Candice Bergen Once Spilled On Her Awkward Date With Donald Trump

Former president Donald Trump might position himself as a regular Casanova with the ladies, but the truth is a lot more complicated. Donald was married twice — to the late Ivana Trump, as well as model Marla Maples — before he tied the knot with Melania Trump in 2005. When the real estate mogul ran for president in 2016, the world was horrified by a hot mic recording of Donald making derogatory and offensive comments about women, which he later dismissed as "locker room talk." In 2018, porn star Stormy Daniels went on the record with her 2006 affair with Donald, whose wife Melania had recently given birth to their son Barron Trump. 

As of this writing, USA Today reports that 19 women have accused Donald of sexual assault, including writer E. Jean Carroll, to whom Trump owes millions in damages for sexual assault. The former president has also been indicted on multiple criminal charges. 

Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, The Don insists he is a champion of women. "I love women," he said, per The BBC. But whether women love Donald back is the bigger question — and the answer seems to be a resounding no, at least, according to actor Candice Bergen. In 2016, Bergen opened up about her date with the reality TV star, whom she went out with while she was attending the Wharton School of Business. There were no fireworks at the end of the night.

"Murphy Brown" star Candice Bergen didn't think much of her time with Donald Trump. "I was 18, the first year of college," Bergen told her "Book Club" co-stars, actors Jane Fonda, Mary Steenburgen, and Diane Keaton (via People). "I was home by 9:00. I mean, it was really a dud." 

Bergen recalled on an episode of "Harry" that she only went on the date because she didn't have anything better to do. "[Donald] was a nice-looking guy ... it was a blind date. He called me in the dorm, and I was bored," she said (via EW). Apparently, the most memorable part of the evening was Trump's ensemble. "He picked me up, he was wearing a burgundy three-piece suit, with burgundy patent leather boots, and he was in a burgundy limousine," Bergen added.

But while Bergen was indifferent, Trump was anything enamoured. "[Candice] was so beautiful. She was dating guys from Paris, France, who were 35 years old, the whole thing. I did make the move," he said in a 2015 interview with The Boston Globe. While Trump was running in the 2016 presidential election, Bergen made it clear that their shared history didn't mean she'd be voting for him. Still, even though she backed Hillary Clinton, Bergen acknowledged that Trump has been "very nice" to her ever since their date night.

When asked directly about her date with Donald Trump on a 2018 episode of "Watch What Happens Live," Candice Bergen maintained that there was "no physical contact whatsoever." Though she admitted he was physically handsome, she told host Andy Cohen that she'd found the former president to be "a douche."

There may not have been a follow-up date with Trump, but it does seem like Bergen has a taste for mixing politics and pleasure. In 2018, she appeared on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," where she dished that she'd once gone on a date with ex-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. "Kissinger was of course, highly intelligent, very charming," Bergen told Colbert. When pressed as to who was the better date — Trump or Kissinger — Bergen said, "Kissinger."

The "Boston Legal" star did eventually say "I do," but it wasn't to either Trump or Kissinger. Per CBS, she wed French film director Louis Malle in 1985, and the pair went on to welcome a daughter, Chloe Malle. Bergen and Louis were together until his death in 1995. She remarried in 2000 to real estate developer Marshall Rose. "I just thought I trusted this man completely, and by dessert, I was sort of in his pocket," Bergen remembered, speaking of a dinner they'd shared together. The pair have a nine-year age difference, as Bergen joked about to The Daily Mail, and are still together as of this writing.