Marla Maples

In 1991, Maples appeared as a celebrity guest at WWF WrestleMania VII, serving as special guest timekeeper in the main event match between Hulk Hogan and defending WWF Champion Sgt. Slaughter. In that year, Maples also made a special appearance in the hit television series Designing Women as herself. In August 1992, Maples joined the cast of the Tony Award winning Broadway musical The Will Rogers Follies as "Ziegfeld's Favorite", a role originated by Cady Huffman when the show opened in May 1991.[13][14]

In 1994, Maples appeared alongside then husband Donald Trump in a cameo appearance in an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air[15] and the television series, Something Wilder, in 1994.

Maples co-hosted the 1996 and 1997 Miss Universe Pageant and the 1997 Miss USA Pageant.[16]

Maples appeared in the films Maximum Overdrive (1986), Executive Decision (1996), For Richer or Poorer (1997), Happiness (1998), Richie Rich's Christmas Wish (1998), Black and White (1999), Two of Hearts (1999), Loving Annabelle (2006), A Christmas Too Many (2007), and A Nanny for Christmas (2010).

In 2011, she returned to New York for Love, Loss and What I Wore, an off-Broadway production.[17] In 2013, Maples was featured on Oprah: Where Are They Now?[18]

Since then, she appeared in Switching Lanes, directed by Thomas Mikal Ford.[19][20]

On March 8, 2016, Maples was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete on season 22 of Dancing with the Stars alongside her Switching Lanes co-star, Kim Fields.[21] She was partnered with professional dancer Tony Dovolani.[22] Maples and Dovolani were eliminated on Week 4 of competition and finished in 10th place. Maples also joined the women of ABC's morning talk show, The View, as a guest co-host on March 11, 2016.[23]

Maples is a keynote speaker with the London Speakers Bureau, focusing on inspiring women, wellness, spirituality, and motivation.[24]

Maples was featured in the Summer of Peace Summit 2018 with the opportunity to discuss topics of peace and finding common ground.[25]

Maples spoke at the 2018 Global Summit on Science, Spirituality, and Environment in India; the event brought together speakers from around the world to discuss the integration of science and spirituality, as well as self-transformation and world-transformation.[26]

Maples was also a guest speaker on the Journeys of Faith podcast with Paula Faris in 2018.[27]

Maples hosted her own talk radio show, Awakening with Marla, on Contact Talk Radio; her guests included naturopathic doctors, authors, and astrologers.[28] Maples' album The Endless, released in August 2013, is a musical journey of spiritual awakening and transformational energy, featuring thought leaders such as the Dalai Lama, Michael Beckwith, and Deepak Chopra. In December 2012, Maples won a "Hollywood Music in Media Award" for best New Age/Ambient song, for "House of Love", from that album.[29][30]

In 1990, Maples starred in an advertising campaign for No Excuses jeans.[31] In 1993, she designed a line of maternity clothes, sold in several major department stores.[32] In January 2000, a memoir by Maples, All That Glitters Is Not Gold, was announced by the ReganBooks division of HarperCollins Publishers. In February 2002, a spokeswoman for the publishing company said, "The author and publisher by mutual consent have agreed not to publish the book."[33]

Maples also makes personalized videos through the website Cameo.[34]

Maples is best known for her marriage to Donald Trump, beginning with a relationship initiated while Trump was married to his first wife, Ivana; the two divorced in December 1991.[38] Maples met Trump in 1989 and had a highly publicized relationship[39] with at least one breakup.[40] Trump appeared on the front page of the New York Post eight days in a row; one headline reported that, according to Maples, she had the "best sex I've ever had" with Trump.[41][42][43] The couple had one daughter, Tiffany Trump, born on October 13, 1993.[44]

According to Maples, the 1993 Long Island Rail Road shooting, on December 7, caused Trump to reevaluate his life and propose to her.[45] The couple married on December 20, 1993, at New York City's Plaza Hotel, in a ceremony reportedly attended by 1,000 guests, including Rosie O'Donnell and O. J. Simpson.[46]

In 1996, Trump fired his bodyguard Spencer Wagner after a police officer found Maples and the bodyguard together under a lifeguard stand on a deserted beach at 4:00 a.m.[47] Both Maples and Trump denied that she was having an affair, despite reports in the National Enquirer and other tabloids; the bodyguard himself told conflicting stories about the incident.[47][44] Maples and Trump separated in May 1997[48] and divorced on June 8, 1999.[33] Under the terms of their prenuptial agreement and divorce settlement, Maples is bound by a confidentiality agreement regarding their marriage.[33][44]

Maples is an advocate of health and wellness. Her daughter Tiffany Trump has described Maples making her healthy homemade chocolate in Trump Tower; meanwhile her father would sneak her downstairs to the candy store to buy her Almond Joys.[49] Maples describes herself as a "mostly-vegan" who avoids dairy, eats organic, and chooses to be gluten free.[50][51] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Maples used her social media platforms to promote treatments that have not been proven effective, such as vitamin C drips. She also joined Children's Health Defense's Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in amplifying discredited conspiracy theories about the disease.[52][53]