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Ivana Trump gave a sworn deposition that in 1989, Donald Trump violently raped her in a fit of rage.
Executive summary
Ivana Trump’s 1989 divorce deposition included language saying “my husband had raped me,” an account first publicized in Harry Hurt III’s 1993 book and later reported by multiple outlets; she subsequently said she did not intend “rape” in a literal or criminal sense and walked back the phrasing [1] [2] [3]. Reporting consistently notes details she described — hair-pulling and a violent encounter tied to a scalp surgery — but also records her later disavowal and statements of friendship with Donald Trump [3] [4] [5].
1. The deposition claim: what Ivana reportedly said
In materials cited by journalists and authors, Ivana’s sworn divorce deposition is quoted as stating “during a deposition given by me in connection with my matrimonial case, I stated that my husband had raped me,” and the book Lost Tycoon recounts her describing a 1989 incident of violent behavior in which Donald Trump allegedly pulled handfuls of her hair and she said she felt “violated” [1] [3]. Multiple outlets — Time, The Daily Beast excerpts republished by others, and later profiles — rely on the same deposition text as the factual source for the allegation [2] [3].
2. How Ivana later framed and retracted the word “rape”
By the time Hurt’s book was published and in interviews years later, Ivana publicly clarified that she “did not mean rape in the ‘criminal sense’” and characterized earlier references as not intended literally; she also said much of the divorce-era language was “lawyers' talk” when asked in subsequent interviews [1] [2] [6]. ABC News and PBS summarize that she disavowed literal criminal meaning and later reaffirmed friendly relations with her ex-husband, noting the retraction appears in public statements dating from the 1990s and beyond [5] [7].
3. What reporters and books added: context and corroboration
Harry Hurt III’s Lost Tycoon was the first widely cited source to publish the deposition material and to narrate a specific scene linking the episode to a botched scalp-reduction surgery and an angry reaction; Hurt wrote that two of Ivana’s friends confirmed aspects of the incident, which has been repeated in later summaries [1] [3]. News organizations and later commentators have treated Hurt’s account and the deposition text as the primary documentary basis, reproducing similar descriptive details [3] [4].
4. Legal and evidentiary limits in the public record
Available reporting notes the deposition was part of divorce proceedings and accompanied a confidentiality clause and settlement; public sources do not show criminal charges were brought in relation to the allegation, nor do the cited reports provide police or prosecutorial records tied to that 1989 claim [3] [8]. Sources repeatedly emphasize that Ivana’s later public statements walked back the criminal interpretation of the word “rape,” which affects how journalists and legal analysts have treated the claim in later coverage [2] [5].
5. Competing narratives and motivations to consider
Journalists note at least two competing frames: the raw deposition text as reported in Hurt’s book and contemporaneous reporting, versus Ivana’s subsequent disclaimers that her words were not intended in a literal/criminal sense and that much was “lawyers’ talk” [1] [6]. Observers also flagged potential strategic motives — divorce litigation, confidentiality agreements, later public endorsements and reconciliatory statements — that complicate assessing intent and credibility solely from public documents [8] [5].
6. How later media and culture treated the episode
Media summaries and cultural products (reviews, biopics) have continued to invoke the deposition episode as a notable part of Trump’s early public biography, sometimes dramatizing the account while also noting Ivana’s retraction; several outlets explicitly say she “initially described” the encounter as rape and later “walked back” that phrasing [4] [3]. Coverage of the episode often situates it alongside other sexual-assault allegations against Donald Trump, while distinguishing Ivana’s unique pattern of deposition language followed by later disavowal [9] [7].
7. Bottom line for readers
The available sources document that Ivana Trump used the word “rape” in a 1989 divorce deposition and that detailed descriptions of a violent domestic incident appear in Harry Hurt III’s 1993 book and subsequent reporting [1] [3]. Those same sources also record Ivana’s later public statements saying she did not intend the word in a criminal sense and describing the divorce-era phrasing as influenced by lawyers and later reconciliatory public comments, leaving the public record marked by a direct deposition quote on one hand and an explicit walk-back on the other [2] [5]. Available sources do not mention criminal charges or prosecutorial action tied to that deposition claim [3].