Trump’s first wife Ivana questioned about allegations he raped her during interview on marriage

Former model made rape allegation in 1991 during couple's divorce

Donald Trump’s former wife Ivana has spoken out about their relationship and responded to allegations she was raped by her ex-husband.

Ivana Trump, who appeared on Fox and Friends to promote her memoir Raising Trump, divorced the US President in 1992 after 15 years of marriage following a high-profile affair between the billionaire and actress Marla Maples.

The businesswoman said when she found out about the affair she ended the relationship because “trust was the most important thing to me”.

“He would say he was going to play golf, and I would say is he really going to play golf,” she told Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt.

“I knew that I had a better life in front of me."

Asked about how their three children - Donald Jr, Eric and Ivanka – reacted to the news of the affair, Ivana revealed Donald Jr refused to speak to his father for a year “because he understood what happened”.

In a separate interview with Time Magazine, Ivana was asked about allegations she reportedly made in a 1991 sworn deposition that she was raped by the reality TV star three years previously.

“That was all just the lawyers' talk”, she said, after having previously clarified she did not accuse him in “a literal or criminal sense”.

On meeting Mr Trump for the first time, Ivana said it was at a restaurant where he paid the bill for her and a group of friends "before disappearing". “I’ve never met a man who paid for something but didn’t want anything in return,” she said.

When they started dating, Mr Trump began calling Ivana “every day” to convince her marry him. “If you’re not going to marry me you’re going to ruin your life,” she recounted him telling her.

“I thought it was very funny but he was very persistent,” she added.

Ivana also revealed how Mr Trump asked the 68-year-old to become US ambassador to the Czech Republic, her country of birth.

She said: “I told him if he would have asked me 15 years ago I would have done it, but now I don’t want to be in Prague for four years."

In a separate television interview, the former model said she still had a “direct number” to the White House. “But I don’t really want to call him there because Melania is there. I don’t want to cause any kind of jealously or something like that because I’m basically the first Trump wife. I’m First Lady”, she said.

Melania Trump issued a scathing response, accusing Ivana of “attention seeking” and issuing “self-serving noise”.