'Sleep With Donald Trump' Contest From 1990 Is Real, Playgirl Confirms
A "Sleep with Donald Trump" contest may sound made up, but Playgirl magazine has confirmed that it definitely did happen.
Claims that Playgirl held such a contest in the '90s recently garnered attention on various social media platforms, including Instagram, TikTok and X, formerly Twitter.
"In 1990, Playgirl magazine ran a contest promising an intimate experience with Donald Trump," Instagram account History Photographed, which has more than 7 million followers, wrote alongside purported photos of the issue featuring the "Sleep with Donald Trump" contest.
But while it sparked mockery and many memes and jokes, some questioned the authenticity of the posts.
Playgirl told Snopes that the "Sleep with Donald Trump" contest was indeed real.
It ran in two of the magazine's issues in the summer of 1990 -- amid the real estate mogul's divorce battle with his first wife, Ivana Trump.
According to the images of Playgirl's August 1990 issue, the magazine described Trump as "tall, good-looking, about to be divorced and rich beyond your wildest imagination."
Playgirl invited readers to send in their entries to get a chance to "snuggle up and get to know" Trump.
The magazine said it would choose 25 winners -- one for "each million of soon-to-be-ex-wife Ivana's prenuptial agreement."
The winners each received a pillowcase printed with Trump's face on it as well as a copy of the book, "Donald Trump: The Man, The Myth, The Scandal" by Joel Reed.
"You'll be able to find out whatever you want to know about America's most magnetic magnate," the magazine wrote. "Don't wait. A catch like Donald Trump won't stay out of someone's bed for long!"
That one time #Trump was in Playgirl for anyone to win a trip to his bed pic.twitter.com/VjbyawOwIt
— CruddyHalfling (@VonSwig) March 22, 2023
Several social media users trolled Trump over the contest.
"Ladies! Get ready for the most mediocre 7 seconds of your life!!" one Instagram user commented.
A second critic wrote, "The best way to win that contest is to lose it."
"The majority of Playgirl's readership was gay men at the time. That's just delicious. So many men came into that pillowcase. Love that for him," another speculated.
Trump did not finalize his divorce with Ivana -- with whom he shares kids Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric -- until two years after the contest ran.
As part of their 1992 divorce settlement, Ivana received $14 million, a mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut, with 45 rooms, and an apartment in the Trump Plaza, The New York Times reported.
Ivana -- who passed away in 2022 at age 73 -- was also granted $650,000 per year in child support from Trump and the right to use her ex-husband's Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida for one month a year.
Trump went on to marry Marla Maples in December 1993, and they welcomed a daughter, Tiffany.
When they divorced in 1999, Maples walked away with much less than Ivana did, having received just $1 million, plus another $1 million to buy a house, according to People.
Trump is currently married to his third wife, Melania Trump, with whom he tied the knot in 2005. They share a son, Barron, now 18.
