Emma Thompson recalls Trump invitation

Emma Thompson recounts a 1998 call from Donald Trump offering a dinner during the day her divorce was finalized.

Emma Thompson reveals Trump invited her on a date in 1998

Emma Thompson spoke at the Locarno film festival about a 1998 phone call from Donald Trump. He offered to dinner and to stay at one of his properties. Thompson treated it as a joke and said she would get back to him. She only later realised that her divorce from Kenneth Branagh had just been finalized that day. She joked that Trump might have been looking for a famous divorcee to escort, and that he found the number in her trailer. She called it stalking in a light, humorous way.

The anecdote shows how celebrity life still brushes against power. A personal invitation from a future political figure becomes a public moment that invites scrutiny of timing, motive and gender dynamics. Thompson handles the episode with wit, while inviting readers to consider how fame can intersect with politics in unexpected ways.

Highlights

The piece sits at the intersection of culture, power and memory.