The claim that U.S. President Donald Trump's ex-wife Marla Maples once warned a teenage girl's mother to keep her daughter away from Trump is unproven.

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 1994 Mar-a-Lago party.

The evidence currently available shows the quote was attributed to Maples in a New York Times article, but Maples denied making the statement and no independently verifiable documentation has surfaced to confirm the exchange.

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 are waiting for responses.

In April 2026, social media users circulated a quote attributed to U.S. President Donald Trump's ex-wife Marla Maples amid renewed attention to Trump's past association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. According to the claim, Maples once warned the mother of a teenage girl, "Whatever you do, do not let her around any of these men, and especially my husband. Protect her."

One Instagram post spreading the alleged quote read:

A 1994 Mar‑a‑Lago party reportedly included Tina Davis, a then‑14‑year‑old Ford model who attended with her mother, Sandra Coleman. According to reporting, Coleman said that Donald Trump's then‑wife, Marla Maples, pulled her aside and warned: "Whatever you do, do not let her around any of these men, and especially my husband. Protect her." Maples has publicly distanced herself from that quote, not only because she signed an NDA, but also because there are longstanding reports of domestic‑violence allegations against Trump, which likely made her wary of speaking out or appearing to criticize him at all.

(Instagram user @peanutbutter.sandcastle)

The supposed quote spread on multiple social media platforms, including Instagram, X and Facebook.

In short, that quote does appear in at least one reputable news report. In a Dec. 18, 2025, New York Times article, Sandra Coleman recalled attending a 1994 Mar-a-Lago party with her daughter. 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 clasped her hands, Ms. Coleman recalled, and looked her in the eye. 'Whatever you do, do not let her around any of these men, and especially my husband,' she told Ms. Coleman. 'Protect her.'"

However, Maples denied saying it. In the same Times report, Maples said, "I would always protect young women in any way I could, but I am sure I didn't specifically say that about my daughter's father."

The quote was therefore not invented by social media users or traced to an anonymous meme account, but stemmed from a named source quoted in a major newspaper. At the same time, Snopes relies on primary evidence wherever possible, and in this case there is no publicly available recording, transcript, contemporaneous note or other documentation that independently proves the conversation happened exactly as Coleman described it.

Because the account comes from one source's recollection and because Maples specifically disputed the quote, the claim cannot be rated authentic or not on the basis of the currently available evidence.

If Snopes were to obtain direct documentation of the conversation, or hear from key sources with independently verifiable evidence, the claim could potentially be rated more definitively. For now, the evidence supports only the narrower conclusion that a reputable outlet reported the quote as an allegation, but Maples disputed it.

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 a response or if additional information surfaces.

Confessore, Nicholas, and Julie Tate. ""Don's Best Friend": How Epstein and Trump Bonded over the Pursuit of Women." The New York Times, 18 Dec. 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/us/jeffrey-epstein-donald-trump.html.