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Claims that Marla Maples, ex-wife of US President Donald Trump, once warned the teenager’s mother to keep her daughter away from Trump are unsubstantiated.
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The rumor stems from a December 2025 New York Times report based on Sandra Coleman’s recollection of an alleged interaction with Maples at a Mar-a-Lago party in 1994.
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Currently available evidence shows that the New York Times article attributed the quote to Maples, but Maples declined to make the statement and no independently verified documents have emerged to confirm the exchange.
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Snopes will update this report if, or when, additional information surfaces. We have reached out to Marla Maples, The New York Times and the White House for comment and await responses.
In April 2026, social media users circulated a quote attributed to Marla Maples, the ex-wife of US President Donald Trump, amid renewed attention to Trump’s past relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. According to the claim, Maples once warned the teenager’s mother, “Whatever you do, don’t put her around these men, especially my husband. Protect her.”
An Instagram post purportedly spreading the quote read:
The 1994 Ma-Lago party was allegedly attended by Tina Davis, a 14-year-old Ford model, with her mother, Sandra Coleman. According to reports, Coleman said Donald Trump’s then-wife Marla Maples pulled her aside and warned: “Whatever you do, don’t put her around these men, especially my husband. Protect her.” Maples has publicly distanced herself from that quote, not only because she signed an NDA, but also because of longstanding reports of domestic violence allegations against Trump, which likely made her wary of speaking out or criticizing him.
(Instagram user @peanutbutter.sandcastle)
The alleged quote spread across multiple social media platforms including Instagram, X and Facebook.
In short, that quote appears in at least one reputable news report. In a December 18, 2025, New York Times article, Sandra Coleman recalled attending a Mar-a-Lago party with her daughter in 1994. According to Coleman’s account, she and her daughter encountered Maples “during a trip to the bathroom” at the event. The Times wrote: “Ms. Maples grabbed his hand, Ms. Coleman recalled, and looked him in the eye. ‘Whatever you do, don’t put him around these men, and especially my husband,’ she told Ms. Coleman. ‘Save him.’
However, Maples denied this. In the same Times report, Maples said, “I will always defend young women in any way I can, but I’m sure I’m not specifically talking about my daughter’s father.”
The quote was therefore not invented by social media users or traced to an anonymous meme account, but came from a named source quoted in a major newspaper. At the same time, Snopes relies on primary evidence whenever possible, and in this case there are no publicly available recordings, transcripts, contemporaneous notes or other documents that independently prove that the conversation took place as Coleman described it.
Because the account comes from the recollection of one source and because Maples specifically disputed the quote, the claim cannot be evaluated based on authentic or currently available evidence.
If Snopes were to obtain direct documentation of the conversation or hearsay from key sources with independently verified evidence, the claim could potentially be evaluated more definitively. For now, the evidence only supports the narrow conclusion that a reputable outlet reported the quote as an allegation, but Maples disputes that.
Snopes reached out to Maples, The New York Times and the White House Press Office for comment. We will update this report if we receive feedback or if more information surfaces.
Sources:
Confessor, Nicholas and Julie Tate. “‘Don’s Best Friend'”: How Epstein and Trump Bonded in Search of Women The New York Times18 Dec. 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/us/jeffrey-epstein-donald-trump.html.
