Hollywood icon Emma Thompson recently shared a surprising story about a phone call she received from Donald Trump. The revelation came during a Q&A session at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, where she was honored with the Leopard Club Award. Thompson was reflecting on her career when she brought up the incident, which occurred while she was filming the 1998 movie Primary Colors.
According to Thompson, she was in her trailer when the phone, a number she had never used before, rang. “Hi, this is Donald Trump here,” she recalled him saying, to which she initially thought it was a joke. When she asked how she could help, Trump responded, “I’d love you to come and stay at one of my beautiful places. Maybe we could have dinner.” Thompson politely declined, telling him she would get back to him.
Thompson speculated on how Trump might have obtained her contact information, noting that her divorce from actor Kenneth Branagh had just been finalized that day. “I bet he’s got people looking for suitable people he could take out on his arm,” she said. “You know, a nice divorcee, that’s what he was looking for.” She also expressed her belief that Trump had found her number by “stalking” her trailer, an action she considered intrusive.
The Love Actually star joked about what could have happened if she had accepted his offer. “I could have gone on a date with Donald Trump, and then I would have a story to tell,” she quipped. “I could have changed the course of American history.”
At the time of the alleged phone call, Thompson had divorced Kenneth Branagh, whom she was married to from 1989 to 1995. Trump had also recently divorced his second wife, Marla Maples, before marrying Melania Trump in 2005.