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Claims that Marla Maples, the ex-wife of US President Donald Trump, once warned the mother of a teenage girl to stay away from Trump are unproven.
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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 1994 Mar-a-Lago party.
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Available evidence shows a quote attributed to Maples in a New York Times article, but Maples denied making the statement and no independently verifiable documents have emerged to confirm the exchange.
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Snopes will update this report if or when additional information emerges. We have reached out to Marla Maples, The New York Times and the White House for comment and are awaiting a response.
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 testimony, Maples once warned the mother of a teenage girl, “Whatever you do, don’t let her near any of these men, and especially my husband. Protect her.”
A viral Instagram post quoting the alleged quote reads:
A party at Mar‑a‑Lago in 1994 was said to have been attended by Tina Davis, a then 14-year-old Ford model who attended with her mother, Sandra Coleman. According to the report, Coleman said that Donald Trump’s then-wife, Marla Maples, pulled her aside and warned: “Whatever you do, don’t let her near 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 of longstanding reports of domestic violence allegations against Trump, which could make her wary of speaking out or appearing critical of him.
(Instagram user @peanutbutter.sandcastle)
The quote is said to have gone viral on multiple social media platforms, including Instagram, X and Facebook.
In short, that quote appeared in at least one reputable news story. In a December 18, 2025 New York Times article, Sandra Coleman recalled attending the 1994 Mar-a-Lago party with her daughter. According to Coleman, she and her daughter met Maples “during a bathroom break” at the event. “Mrs. Maples clenched her fists, Mrs. Coleman recalled, and looked her straight in the eye. ‘Whatever you do, don’t let her near any of these men, and especially not my husband,’ she told Miss Coleman. ‘Protect her,'” the Times wrote.
However, Maples denied saying that. In the same Times report, Maples said, “I will always protect young women in any way possible, but I’m sure I didn’t say that specifically about my daughter’s father.”
Therefore, the quote was not created by a social network user or traced to an anonymous meme account but came from a source whose name was 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 the conversation took place exactly as Coleman described it.
Because the account comes from the recollection of a source and because Maples specifically disputes the quote, this claim cannot be judged as authentic or not based on the available evidence.
If Snopes had obtained first-hand accounts of the conversation or heard from primary sources with independently verifiable evidence, the claim could have been assessed with more certainty. Currently, the evidence only supports the narrower conclusion that a reputable outlet reported the quote as an allegation, but Maples has disputed it.
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 if more information becomes available.
Source:
Confessore, Nicholas and Julie Tate. “‘Don’s Best Friend’: How Epstein and Trump Bonded Over Their Pursuit of Women.” New York TimesDecember 18, 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/12/18/us/jeffrey-epstein-donald-trump.html.