Donald Trump’s biracial former girlfriend Kara Young has broken her silence about an incident where he told her she got her intelligence from her white father.
Speaking to Inside Edition on Tuesday in her first interview about Mr Trump since 2017, Ms Young, 47, confirmed the veracity of a previous report about the alleged encounter.
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman previously revealed in her tell-all book Confidence Man:The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, released last month, that the former president had made a joke about Ms Young’s white father and Black mother.
“Trump told [Ms Young] that she had gotten her beauty from her mother and her intelligence ‘from her dad, the white side,’” Ms Haberman wrote.
On Tuesday, Ms Young spoke out about the incident, saying that she believed the former president had been making “a joke” but that she was quick to point out to him that it was an inappropriate one.
“It sounds — when someone says something in jest — are they kidding? I don’t know,” she said.
“It wasn’t a fight or anything like that, it was just more like — ‘No. Don’t say that, it’s not funny.’
“He said ‘I was just joking, I was just kidding. No, I don’t think that.’”
Ms Young, a former supermodel, dated Mr Trump for two and a half years from 1997 following his divorce from second wife Marla Maples.
The 47-year-old, who acknowledged during the interview with Deborah Norville that she was a friend of the reporter’s, explained that she felt motivated to break her five-year silence about their relationship after getting “frustrated” by the constant barrage of questions.
“When something’s said for years and years and years, and you never say anything back, that got as frustrating as if I spoke all the time,” said Ms Young.
In the interview, Ms Young was also pressed about other comments Mr Trump made around race during his time in office.
In particular, she was asked about his statement about the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, where he failed to condemn the white supremacists who had gathered in a violent clash in the Virginia city and instead said there were “very fine people on both sides”.
Ms Young remained coy about the matter, simply saying: “You don’t have to ask me how someone is. You can see how they are by what they say and the comments they make.”
Mr Trump’s comments on race had also been raised in other parts of Ms Haberman’s tell-all book.
According to the veteran White House reporter, one of the former president’s first White House dinners turned into an awkward affair when he turned to a group of his own guests — described in the book as racially and ethnically diverse — and directed them to serve dinner.
Those staffers, who the then-president seemed to mistake for servers, reportedly worked directly for the two Democratic congressional leaders, as well as others in attendance.
By Ms Haberman’s telling, Mr Trump’s chief of staff then “rushed to correct” the situation and informed the president of who he had addressed.
There was no indication that Mr Trump offered any apologies to the staff for the mistake.
According to Ms Young, it’s been six years since she last spoke to her former boyfriend.
She said the last time they spoke was on the night that he won the 2016 presidential election against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
“I called to congratulate him for winning president, as one would,” she said.
She added that she believes that the former president will make a run for a second term in 2024, but – for her part – doesn’t think he should.
At the close of the interview, she noted that – regardless of whether he runs in 2024 or not – Tuesday’s interview will be the last time she will speak publicly about her former partner.
Mr Trump is yet to confirm a 2024 run but has unofficially given subtle winks and nods that it is his intention.
Aides of the one-term president have said in recent days that they are making quiet preparations for a 2024 presidential campaign that could potentially be launched after the November midterm elections.
“I’m like 95 per cent he’s going to run,” said Reince Priebus, Trump’s former White House chief of staff.
“The real question,” he added, “is are other big challengers going to run? If President Trump runs, he will be very difficult for any Republican to defeat.”
