Ivana Trump, the ex-wife of real estate tycoon and 2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump, once accused her ex-husband of "rape," The Daily Beast reported. The report dug into a deposition from the former couple's 1990s divorce case. Ivana described an incident where she felt Trump was forceful with her during sex, but she later clarified her statement to say that she felt "violated" by him instead.
The incident was also revealed in author Harry Hurt III's 1993 book "Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald Trump." Hurt, a former Texas Monthly and Newsweek reporter, described the scene in detail in his book, according to the Daily Beast.
Ivana had recommended him to her plastic surgeon for a scalp reduction surgery to remove a bald spot. After the painful procedure, Trump was angry with Ivana and confronted her.
"Your f--ing doctor has ruined me!" Trump cried, according to the Daily Beast. Hurt goes on to describe a "violent assault," in which Trump held Ivana's arms back and ripped out chunks of her hair, then forced himself on her.
"According to versions she repeats to some of her closest confidantes, 'he raped me,'" Hurt wrote.
A Daily Beast reporter confronted Michael Cohen, special counsel at The Trump Organization, about the incident, and Cohen defended Trump by saying "you cannot rape your spouse." The report then cited a New York State Law that struck down a 1984 marital rape exemption. The law, as it stands, states that wives are no longer property and rape within a marriage is illegal, according to the New York Times.
Before Hurt's book was published, Ivana released a statement to clarify her previous statement.
"[O]n one occasion during 1989, Mr. Trump and I had marital relations in which he behaved very differently toward me than he had during our marriage. As a woman, I felt violated," her statement read. "I referred to this as a 'rape,' but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense."
