Hamptons-bound Marla Maples Opens Up About Fashion, Meeting Trump and Living Without Regrets

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Her marriage to Donald Trump lasted six years, but they remain linked through their daughter Tiffany and in the media.

With U.S. President Donald Trump continuing to dominate much of the global news coverage, members of his extended family are constantly in the spotlight — and his second wife Marla Maples is no exception.

Despite having only been married to Trump between 1993 and 1999, the Georgia-born former model and actress is perennially linked to him. Nearing the end of a weeks-long European trip with their daughter Tiffany earlier this week, Maples spoke with WWD about her current ventures, her prioritization of family life and her ex-husband.

“The most important thing is to always maintain a friendship if your marriage doesn’t work. You really want to do whatever it takes…especially when there are children. It’s so important for health and healing, not just for ourselves but also for our children and other generations,” she said.

A self-described “treehugger” and wellness advocate, she devotes much of her time to the Marla Maples Foundation and the Global Wellness Forum, which she cofounded. On Friday evening, Maples will cohost a shopping event at Alice + Olivia’s store in Southampton, N.Y., with some of the proceeds benefiting the Global Wellness Forum. On Saturday, the 62-year-old will participate in “A Day of Wellness & Meaningful Conversations” in Montauk.

Maples has spent the past few weeks in the U.K., Italy and Spain vacationing with Tiffany, her husband Michael Boulos and their 15-month-old son Alexander. She also entertained future business prospects, taking a meeting with with wellness technology company L-Nutra and others about environmentalism legislative proposals.

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While many are diving into the $6.8 trillion global wellness market, Maples first started “digging into food as medicine” as a teenager trying to clear up skin issues. A trial-by-error elimination diet led her to ditch milk and pasteurized dairy products. More recently, Maples has publicly supported the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative, which is led by U.S. Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is a friend of hers.

Her mother played basketball growing up, as did her father, Stanley, who had an athletic and music scholarship to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Ann Maples started modeling in her 50s, due to the increased interest in wellness and fitness among her contemporaries. Maples said her mother appeared on a Ladies Home Journal cover and “sometimes they would shoot her at resorts, being the lovely lady having coffee.”

Maples added, “Even my former husband used to say that she was the most beautiful woman in the world. He would say, ‘If it weren’t for you, I would have married her.'”

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Beauty pageants were not something that Maples enjoyed, despite having been a former Miss Georgia runner-up, she said. “I just got talked into it because I was young. To be honest, I was more interested in fitness and sports, especially basketball,” she said. “We even made it to the state championships two years in high school.”

But pageants “were good” to Maples on other levels. Competing in pageants allowed her to put aside a little money for her studies.

“Girls need to be cautious about remembering who they are. I always say to not get too caught up with the physical. And always watch who is around you to make sure that you are protected and guided properly,” she said.

As for whether Maples offers her daughter advice about the media’s glare, Maples said, “She’s a very wise girl on her own. I’ve always raised her with a lot of unconditional love, beautiful friendships and nice communities.”

Maples was 20, while Trump was 38, when they met in the mid-1980s. “We weren’t in a relationship then, but we met very young. I probably don’t want to go so much into the details,” Maples said. “We just kept running into each other. I think five times — a charity event, a tennis match, someone, who I knew, who was doing business with him….It was just one of those things. Then we saw each other walking down Madison Avenue. He said, ‘I know you.’ And I said, ‘Yes, you do Mr. Trump.’ Sometimes, destiny, you just can’t run from.”

Trump and his first wife Ivana divorced in 1992 . She and Maples famously crossed paths and clashed in December of 1989, during a Trump family vacation at an Aspen ski resort. That showdown and the subsequent divorce proceedings and Ivana’s reported $14 million settlement — which would be worth $33.2 million today — sparked a tabloid feeding frenzy. In October 1993, Trump’s and Maples’ daughter Tiffany was born, and the couple wed two months later at The Plaza hotel with 1,000 guests.

Citing “the challenges that you go through, especially with the media, the relationship evolves and there’s a lot of ups and downs. And you find your way back around. I think again it’s so important that you can surround yourself with people, who you can trust and who can help you through tough times,” Maples said.

She recalled the “very emotional time” that she and Trump experienced after three friends were killed in a helicopter crash. In 1989, executives from Trump’s Atlantc City, N.J., casino — Stephen Hyde, Mark Grossinger Etess and Jonathan Benana — lost their lives. Maples said, “We all go through tragedies in life. You learn that you have to live every second the best that you can.”

All in all, Maples said she doesn’t look at life as regretful. “Years ago, one of my pastors used to talk about turning your obstacles into arrows. Whatever the challenge is, they are all stepping stones to walk on.”

Although Maples favors Alice + Olivia suits for speaking engagements such as a recent one at the Milken Institute and has met the label’s founder Stacey Bendet, she said Donald Trump Jr.’s second wife Bettina is friendlier with the fashion founder.

Having been friendly with Vera Wang, Carolina Herrera and other top designers “back in the day,” Maples said, “They were very kind to dress me. Remember, I was from a small town and suddenly I was in this world, where I had to do my very best to fit in.”

Her current favorites include Brunello Cucinelli , Ralph Lauren, Valentino and Gabriela Hearst . Maples also singled out Elie Saab, who designed her daughter’s wedding gown, as well as a one-shoulder lavender gown that Maples wore that day. Planning to catch up on all of the fall trends in the next few weeks, Maples said she may attend Zang Toi’s New York Fashion Week show. “Comfort is so key to me especially at this point in my life. I don’t want to dress for what everybody else expects. I want to wear something comfortable and stylish. I’m so focused on wellness, spirituality and being a grandmother,” she said.

“My daughter is much more into fashion than I am. I am a bit more sporty, tailored and just easy. I’m not a big fan of flowery patterns,” she said. “I just love something that accentuates your gifts without making people look at your dress more than you. I want people to make eye contact with me, right?”

Veronica Beard , Zimmermann, Reformation and Revolve are other favorite resources for Maples. As for President Trump’s style, Maples said, “It hasn’t changed too much, has it? He’s always been focused on power and standing in strength. That’s why there’s the blue suit, which used to be Brioni, when we were married. And the red tie was a sign of power.”

Pilates, weight training, naturing, racquet sports, morning sunlit meditations and breath work are part of her regime. As for wellness and beauty edicts, she said, “Smile is the most important thing with wellness and beauty. You have to start off on the inside. When you walk in a room with joy and you carry that presence, it automatically makes you look younger,” she said. “It’s an energy field and vibrancy that people pick up on.”

Living in the present allows Maples “to know” that she is “able to be in control. That’s something that people lose sight of. When you can live in the moment, you just glow with light. It’s much better,” she said. “That doesn’t mean I don’t work hard or have goals. I want to raise money for the two foundations to help people. I get calls everyday from people, who I wish I could help. I’m really praying about that.”

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