August 10, 2025: In a surprising and humorous revelation at the Locarno Film Festival, veteran actress Emma Thompson shared an extraordinary anecdote about a phone call she received from Donald Trump in 1998, on the very day her divorce from actor Kenneth Branagh was finalized. Joking that she could have “changed the course of American history” had she accepted his offer, Thompson’s story quickly became a talking point.
Thompson, 66, was filming the political comedy Primary Colors when she received the call in her trailer. “A phone rang in my trailer, and it was Donald Trump,” she recounted. “I thought it was a joke. ‘Hi, it’s Donald Trump here.’ I said: ‘How can I help you?’ I thought he needed directions. He said: ‘I would love for you to stay in one of my beautiful places, and maybe we could have dinner’.”
She realized the call coincided perfectly with her divorce decree. “I bet he has people looking all over for suitable people he could take out, for all these nice divorcees,” she quipped, calling his ability to find her trailer number “stalking.” Thompson politely declined, telling him, “That’s very sweet. Thank you so much. I’ll get back to you.” At the time, Trump himself had recently split from his second wife, Marla Maples.
Thompson’s story draws parallels to a similar account from actress Salma Hayek, which has also resurfaced. Hayek said that before Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, he attempted to befriend her then-boyfriend to get her phone number. He later called her directly, despite knowing she was in a relationship, telling her her boyfriend “wasn’t good enough” for her.
Thompson was married to Kenneth Branagh from 1989 to 1995 and later married actor Greg Wise in 2003, with whom she has two children.