Donald Trump’s Ex Marla Maples Shares Her Biggest Life Lesson: ‘I’ve Stopped Apologizing for My Joy’

Marla Maples, actress, television and radio host and advocate for mental and spiritual wellness, celebrated her milestone 60th birthday on October 27, 2023, in her Miami home surrounded by a small, tight-knit group of love ones.

“For me, birthdays are not about what you do, it’s really who you are with,” Marla Maples shared with Woman’s World in an exclusive interview on October 25, 2023. The actress, who had a recurring role as a Christian fast-food proprietor in the HBO hit series The Righteous Gemstones, admits that she’s always loved having intimate gatherings with family and friends rather than throwing big shindigs. “It just gives us all more of an opportunity to connect and share.”

In 2023, Maples planned on having a tea ceremony and meditations with friends to simply spend quality, calming time together. “It’s a very small and special group — and my daughter will be there, of course,” she says. “Tiffany is number one on my list.”

Maples daughter, Tiffany Trump, is her only child with ex-husband Donald Trump, whom Maples divorced 25 years ago. Today, Maples remains diplomatic about President Trump and they amicably focus on their daughter — for example, the whole family gathered to joyfully attend Tiffany’s wedding.

Maples was celebrated with her daughter as Tiffany had her own milestone birthday on October 13, 2023. “Tiffany just turned 30, so I just say I’m turning 30 again,” Maples laughs. “Every birthday, I really focus on keeping a youthful spirit — I like to say, ‘Joy doesn’t age!’”

Marla Maples finding strength in faith

While raising Tiffany as a single mother in California, Maples tried to focus on the positive and live fearlessly, and she credits her faith for seeing her through the toughest times. “I was born a Christian,” she told The New York Times in 2019. “Though I am very well known to be unified with people from all religious, spiritual backgrounds, and find that harmony we all share… I just love making a pure old-fashioned connection to Christ.” In fact, Maples often attended Hillsong Church services when she lived in Manhattan.

Having grown up in mountains of Dalton, Georgia, Maples says her faith and strength sprung from her southern roots. “Family, God and sports are really what I lived for,” Maples shares in an exclusive interview with Woman’s World. “And I believe that’s what it’s all about. If you really do have that background, that sense of community and purpose, it prepares you for whatever challenges you will face — and you will face challenges because you’re a human on this earth.”

Indeed, Maples has faced some major challenges over the years. In a 2022 Tedx Talk, she opened up about several of the scariest moments in her life — including when an assistant stole all her savings at the same time her mother was battling cancer, the excruciating media storms surrounding her marriage and split from Donald Trump in the 1990s, nearly drowning and being held by gunpoint by thieves.

But Maples reveals that going through those fearful, overwhelming moments made her the woman she is today. “Now, I appreciate every moment that is given to me, and I’ve learned not to apologize for my joy,” she stated in her Tedx Talk. “We see so much suffering in the world and it’s a time of great unknowns, but we have to be able to walk in the world with joy. That joy — that comes from overcoming your fears — comes with a peace that can take you to a whole new place. So I stopped apologizing for my joy.”

As for her ex’s presidential campaigns in 2016, 2020, and 2024, Maples has remained steadfast, focusing not on politics but on the faith that grounds her life. 

“We walk in the Light of the Creator – equipped with a strength beyond this earth,” she wrote in an Instagram post shortly after Trump clinched the White House in 2024. “For we come from a place where there is no hatred and no judgment, but only love. We strive to be more like the holiest Light of God – as Beacons of Light to all we meet. Let us shine brightly, embracing our purpose to uplift one another and illuminate the path of compassion and understanding. Together, we can create a world filled with hope and harmony, reflecting the divine within us all.” 

Marla Maples’ prayer for turning 60 — and beyond

Maples’ mission is to help other women find peace, wellness and spiritual connection and offers resources on her website, Instagram and Facebook. She also leads destination retreats and “SoulShine Journeys” as a way to provide people who may be searching for a higher purpose to “shed what they need to shed and shift into their highest good.”

When asked how she’ll be reflecting on turning 60, Maples says, “With this birthday, look at life more like, ‘Okay, God, what do you have next for me?’ I pray: How can I give more? What can I do more to share the gifts that I was given—the God-gifts? Let me be ready. Let me let me do the work that I came here to do. Let me go joyfully and give me the passion for it.”

Maples continues, “We’re faced with so many challenges — I feel that too. There’s a lot of things that are polluting our emotional well-being in the world right now, so I try to I look at every day as a new opportunity. So with a milestone like this birthday, I just want to be ready to share more and expand and learn more. I want to help others find their joy.”