Inside Donald Trump & His Ex-Wife Marla Maples' Ironclad Prenup

Marla Maples got a lot less in her divorce from Donald Trump than you'd think – and she has an ironclad prenup to thank for that. Well, that, and the fact that her ex-husband seemingly bullied her into signing it. Uncharacteristic, we know. 

Back in 1997, around the start of Maples and Trump's divorce, sources close to the businessman told The New Yorker that the split had been timed expertly, to ensure the prenup they'd signed ahead of their 1993 wedding worked in his favor. As one well-placed source told the outlet, Trump wanted to avoid hitting the 5-year mark, which would have meant the roughly $1 million settlement laid out in their prenup would shift to one based on percentages. "If it goes from a fixed amount to what could be a very enormous amount — even a small percentage of two and a half billion dollars or whatever is a lot of money — we're talking about very huge things," they explained. Way harsh, Trump. 

Granted, Maples ended up contesting the prenup, claiming that in verbal communication, her then-estranged husband had promised her more. Sure enough, though, in 1999, she was granted just $2 million — half of which was earmarked for a new place to live. Of that, Trump told New York Post reporters, "I am very happy that Marla has decided to live up to our agreement." What he negated to say, though, is that he'd pushed her into signing it in the first place.

Donald Trump may have been delighted by Marla Maples accepting their initial prenup, but she didn't exactly do so without clapping back. "I decided to walk away completely under the terms of the prenuptial agreement that had been placed before me just five days before our 1993 wedding," she said. Yup — mere days before walking down the aisle, Maples was presented with the prenup. 

That's not all, though. According to a source who spoke to Vanity Fair, Trump gave Maples an ultimatum one day before their nuptials. "Marla was under duress. Donald's position was: without the prenup he wasn't going to get married," they claimed. Canceling the enormous wedding at the last minute would have been humiliating enough in itself, but for Maples, who desperately wanted to be Mrs. Trump, it was out of the question. After all, "Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America" includes a claim that Maples took a wedding dress with her wherever she went, lest her fiance want to get hitched immediately. 

It's no surprise, then, that Maples decided to sign on the dotted line. Of course, as she said, she didn't believe Donald would stick by it in a few years' time — especially since they'd had conversations to the contrary. However, as she told the New York Post, "I was very young and very trusting ... I really believed everything he told me."

Marla Maples made no secret of the fact that she felt slighted by the ironclad prenup she was bullied into signing, but that's not to say she's held it against Donald Trump over the years. On the contrary, she's been very complimentary about everything he's given their daughter, Tiffany Trump. 

Back in 2016, Maples shared with People that while Tiffany didn't get a whole bunch of time with her father as a kid, "Her daddy is a good provider with education and such." That said, there's a chance she never doubted that to be the case. After all, while the prenup didn't exactly work out in Maples' favor, from the start, it had been said that Tiffany would be provided for. And, while not all the details are public, Vanity Fair has reported that she was guaranteed to receive $100,000 each month until she got a full-time job, or turned 21. 

It certainly seems as though Tiffany was both Maples and Donald's first priority, and more than 20 years after their split, that remains the case. After all, Donald and Maples appeared friendly at Tiffany's 2022 wedding. Maples might not have received a massive payout, but she seems to be at peace, and at the end of the day, that's priceless.