A former New York Post reporter has exposed how Donald Trump himself came up with the infamous “best sex I’ve ever had” front-page story in 1990 about his own sexual prowess during his affair with soon-to-be second wife, Marla Maples.
Trump was furious after the New York Daily News wrote a front-page article sympathetic to Ivana Trump, who was in the middle of an ugly split from her husband in 1990. He called Jerry Nachman, who was then editor of the Post, to complain, Jill Brooke revealed Thursday in a guest column in The Hollywood Reporter.
Trump demanded a story about himself, and Nachman said he’d have to come up with something to get on the front page, wrote Brooke, who listened to the conversation on speakerphone in Nachman’s office. Trump asked: “What makes a front-page story?” Nachman responded: “It’s usually murder, money or sex,” Brooke recalled.
Trump fired back: “Marla says with me it’s the best sex she’s ever had.” A thrilled Nachman responded: “That’s great! But you know I need corroboration.”
Brooke said Trump then yelled in the background: “Marla, didn’t you say it’s the best sex you ever had with me?” From a distance, said Brooke, “we heard a faint voice: ‘Yes, Donald.’”
The headline “Marla Boasts to Her Pals About Donald: Best Sex I’ve Ever Had” was born.
Brooke’s problem? She told Nachman at the time — which didn’t dent his fervor for the story — “Jerry, every young girl who is targeting a rich older guy always say, ‘It’s the best sex I ever had.’”
One other tiny snag? Maples has denied saying sex with Trump was the best. Asked earlier this year by the Post’s Page Six about her sterling review of the man she was married to from 1993 to 1999, Maples responded: “I never said that.” (Stormy Daniels has called sex with Trump “textbook generic.” The president has denied having sex with Daniels.)
Trump had a reputation when the “best sex” story appeared for pretending to be other people over the phone — all men at the time. He was known to call reporters, including at the New York Post, and pretend to be a made-up Trump spokesman he called John Miller or John Barron, who invariably gushed about the great things Donald Trump was doing and who sounded exactly like Trump.
During the presidential campaign, The Washington Post obtained a recording of someone sounding exactly like Trump from a People reporter who was told she was speaking to “John Miller.” Trump later told NBC News that he didn’t know “anything about it.” But Trump testified under oath in 1990 that “on occasion” he used the name John Barron, Fortune magazine reported. Trump’s father, Fred, used to call himself “Mr. Green.”