Breaking down claim Trump’s ex-wife Marla Maples once warned mom to keep teen daughter away from Trump

• The claim that US President Donald Trump’s ex-wife Marla Maples once warned the mother of a young girl to keep her daughter away from Trump has not been proven.

• The rumor stems from a December 2025 New York Times report based on Sandra Coleman’s memories of an alleged interaction with Maples at a 1994 Mar-a-Lago party.

• Currently available evidence indicates that the quote was attributed to Maples in a New York Times article, but Maples denied this explanation and no independently verifiable documentation has emerged to confirm the exchange.

• Snopes will update this report if and when additional information becomes available. We have reached out to Marla Maples, The New York Times, and the White House for comment and are awaiting responses.

In April 2026, social media users spread a quote attributed to Marla Maples, the ex-wife of US President Donald Trump, as renewed attention was drawn to Trump’s past relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Maples allegedly once warned the mother of a young girl, “Whatever you do, don’t leave her around any of these men, especially my husband. Protect her.”

An Instagram to mail Spreading the quote he allegedly read:

The 1994 Mar‑a‑Lago party reportedly included then-14-year-old Ford model Tina Davis, who attended with her mother, Sandra Coleman. According to reports, Coleman said that Donald Trump’s then-wife, Marla Maples, pulled him aside and warned him: “Whatever you do, do not let her near any of these men, especially my husband. Protect him.” Maples has publicly distanced herself from the quote, not only because she signed an NDA, but also because she has long-standing domestic violence allegations against Trump; This probably made her wary of speaking out or appearing to criticize him.

(Instagram user @peanutbutter.sandcastle)

pseudo quote radiate on many social media platforms including instagram, X And Facebook.

In short, this quote appears in at least one reputable news article. One December 18, 2025, New York Times articleSandra Coleman recalled attending a Mar-a-Lago party with her daughter in 1994. According to Coleman’s account, she and her daughter encountered Maples “while they were going to the bathroom” at the event. The Times wrote: “Mrs. Coleman remembered Mrs. Maples clasping her hands and looking into her eyes. ‘Whatever you do, don’t let her near any of these men, especially my husband,’ she told Mrs. Coleman. ‘Protect her.'”

However, Maples denied saying this. In the same Times report, Maples said, “I would always protect young women in any way I could, but I’m sure I didn’t specifically say that about my daughter’s father.”

So the quote wasn’t invented by social media users or based on an anonymous meme account; A quoted source was quoted in a major newspaper. At the same time, Snopes relies on primary evidence wherever possible, and in this case, there is no public record, transcript, contemporaneous note, or other document that independently proves that the conversation occurred exactly as Coleman describes it.

Because the account comes from the memoirs of a single source and Maples specifically disputes the quotation, the veracity of the claim cannot be assessed based on the available evidence.

If Snopes obtains direct documentation of the conversation or obtains information from key sources with independently verifiable evidence, the claim could potentially be rated more definitively. For now, the evidence only supports the narrow conclusion that a reputable source reported the quote as an allegation, but Maples disputed this.

Snopes has reached out to Maples, The New York Times and the White House press office for comment. We will update this report if we receive a response or additional information emerges.

Sources:

The Confessor, Nicholas and Julie Tate. ““The Don’s Best Friend”: How Epstein and Trump Connected After Pursuing Women.” New York TimesDecember 18, 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/us/jeffrey-epstein-donald-trump.html.