Trump’s Harsh Ivana Prenup Sparks New Buzz as Insider Claims Melania Delayed Her White House Move to Finalize One Quiet Postnup Detail
Trump, 79, and first lady Melania, 55, married in January 2005, a decade before he launched his political career. He and the former Slovenian-American model first entered the White House in 2017 and made their return in 2025.
But his reputation for ironclad deals didn’t end with business — it carried into his marriages as well. Decades before his rise to the presidency and marrying Melania, Trump was married to Ivana Trump from 1977 to 1992 and Marla Maples from 1993 to 1999. All three women signed prenups.
Ivana’s prenuptial agreement was allegedly so strict, she fought for billions after claiming she was misled by her husband and his legal team. Maples reportedly faced similar terms — a pattern that may explain why Melania quietly updated her own prenup three times.
According to The List, Trump’s first messy divorce and subsequent divorce settlement likely impacted the billionaire’s later prenups with Marla and Melania. Ivana’s prenup apparently included a clause that declared any gifts, such as furs and cars, that were given her during their marriage must be returned if they got divorced.
Trump later had the clause removed from the agreement, according to Ivana’s court filings, which alleged he had “demeaned” her. She accused him of lying and described his behavior as “cruel and inhuman.” Still, a New York Daily News report at the time claimed it had become “unsafe or improper for them to be married.
“I remember the part about the gifts. I had been very hurt. I had been confused by it,” Ivana said in a deposition, per the New York Daily News.
She continued, “I didn’t understand the whole concept, why I’m returning the gifts that are going to be acquired by my husband and given to me during our marriage.”
Ivana also accused Trump of undervaluing his fortune in their 1987 prenup, saying his true net worth was closer to $5 billion than the $2.1 billion he claimed. The final agreement reportedly states Ivana was entitled to $15 million to $20 million and certain properties.
In the end, the two sides reached a settlement that saw her walk away with $14 million, an apartment in Trump Plaza, and a mansion in Connecticut.
Ivana was also allowed to spend one month per year at her ex-husband’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and received annual child support of $650,000 until each of their three children turned 18.
Years later, it seems history may have quietly repeated itself. Melania has renegotiated her prenuptial agreement multiple times, including in 2017 during Trump’s first term as president. A 2020 Washington Post report claimed she even delayed moving into the White House while negotiating new terms — a detail outlined in the book The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump.
She negotiated again ahead of the 2024 election, which secured him a second, non-consecutive term.
“Over the last year, Melania and her team have been quietly negotiating a new ‘postnup’ agreement between herself and Donald Trump,” an unnamed source told Page Six in September 2023.
The insider alleged, “This is at least the third time Melania has renegotiated the terms of her marital agreement.” Melania was said to be more concerned about securing a “substantial trust” for her only son with Trump.
Barron Trump was just 10 years old when his parents first moved into the White House. Now 19, he’s a sophomore at New York University’s Stern School of Business and currently resides in Washington, D.C.
“I know that she wanted it to provide her with more money, and also — from what I understand — there’s a specific amount at minimum that Barron is supposed to obtain,” a different anonymous source purportedly informed Page Six.
Details about Trump’s alleged prenup stipulations resurfacing this week led to internet users weighing in on the president and the first lady’s supposed legal agreements in case of a permanent separation.
“I don’t care about his prenuptial agreements. I care about the successful decisions he makes for America on a daily basis,” a Trump supporter wrote on Facebook in reaction to The List’s article about the POTUS and the mothers of his children.
A second poster wrote, “Don’t worry about a prenup, start suing for compensation [and] having to deal with him worth billions.”
Trump, who is known to be a ruthless businessman, surely cares about the legal paperwork he signed with Melania as his personal fortune continues to rapidly expand during his second tenure as the most powerful person on the planet.
It is not clear how invested Trump is in shaping the public perception about his 20-year marriage to Melania, considering the widespread speculation that the union is less about romance and more about finance.
Melania’s numerous awkward moments in public with the president fueled more gossip that she agreed to sign up to be married just for show. Unsubstantiated reports that she chose not to live in the White House also poured gas on the marriage facade rumors.
“I asked someone very close to them. I said, ‘So what’s going on?’ And this person looked at me like I was a real dunce, and then said, ‘She hates his f—king guts!’” longtime Trump biographer Michael Wolff claimed in May 2025.
In addition to Barron, Trump has four other children. Ivana is the mother of Donald Trump Jr. (born 1977), Ivanka Trump (born 1981), and Eric Trump (born 1984). Maples, 62, gave birth to Tiffany Trump in 1993.
Ivana, the mother of the president’s three oldest children, died from blunt force injuries to her torso in 2022 at the age of 73. She is buried at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey.
