British actress Emma Thompson has shared a surprising story from 1998, claiming that Donald Trump called her to ask her out the very day her divorce from Kenneth Branagh became official. The 66-year-old Oscar winner recounted the incident while being honored for her career at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland.
Call Came While Filming Primary Colors
Thompson said she was on the set of the film Primary Colors when her phone rang. “Hello, this is Donald Trump,” she remembered hearing on the other end. Initially, she thought it was a prank. “I thought it was a joke and asked, ‘How can I help you?’ Maybe he needed directions from someone,” she recalled.
Trump’s Offer
According to Thompson, Trump continued, saying, “I’d love you to come and stay at one of my beautiful places. Maybe we could have dinner.” She described her response as polite but non-committal: “I’ll get back to you,” she told him, calling the offer “very sweet.”
Why She Thinks He Called
Thompson speculated that Trump, who had recently split from his second wife Marla Maples, might have had staff searching for potential dates. “I realized that on that day, my divorce decree had come through. And I bet he’s got people looking for suitable people he could take out on his arm. You know, a nice divorcée, that’s what he was looking for,” she said. “And he found the number in my trailer. I mean, that’s stalking.”
A Missed “What If” Moment
The Love Actually star joked about what might have happened if she had accepted the offer. “I could have gone on a date with Donald Trump, and then I would have a story to tell. I could have changed the course of American history,” she said.
Life Since Then
Thompson is now married to actor Greg Wise, and they share two children. Trump later married Melania, who is now the former First Lady of the United States.
Salma Hayek’s Similar Experience
Thompson is not the only actress to receive an unexpected invitation from Trump. Actress Salma Hayek once revealed that he asked her out even though she had a boyfriend at the time. When she declined, personal details about her appeared in the National Enquirer, a tabloid with links to Trump.
Hayek recalled telling him, “I wouldn’t go out with him even if I didn’t have a boyfriend,” which she said he took as “disrespectful.” She added, “Someone told the National Enquirer — I’m not going to say who, because you know that whatever he wants to come out comes out in the National Enquirer. It said that he wouldn’t go out with me because I was too short.”
