Donald Trump’s second marriage to Marla Maples was short-lived, but it remains one of the most talked-about chapters of his personal life. After their divorce, Maples stepped away from the constant media attention and focused largely on raising their daughter, Tiffany Trump. Today, her life looks very different from the glamorous, headline-filled years she once shared with Trump.
Marla Maples was born on October 27, 1963, in Cohutta, Georgia. She has often described her childhood as almost “storybook-perfect,” growing up in a small-town environment where she received attention for both her beauty and outgoing personality.
In high school, Maples was elected homecoming queen and was also active in sports. She later enrolled at the University of Georgia to study marketing, but after around two and a half years, she decided to leave school and pursue a different path.
That path eventually led her to New York City, where her life changed dramatically.
While Maples was trying to build a career in New York, Donald Trump’s marriage to Ivana Trump was already facing serious trouble. Maples later said she first met Trump in 1985, and the two felt an instant connection. However, she also admitted the timing was complicated.
For a while, they mostly spoke by phone and avoided public meetings. Still, Maples later told New York magazine that by 1988, her feelings had become clear.
“By ’88, I knew I truly loved this guy,” Maples said.
As the years went on, Marla and Donald crossed paths several times. Eventually, Ivana Trump became aware that something was happening. Maples claimed she had believed there was a plan for Donald’s marriage to end, but she tried to stay out of the public drama.
That changed when Page Six published her name and photograph. In a later interview, Maples recalled a tense encounter with Ivana in Colorado.
“When we saw each other in Colorado, Ivana and I, it was just a moment of both of us wanting to know the truth,” Maples said.
She added that while the truth coming out was important, it also brought pain.
“I realized that we had both been deceived,” she said.
Marla Maples and Donald Trump eventually became a couple and married in 1993. That same year, they welcomed their daughter, Tiffany Trump. However, the marriage did not last. The couple divorced in 1999.
Speaking to Access Hollywood years later, Maples said their differences eventually became too big to ignore.
“He and I were so different, as you could probably imagine,” she said.
Before their marriage, Maples signed a prenuptial agreement. According to reports, the deal was strict. Vanity Fair claimed Maples had wanted $25 million, while Trump reportedly agreed to pay $1 million if they separated within five years, plus another $1 million for a home.
After the divorce, Maples largely left the spotlight. She moved to Los Angeles with Tiffany and focused on giving her daughter a more grounded life. In Calabasas, California, she tried to create a quieter lifestyle, inspired partly by her own rural Georgia upbringing.
She cooked organic meals, spent evenings at home, and enjoyed simple routines with Tiffany.
“We loved going to the movies together. That was our big night out,” Maples told People in 2016.
Tiffany also praised her mother for giving her stability.
“She gave me the chance to have a normal childhood,” Tiffany said.
Although Maples raised Tiffany mostly on the West Coast, she said she still wanted her daughter to have a relationship with Donald Trump. She brought Tiffany to New York a few times a year so she could spend time with her father.
Over the years, Maples also appeared in movies and television shows, including Dallas, Clueless, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. She worked in entertainment, journalism, music, and wellness. In 2013, she released an album titled The Endless, and in 2016, she competed on Dancing with the Stars.
Today, Marla Maples continues to focus heavily on health, spirituality, yoga, and personal growth. She shares parts of her wellness lifestyle on social media and has also developed SoulShine Journeys, a spiritual travel project centered on reflection, healing, and renewal.
Now in her sixties, Maples has also embraced a new role: grandmother. Her daughter Tiffany and husband Michael Boulos welcomed their son, Alexander Trump Boulos, on May 15, 2025.
Maples celebrated the moment with joy and gave herself the sweet nickname “Gran Mar Mar.”
“No greater joy in the world,” she wrote.
After years of public attention, divorce, motherhood, reinvention, and wellness work, Marla Maples appears to have built a life focused less on fame and more on family, health, and personal peace.
