A Timeline Of Donald Trump's Three Marriages, Numerous Rumored Affairs, And Sexual Misconduct Allegations

Donald Trump has been married to or dating one of his three wives since the 1970s, with only a few breaks in between.Trump talks with his former wife, Ivana Trump, during the men's final at the US Open in 1997.

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Then a young real estate developer, he married his first wife, Ivana Trump, in 1977.Donald Trump and then-wife, Ivana Trump, pose outside the Federal Courthouse in New York in May 1988.

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Ivana is the mother of Donald Jr., Ivanka (whose actual name is Ivana Marie), and Eric Trump. Ivana also worked to develop the Trump Organization as vice president of interior design.Donald Trump Jr., Ivana Trump, Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump attend the 9th Annual Eric Trump Foundation Golf Invitational Auction & Dinner in 2015.

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Trump's reputation was tied to his "playboy" image, which came with rumors of affairs. According to one report, Trump tried to get Playboy magazine to run a "Girls of Trump" spread featuring his employees.This June 7, 1995, file photo shows Trump posing for photos above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange after taking his flagship Trump Plaza Casino public in New York City.

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"He even tried to get Playboy to do a spread called 'The Girls of Trump,' wooing his most shapely staffers, including a former beauty queen secretary, into posing for the magazine with a sliding scale of offers on everything from full nude to breast to 'wet-lip' shots," Wayne Barrett wrote in his 1991 book "Trump, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Deals, The Downfall, The Reinvention." 

Barrett continued: "It was all part of the rakish ethos of phony glamour that he consciously fostered, even to the extent of concealing from public view a very efficient secretary with a pimplish facial condition."

At least 26 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct, with allegations stretching back to the 1970s and running through 2016.E. Jean Carroll at her home in Warwick, NY in 2019.

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Several women have come forward with allegations of sexual assault or sexual impropriety against Trump in recent years.

Jessica Leeds told The New York Times in 2016 that Trump "grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt" when the pair were seated next to each other on a flight in the early 1980s, when Trump was married to Ivana.

"He was like an octopus," Leeds told The Times. "His hands were everywhere."

In 2019, columnist E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s. She's suing him for defamation and battery. The trial is scheduled to begin April 25.

Trump has denied the allegations against him.

Trump's marriage to Ivana fell apart when he began an affair with the model Marla Maples, which dominated the tabloids in the early 1990s.Model Marla Maples and real estate mogul Donald Trump ride the escalator down to a limo after attending a "Get Well Soon" party for boxer Mike Tyson at the Trump Plaza Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Sept. 23, 1990.

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

Ivana and Trump divorced in 1991, after months of headlines about Trump's affair with Maples.Donald Trump (right) watches as Marla Maples gets a kiss from Earl Sinclair of TV's "Dinosaurs" in 1992.

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"The children are all wrecks," Ivana told gossip columnist Liz Smith. "Ivanka now comes home from school crying, 'Mommy, does it mean I'm not going to be Ivanka Trump anymore?' Little Eric asks me, 'Is it true you are going away and not coming back?'"

Ivana died at the age of 73 in 2022.

Maples and Trump were married in 1993, soon after the birth of their daughter, Tiffany. In 1997, the pair announced plans to divorce.Marla Maples (left), and Donald Trump (right) with their family at the US Tennis Open championships in New York in 1994.

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Trump wasn't single for long. In 1998, he met model Melania Knauss. The pair married in January 2005.Trump and then-girlfriend Melania Knauss leave Hollinger International's annual meeting at the Metropolitan Club in New York on May 22, 2003.

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Melania and Trump dated on and off in the years before they got married.

In September 2005, Trump was caught on tape telling "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush that he was able to "grab" women "by the p---y" because "when you're a star they let you do it."

NBC

The tape was published by the Washington Post just before the 2016 presidential election, at which time Trump called his commentary "locker room banter."

Melania gave birth to the couple's only son, Barron, in March 2006.Donald Trump and Melania Knauss pose for photographers as they arrive for the Entertainment Industry Foundation's National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance evening on board the Queen Mary 2, Saturday, April 24, 2004 in New York.

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Adult film star Stormy Daniels alleged that she and Trump had a sexual encounter just four months later, in July 2006.Stormy Daniels attends a signing for comedian Dane Cook's CD/DVD "Retaliation" at Tower Records on July 27, 2005 in Hollywood, California.

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In January 2018, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, had facilitated a $130,000 payment to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, shortly before the 2016 election.

In August 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight federal crimes, including making an illegal campaign contribution on the same day he facilitated the payment to Daniels.

Fast-forward five years, and a New York grand jury has voted to indict Trump, capping the Manhattan district attorney's office yearslong investigation into Trump's personal and business finances. The charges are likely linked to the $130,000 payment to Daniels.

Trump continues to deny having ever had an affair with Daniels.

Playboy model Karen McDougal alleged that she started an affair with Trump even closer to the birth of Barron in June 2006.Trump reportedly met McDougal at the Playboy Mansion while filming an episode of “The Apprentice."

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In February 2018, The New Yorker published an investigation into McDougal's alleged affair, which she said continued for months.

American Media, a media company that owns the National Enquirer and has close ties to Trump, bought the exclusive rights to McDougal's story, The Wall Street Journal reported in 2016.

But the company didn't run any pieces on the story — something The New Yorker noted was a tactic some media outlets commonly used to kill a story.

The White House claimed the incidents the document outlined did not happen, with a spokesperson telling The New Yorker, "The President says he never had a relationship with McDougal."

A number of women have also alleged that Trump sexually harassed or assaulted them during his relationship and marriage to Melania.Summer Zervos.

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In 2016, People's Natasha Stoynoff alleged that Trump pushed her against a wall and "shoved" his tongue "down her throat" when she went to Mar-a-Lago to interview him and the very-pregnant Melania in December 2005.

Miss USA and Miss Universe contestants said that Trump harassed and assaulted them in 2006, inspecting them before the pageants and grabbing them without consent.

Summer Zervos, a former contestant on "The Apprentice," said Trump "very aggressively" kissed her, groped her breasts, and began "thrusting" his genitals at her in a 2007 meeting at The Beverly Hills Hotel.

Trump has denied all of these allegations.

Melania has stayed by Trump's side throughout the repeated allegations that he cheated on her throughout their relationship, including when she was pregnant and soon after Barron's birth.Trump tries to quiet his son Barron while Melania holds Barron during the men's finals championship match at the US Open in 2008.

AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File

When she was first lady, Melania seemed to disappear from public view when Trump's alleged affairs made headlines.

AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

In February 2018, she eschewed the traditional walk with the president across the White House's South Lawn to Marine One after The New Yorker published its report on the McDougal affair.

Melania also largely disappeared from public engagements with her husband after the Daniels news broke in January 2018.

When a New York grand jury made history in voting to indict Trump in March 2023, Daniels offered a two-word response to the news.Stormy Daniels arrives for the 49th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2007, in Los Angeles.

Matt Sayles/AP

She quote-tweeted a Twitter user arguing that Trump's indictment should not be cause for celebration but should instead be allowed to play out in the justice system.

"Thank you," Daniels wrote.

In a Truth Social post after the news broke, Trump called his indictment "AN ATTACK ON OUR COUNTRY THE LIKES OF WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE."Former President Donald Trump and Melania Trump, right, were photographed at Mar-a-Lago, pictured left, on March 30, 2023, shortly after the news of his indictment broke.

Getty Images/ Gina Loudon/ Insider

While he raged about the indictment online, guests at Trump's private Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida said they saw him and Melania "smiling and greeting guests."

The former president surrendered to the Manhattan district attorney's office.

When asked if Trump plans to fight the case all the way to trial, Trump attorney Joe Tacopina said, "For sure, if it's not dismissed beforehand."

On Tuesday, April 4, 2023, Trump surrendered into the custody of the Manhattan district attorney's office.Former US President Donald Trump waves as he arrives at the Manhattan Criminal Court on April 4, 2023.

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Trump remained under arrest until mid-afternoon, and then entered a plea of "not guilty."

 

Trump's trial in Manhattan federal court began Monday, April 15, 2024.Trump appears during a court hearing on charges of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star before the 2016 election, in New York on February 15, 2024.

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Stormy Daniels took the stand on May 7, 2024, and said she was scared and ashamed after her night with Trump in 2006.A courtroom sketch of Stormy Daniels being questioned by assistant district attorney Susan Hoffinger as former President Donald Trump and defense attorney Todd Blanche look on.

Elizabeth Williams/Associated Press

In her testimony, Daniels described meeting Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in July 2006. She said she accepted a dinner invitation from Trump and went to his hotel suite.

Daniels testified that Trump's wife, Melania, came up in the conversation but that Trump said, "'Oh, don't worry about that. We don't even sleep in the same room."

She said that after they had sex she quickly left and was ashamed.

Daniels said she and Trump kept in touch, testifying he would call her and that they occasionally met in person. She said at one meeting in Los Angeles he introduced her to his "friend" Karen, who she later learned was Playboy model Karen McDougal, who has also alleged she had an affair with Trump.

Trump has maintained he did not have an affair with Daniels or McDougal.

Editor's note: This story was first published in March 2018 and has been updated to reflect recent developments.