Donald Trump and Marla Maples wedding, 1993. Photo / Getty Images
Donald Trump and Marla Maples' relationship was never a typical fairytale romance.
The pair began an affair while the current US president was still married to his first wife Ivana, the mother of three of his five children, leading to an infamous confrontation between the two women at a ski resort in Aspen, reports news.com.au.
A New York Post cover printed in 1990 quoted Ms Maples boasting about "the best sex I've ever had" with the businessman, and the new couple's only child, Tiffany Ariana Trump, was born out of wedlock in October, 1993.
While they did eventually marry two months later in December that year, the relationship soured just four years after that, with the couple officially divorcing in 1999.
But now, respected US magazine Vanity Fair has lifted the lid on their marriage by publishing explosive new details of their bizarre pre-nuptial agreement.
Reporter Gabriel Sherman claims he was given Mr Trump's prenuptial agreement with Ms Maples by a source — and that its "draconian terms" reveals he was not the "free-spending billionaire" he liked being portrayed as.
According to Mr Sherman, the agreement revealed Mr Trump would pay his actress wife a one-off payment of just $US1 million ($NZ1.5 million) if they separated within five years of tying the knot, as well as an extra $US1 million to go towards the purchase of a house.
Under the arrangement, she would not be entitled to any ongoing spousal maintenance and she also gave up any claim to Mr Trump's potential future earnings or inheritance.
It also allegedly showed the former reality star would "stop making $US100,000 child support payments for Tiffany when she turned 21" — although those payments would stop sooner if his youngest daughter "got a full-time job, enlisted in the military, or joined the Peace Corps", the publication claimed.
An iron-clad confidentiality agreement also prevented Ms Maples from publishing "any diary, memoir, letter, story, photograph, interview, article, essay, account or description or depiction of any kind whatsoever, whether fictionalised or not, concerning (or seeming to concern) the details of the parties' marriage."
Ms Maples ended up agreeing to those tough conditions, reportedly in the belief she and her husband would renegotiate at a later date.
In a 1994 Vanity Fair article, it was revealed Ms Maples had wanted $25 million from her husband if they divorced, which caused a "big battle " between them.
But Mr Sherman's mysterious source said Ms Maples was forced into accepting the deal because her fiance threatened to hold up the wedding just one day before their thousand guests were due to arrive.
"Marla was under duress. Donald's position was: without the prenup he wasn't going to get married," the source allegedly said.
Ultimately, she signed the tough prenup believing it was temporary, and in Mr Trump's business interests at that time.
"But there's a lot of factors involved here. We basically came to an agreement that for the first few years we would agree on something and then tear it up," she said at the time.
"So, that way, I feel that we have what he needs right now for his business. And then, in five years, I have what I need for a true marriage."
In the document, Mr Trump reportedly stated he was "worth $1.17 billion; Maples had $100,000 in the bank".
Mr Trump's brutal second prenup may have been a reaction to the messy divorce and legal battle he faced after leaving first wife Ivana.
She and her lawyers had originally argued she was entitled to half of his multibillion-dollar fortune, although she eventually agreed to $US14 million ($NZ21 million) as well as a 45-room mansion, an apartment in Trump Plaza, the use of Mr Trump's Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida for one month a year and around $US650,000 ($NZ975,000) per year in child support.
It is still one of the most expensive divorces the world has ever seen — and as Mr Sherman wrote, "Trump wanted to make sure Maples couldn't come after his money".
Donald Trump married his current wife Melania in 2005.
No specific details of their prenup have been made public, although Mr Trump has previously said his wife "agrees with it".