Marla Maples: Donald Trump's Second Wife

Marla Maples has spent her quarantine getting friendly with trees and hanging out with her late grandfather.



Speaking with BeondTV broadcaster Carlos Amezcua, President Trump’s second wife said, “I love the big city — that’s why I’m here. But I like it in balance with nature, so I’m getting to learn a whole near-other level of balancing nature within my one-bedroom apartment, 41 floors up!”



Maples, 56, said that to aid in her efforts to commune with the outdoors, “The last two days I jogged out to the park, literally grabbed a big tree and hugged on that tree … nature’s alive and that’s what we always have to remember — it’s a gift that’s always giving things.”



Meanwhile, she wrote on Instagram that isolation had made her realize “more than ever how close we are to those who may not walk this earth visually for us to see,” and said that she’d recently seen her grandfather “and I was reminded of the sweet times we shared and all that I learned from him.”





Maples had been quarantining alone in her Manhattan apartment but is now with her daughter, Tiffany Trump, at the family’s home in Georgia.

In an effort to combat the coronavirus, the Trump administration has cast a wide net, soliciting ideas from industry leaders, family-connected doctors, foreign officials, TV personalities, and fresh-out-of-college consultants to help solve crises around testing and medical supplies. They also set up an email tipline, on the off chance that someone might send a proverbial silver bullet.



During the pandemic, Marla Maples, an actress and the president’s second wife, has stayed in touch with a coterie of friends and informal advisers, with whom she has traded tidbits and medical advice on how to combat the deadly virus. In recent weeks, she has quietly transmitted some of those ideas to the Trump White House, in an effort to get them in front of the president—her ex-husband—and senior staffers, two Trump administration officials familiar with the outreach tell The Daily Beast.

It is unclear if any of these Maples-approved, pandemic-related tips have landed on President Trump’s desk. And it’s not clear which specific tips from her inner circle she has relayed to the Trump team. One of the officials said they first became aware of Maples’ leads after realizing her name had popped up on the “Covid Mail” tipline, an internal White House email account that is regularly accessed by a small group of Trump officials.

“[Marla] is one of many Americans trying to be helpful in these tough times,” the second Trump administration official said. “Absolutely nothing wrong with that.”



The White House set up “Covid Mail” to field suggestions and questions from “friends and family,” as well as from American health professionals and private-sector envoys, who are trying to get information on supplies and treatments to the West Wing and federal agencies. According to The Washington Post, which first reported on the system last month, “some officials have privately worried that these [Covid Mail] missives receive priority and distract from more crucial scientific pursuits” regarding the coronavirus.

Maples’ rep declined to comment for this report, and White House spokespeople did not respond to a request for comment. But reached for comment early this week, Maples messaged The Daily Beast: “PPE is not an area I’m focused on, but the health and well-being of all people is of the highest importance to me. Thank you.”



She did not respond to several follow-up questions regarding “Covid Mail,” the extent of her virus and health-related outreach to the Trump administration, or what specific advice or plans she sent along.

A quick browse of Maples’ public social-media accounts, including Twitter and Instagram, offers a glimpse into her clique of friendly doctors and health and spirituality consultants. Like many during the coronavirus crisis, she has regularly posted about her and her friends’ perspectives on the illness and has emphasized her own concerns, including the compounding effects that Lyme disease may have on those infected with the virus.

“Thx so much @realdonaldtrump for bravely exposing the truth abt #Lyme I suffered in my 20s but many have suffered more than me. Here is a brilliant book #Chronic just written by my dear friends,” the president’s ex, and mother of his daughter Tiffany, tweeted last month.