Emma Thompson has shared the story of the time Donald Trump asked her out the same day her divorce from ex-husband Kenneth Branagh was made official on multiple occasions. However, while speaking at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland this weekend, she added onto the anecdote, joking that she could have “changed the course of American history” had she accepted.
Thompson recalled being in her trailer on the set of 1998’s “Primary Colors” when she received an unexpected phone call. The caller identified himself as Trump.
“I thought it was a joke and asked, ‘How can I help you?’ Maybe he needed directions from someone,” Thompson explained. “Then he said: ‘I’d love you to come and stay at one of my beautiful places. Maybe we could have dinner.’”
The Oscar winner wasn’t exactly enthused. She replied, “Well, that’s very sweet. Thank you so much. I’ll get back to you.”
The “Love Actually” star wasn’t the only person who was recently divorced at the time — Trump and his second wife Marla Maples had recently called their own marriage off.
“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,” Thompson noted.
The story is indeed one that Thompson has shared in the past. In 2017, she told Graham Norton of the exchange that she “only associated Trump with tasteless architecture at that point.”
Her film “The Dead of Winter” premiered Friday at Locarno and is set to hit theaters on Sept. 26.
