Marla Maples breaks her silence on what it's like to be Donald Trump's ex-wife

(Image credit: BOB STRONG/AFP/Getty Images)

last updated 22 September 2016

Donald Trump's second ex-wife, Marla Maples, has been famously tight-lipped on her thoughts about her billionaire ex-husband and his run for president. Despite being quoted in the London-based Telegraph in 1999 as saying, "If he is really serious about being president ... I will feel it is my duty as an American citizen to tell the people what he is really like," Maples and her daughter, Tiffany Trump, have mostly kept to themselves this election season. (Maples, for her part, denies giving the quote to The Telegraph.)

Maples says she keeps mostly mum about Trump so as not to come between her daughter and her daughter's father — but she also, more obliquely, references a possible non-disclosure agreement. But Maples finally spoke out in an interview with The Daily Beast — and while she doesn't necessarily criticize her ex, she certainly talks around him:

"I have always been more liberal," she said, "and I believe in gay and lesbian rights and I believe everyone on this planet has a right to choice. So, I just don't feel it's productive for me to go judging another person's choices. I think it's important for all of us to speak about what is important for us. I think — I even saw them advising Hillary today that she shouldn't go out attacking — like some of the other candidates did — that she should really stick with her own strengths, and I kind of take that to heart.""There's just issues that I was born caring about that may be a little different than what we're seeing take — how can I say that?"She paused."We're seeing issues come to the forefront, for sure. Um, I just believe we have to have positive dialogue and understanding." [The Daily Beast]

Again taking special care about her choice of words, Maples added that she is teaching daughter Tiffany how to stand up for what she believes in and make herself heard if her father indeed finds himself as commander in chief next year. "If her father ends up being [in the White House], I'm gonna make sure she's really prepared with the issues that are important to her and have been important to me as a mom in raising her, that she will be an active part in pushing these things through," Maples said. Read the entire interview at The Daily Beast.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.