Few people throughout history have gotten to include “The” before their name. The Queen of England was bequeathed her title, the King of Pop earned his, and the The Donald got his from his first divorce.
As much as we’d love to believe it originated from an order barked into his desktop intercom, it's actually a “term of endearment” from Trump’s first (of three) wives.
The Donald and Ivana Zelnickova - Married April 7, 1977
Trump met Ivana, a Czechoslovakian model, while she was promoting the Olympic games. After a few years of dating, her accent persisted and English articles continued to be difficult to master. In an interview with Spy magazine in 1989, Ivana offhandedly commented that she often included ‘the’ before her husband’s name.
The result was a nickname that fit like a gold brocade glove.
But long before the 2016 election, tabloids were covering every ounce of Trump family drama they could, as rumors swirled about The Donald running out on Ivana with a beauty pageant winner.
Proof of Trump’s mistress finally came to light when Ivana publicly confronted the “other women” on the slopes in Aspen. Marla Maples, the pageant winner, had followed the family to a holiday getaway, and one publication even went so far as to recount the two women fighting about their conspicuously matching ski suits.
True or not, it sounds ripe for an 80s ski movie throwback.
Ivana filed for divorce and full custody of their three children. The Donald agreed, and settled with $14 million in cash, plus $650,000 per year in alimony and child support.
Oh. And their Greenwich, Connecticut mansion…
And an apartment in Trump plaza…
And one month a year in the Mar-a-Lago mansion...
All that was after Ivana lost a legal challenge to their prenuptial agreement, alleging she was owed more.
But despite Ivana being granted an uncontested divorce settlement based on “cruel and inhuman” treatment, The Donald sued her for violating a clause in their divorce agreement that forbade Ivana from discussing facts about him in her book.
The Donald and Marla Maples - Married December 20, 1993
Unfortunately, the President’s second marriage ended with a legal separation after a four-year term, and a finalized divorce in 1999.
The brevity of their nuptials wasn’t just sad because mistresses across the nation were hoping to improve their unsavory reputation. It also affected the size of The Donald’s divorce settlement.
Their prenuptial agreement stipulated that if they didn’t make it to five years, The Donald would have a significantly lower financial obligation to Marla.
Because, as our President elaborated in his book Trump: The Art of the Comeback:
“There are basically three types of women and reactions. One is the good woman who very much loves her future husband...but refuses to sign the agreement on principle. I fully understand this, but the man should take a pass anyway and find someone else. The other is the calculating woman who refuses to sign the prenuptial agreement because she is expecting to take advantage of the poor, unsuspecting sucker she’s got in her grasp. There is also the woman who will openly and quickly sign a prenuptial agreement in order to make a quick hit and take the money given to her.”
The attorneys at Buckingham, LaGrandeur & Williams advise against this philosophy for couples in Renton. Or...anywhere.
Marla certainly didn’t agree with her husband’s outlook. Mrs. Trump #2 contested her $2 million settlement in court, alleging she was forced to sign under duress.
She lost the case, and Trump paid $25,000 per month to Marla to raise their daughter, Tiffany, until her 21st birthday -- just eight months before he kicked off his campaign for the 2016 presidency.
The Donald and Melania Knauss - January 22, 2005
So here we are, almost forty years since The Donald’s first marriage, and praying the third time’s the charm.
Trump and the eventual 45th First Lady started dating in 1998, one year before his divorce to Marla Maples was finalized.
As we’ve discussed before, divorce settlements and custody battles have a lot to do with the standard of living set for children and spouses before the divorce. Needless to say, a White House divorce would be about as garish as a gold-carpeted Oval Office.
Marriage often involves an exchange of names, but rarely do those names last beyond the length of your marriage. Somehow, The Donald has managed to keep his through thick and thin.
We may not be able to help you to monetize your ex’s terms of endearment, but we can promise you the best legal representation Washington has to offer.