Photo Illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images
Former actress and model Marla Maples missed out on her chance to be MAGA’s first lady by about 26 years when she divorced President Donald Trump in 1999 after just six years of marriage. But that hasn’t stopped Maples, 61, who shares daughter Tiffany with Trump, from playing the part.
With First Lady Melania Trump habitually missing in action during events—and appearing habitually aloof when she is present—Maples has seemingly cultivated a role of her own as a Mar-a-Lago mainstay and one of the most public-facing cheerleaders of her ex-husband’s administration.
“Here comes the light” Maples captioned a clip from Trump’s inauguration ceremony on X, in which she appeared to zoom in on daughter Tiffany like a proud mama.
In another X post from the night before, Maples shared a photo from a night of rubbing elbows “with friends” like Cheryl Hines and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Rather than gunning to replace Melania as first lady, Maples appears to be just making the most of her association to Trump to bask in the attention—and cash in.
Once an actress and model, Maples became Mrs. Trump in 1993, two months after the birth of their daughter Tiffany. Maples met Trump during a tennis match in 1985 while he was still married to first wife, Ivana, reported People. Yet that didn’t stop them from having a child together, Tiffany, before finally sealing the deal with marriage in 1993.
Although Trump was having an affair with Maples, she said she didn’t feel like a “mistress” on the ABC News podcast, Journeys of Faith with Paula Faris in 2018.
“Every step of the way, I was praying, ‘God, please be in this. Please be in this. I do not want to be part of breaking anything up that has a chance,’” Maples said.
She has since leaned into her Christian faith to advocate for spirituality, wellness, and to lobby for RFK Jr.’s health beliefs as a booster of Global Wellness Forum.
Maples is named as a co-founder of the organization, which touts its mission to “unite and empower grassroots organizations, leaders, and activists worldwide to promote health, sovereignty, truth, and transparency.”
But upon closer inspection, Maples co-founder Douglas Sayer Ji’s anti-vaccination beliefs and history of promoting COVID-19 disinformation are similarly aligned with RFK Jr.
In a selfie taken from Mar-a-Lago and posted on Instagram, the alternative medicine guru declared of Maples and Florida Republican State Sen. Ileana Garcia: “Some superheroes don’t wear masks. Follow these two amazing women — Senator Ileana Garcia and Marla Maples — and watch some beautiful timelines unfold from Florida.”
Maples, for her part, has openly celebrated the ascension of RFK Jr. and his “Make America Healthy Again” movement.
“So grateful that our hearts and souls, and our prayers have come together for a time like this!” wrote Maples in an X post celebrating RFK Jr.’s confirmation.
“I have to support America’s health, our children’s health… We suffered [for] so long with what they’re putting in our food supply without having consent on what we’re getting medically,” said Maples during RFK Jr.’s Senate confirmation hearing in January, reported the New York Post.
And now that RFK Jr. has been confirmed as secretary of Health and Human Services, Maples has seemingly again latched herself to the right man at the right time.
