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Marla Maples on Donald Trump Divorce: We Didn’t Bring Out the Best in Each Other

They didn’t exactly see eye to eye. Donald Trump’s second ex-wife, Marla Maples, spoke about her failed marriage with the GOP presidential frontrunner and explained what exactly went wrong in their relationship back in the ‘90s in a new interview with Access Hollywood.

“Well, he and I … were so different, as you could probably imagine,” the latest Dancing With the Stars castoff, 52, reflected to Billy Bush and Kit Hoover. “He came with his positive ability to see the world, make money, get out there.” Maples, meanwhile, was an aspiring actress from Georgia who fell immediately for the real estate mogul while he was still married to his first wife, Ivana Trump.

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“I think you always hope in a marriage that you can bring the best out in each other,” Maples mused. “But after many years, we realized we weren’t. And then, you have to move on. You know girls when we’re in our twenties. We want to change the men we’re with, we think that love is going to make them a little softer, and you think, ‘I will learn how to speak out stronger for what I believe in.’ Because I’m a Southern girl and I often just smile and keep on going. But I have my own thoughts and my own views, and it’s time now to express them.”

Related: PHOTOS: Southern Superstars

Marla Maples
Marla Maples

Trump’s high-profile affair with Maples ultimately ended his 15-year marriage to Ivana in 1992. He and Maples were subsequently married from 1993 to 1999, and currently coparent their 22-year-old daughter, Tiffany. Despite the rocky ending, the romance began like a fairy tale, she said.

“I just think the first moment I met him, I had a sense like I had known him before,” she told Access Hollywood. “It was much deeper than just whatever you might feel. We had a sense of like, if you believe in past lives or you don’t, it was as if we did known each other. It was oddly like family.” 

Donald Trump and Marla Maples during a Dinner Dance Benefit for the Make A Wish Foundation at the Plaza Hotel in New York City.
Donald Trump and Marla Maples during a Dinner Dance Benefit for the Make A Wish Foundation at the Plaza Hotel in New York City.

She was also exposed to a side of Trump that most people (especially now) are not accustomed to: sensitivity. “I saw a vulnerable man, and I like vulnerability in people. I like when you have the ability to visualize and manifest … ” Maples said before apologizing to her ex. “Sorry, Donald, if I’m saying you’re vulnerable at the time, but you know, he knows how to get what he wants.”

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Maples also squashed rumors about being paid off by Trump to remain silent about their marriage. “The truth is there’s a lot of misconceptions. I walked away a multimillionaire. No way!” she said. “You saw me working my butt, throughout school … I like working, but nothing really comes for free. There’s been folks that think he’s been paying me not to speak. Absolutely not true! He’s the father of my child. I do not want to speak negatively about him. But do we agree on everything? Absolutely not. We would still be married if we did.”

Maples and her dancing partner, Tony Dovolani, were booted off DWTS this past Monday, April 11. Watch her sit-down above.

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