The drama, directed by Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi, fictionalizes a 1989 incident that is detailed during the couple’s divorce proceedings.

At the end of The Apprentice, Trump reacted furiously after Ivana insulted his physical appearance. “Your face is just like an orange,” she tells him.

“You’re getting fat, you’re getting ugly, and you’re getting bald.”

The future president is then shown forcing his wife to the floor and raping her. “Did I find your G-spot?” he asks in the movie.

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donald vs ivana

This scene mirrors Ivana Trump’s description in her 1990 divorce deposition, where she described a similar attack that occurred shortly after Trump had scalp-reduction surgery. She claimed Trump pushed her to the floor and pulled her hair.

Although Ivana initially described the incident as rape, she later retracted this claim. In a 1993 statement, she explained, “On one occasion during 1989, Mr. Trump and I had a marital affair in which he behaved very differently toward me than he did during our marriage. As a woman, I felt humiliated… I referred to it as rape, but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.

During the divorce, Trump dismissed his wife’s statements as “patently false.”

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The trainee wants the Palme d’Or

The screenplay for The Apprentice is by bestselling non-fiction author Gabriel Sherman, with Sebastian Stan and Donald J. Trump and Maria Bakalova are featured as Ivana Trump, with Succession star Jeremy Strong as infamous New York lawyer Roy Cohn. The film is a kind of dark neo-horror that features Cohn inseparable from Trump on a journey that exposes the ugly sides of American capitalism. One of the key rules Cohn gave Trump is: “Admit nothing, deny everything.”

The trainees are competing for the prestigious Palme d’Or award at Cannes. While the Canadian, Danish and Irish-backed production has been sold in several overseas territories, it has reportedly not yet secured a US distribution deal.

The film also faces a legal challenge from lawyers associated with billionaire Trump donor Dan Snyder. According to Variety, Snyder invested in The Apprentice because he believed it would portray Trump in a positive light and was displeased after seeing a rough cut of the film.

Since the 1970s, at least 25 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct, which he has denied. Last year, the former president was found liable for sexually assaulting author E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s and was ordered to pay $83.3 million in damages.

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The former POTUS was never accused or convicted of rape.

Ivana, mother of Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric Trump, died in July 2022 after falling down the stairs at her Manhattan home. His body is buried on the grounds of Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.