Trump has denied all of the allegations.
The family of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States (2017–2021) and owner of The Trump Organization, is an American family of German and Scottish descent. They are active in business, entertainment, politics, and real estate. Donald Trump, his third wife Melania, and their son Barron were the first family for the duration of his presidency. Trump's father Fred was the son of German immigrants, while his mother Mary Anne MacLeod was a Scottish immigrant. Trump has five children from three wives, and ten grandchildren.
Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success is a 2015 biography of Donald Trump by Michael D'Antonio. The book includes interviews with Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr., first wife Ivana Trump, second wife Marla Maples, and Theodore Dobias, Trump's coach and drill sergeant at New York Military Academy, which he attended as a teenager.
Trump Unauthorized is a 2005 American biographical drama television film about businessman and future President of the United States Donald Trump. The film was directed by John David Coles and written by Keith Curran, and stars Justin Louis as Trump. The film chronicles Trump's life, including his career and his marriages to Ivana Trump and Marla Maples. Trump Unauthorized is based on multiple sources, including two biographies by Gwenda Blair, The Trumps: Three Generations That Built an Empire and Donald Trump: Master Apprentice.
Donald Trump grew up in Jamaica Estates, an affluent neighborhood in Queens, New York City. In 1971, Trump moved into a studio in Manhattan. From 1983 until 2019, Trump's primary residence was the three-level penthouse on the top floors of Trump Tower; in 2019, he declared Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, to be his primary residence. During his presidency from January 20, 2017, until January 20, 2021, Trump resided at the White House in Washington, D.C..
TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald is a 2005 biographical book about Donald Trump that was written by Timothy L. O'Brien and published by Warner Books. After the book was published, Trump filed a $5 billion lawsuit against O'Brien, who had written that Trump was not a billionaire and that his net worth actually ranged between $150 million and $250 million. Trump sought $2.5 billion in compensatory damages and an additional $2.5 billion in punitive damages. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2009, and an appeals court affirmed the decision in 2011.
Trump Revealed: An American Journey of Ambition, Ego, Money, and Power is a biography of Donald Trump, written by Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher. It was first published in 2016 in hardcover format by Scribner. It was released in ebook format that year and paperback format in 2017 under the title Trump Revealed: The Definitive Biography of the 45th President. The book was a collaborative research project by The Washington Post, supervised by the newspaper's editor Marty Baron and consisting of contributions from thirty-eight journalists, and two fact-checkers. Trump initially refused to be interviewed for the book, then relented, and subsequently raised the possibility of a libel lawsuit against the authors. After the book was completed, Trump urged his Twitter followers not to buy it.
Frederick Crist Trump Jr. was an American airplane pilot and maintenance worker. The eldest son of real-estate businessman Fred Trump Sr., he fell out of his father's favor when he chose to become an airline pilot, leading to his younger brother Donald inheriting the family business.
The penthouse apartment of Donald Trump at the Trump Tower was the primary residence of Trump and his family from the tower's construction in 1983 until 2019. The original decorator of the apartment was Angelo Donghia; it was subsequently remodelled in gold by Henry Canversano. The stated size of the apartment has been subject to various estimates by Trump.
