It will come as no surprise to learn that Donald Trump is vain. He thinks he’s the greatest dancer, makes the best deals, and is always the most intelligent person in the room. Nobody will be shocked to find instances where he lies to prop himself up. He's embelished, to be nice, his college grades and prowess as a lover. He can’t stand that he has inherited male-pattern baldness from his father. Had nature gone its course, Donald long ago would have seen his hairline recede to the top of his head.
He, however, did not accept this fate. He accepted advice from his first wife, Ivana, and underwent scalp reduction surgery. That procedure involves removing the skin where the hair has stopped growing and stretching the remaining scalp to cover the area where the skin was removed. It often involves implants of hair taken from the sides and back of the scalp.
There are five requirements to be eligible for scalp reduction surgery. They are:
- Hair loss due to genetics
- Healthy scalp
- Scalp elasticity
- Donor hairs (healthy hairs on the side and back of the scalp)[4]
- Hair loss must be permanent
There are also multiple potential side effects.
- Swelling
- Bleeding around skin flaps that were stretched
- Numbness and throbbing
- Rare case of infection
- Temporary hair loss
- Lack of blood flow and oxygen to the scalp tissue
- Scalp thinning
- Rare case of scarring
- Grafted area may not look as expected
Perhaps Donald didn’t have the necessary scalp elasticity, but for whatever reason, he found himself in intense pain after the procedure. Donald did what Donald always does when something goes wrong. He found someone else to blame. He had little recourse against the doctor, as a public lawsuit would have revealed that he had undergone the procedure in the first place. He did the next best thing. He blamed his wife, who suggested the procedure.
In a deposition associated with their 1991 divorce, Ivana said that an enraged Donald Trump raped her in anger over the painful procedure. Ivana partially walked back that claim when Trump was running for President and news of the sealed deposition, which was leaked in the 1993 book Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump, by Harry Hurt III. The book claims she told her friends: “He raped me.”
Donald Trump denied the allegation of rape and said he had not had scalp reduction surgery in 1993. “It’s obviously false.” Donald probably didn’t have the surgery in 1993; it would have been earlier while he was still married to Ivana. Their divorce was final in 1992.
Trump’s lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, told the press that it depends on what the meaning of rape is.
“It’s not the word that you’re trying to make it into," said Cohen. "Ms Trump was talking about how “she felt raped emotionally… She was not referring to it [as] a criminal matter, and not in its literal sense, though there’s many literal senses to the word.
You’re talking about the front-runner for the GOP, presidential candidate, as well as private individual who never raped anybody. And, of course, understand that by the very definition, you can’t rape your spouse. It is true. You cannot rape your spouse. And there’s very clear case law.”
Before the book came out, Trump and his lawyers produced a statement from Ivana Trump saying she did make the statement, but it wasn’t rape-rape.
“During a deposition given by me in connection with my matrimonial case, I stated that my husband had raped me," started Ivana.
"I wish to say that on one occasion during 1989, Mr Trump and I had marital relations in which he behaved very differently toward me than he had during our marriage.
As a woman, I felt violated, as the love and tenderness which he normally exhibited toward me, was absent. I referred to this as a ‘rape,’ but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.
“Any contrary conclusion would be an incorrect and most unfortunate interpretation of my statement which I do not want to be interpreted in a speculative fashion and I do not want the press or media to misconstrue any of the facts set forth above.
“All I wish is for this matter to be put to rest.”
After The Daily Beast ran their story about the rape allegations made in the book in 2015, Ms Trump released a statement to CNN to say:
“I have recently read some comments attributed to me from nearly 30 years ago at a time of very high tension during my divorce from Donald. The story is totally without merit.
Donald and I are the best of friends and together have raised three children that we love and are very proud of.
I have nothing but fondness for Donald and wish him the best of luck on his campaign. Incidentally, I think he would make an incredible president.”
According to a report in the New York Times in December 1990, the divorce case between Donald and Ivana Trump was granted on the grounds of his “cruel and inhuman treatment” of her. Ivana was also subject to a gag order, which stops her from talking about her marriage to Donald Trump without his permission.
Ivana passed away on July 14, 2022, and was laid to rest at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Trump had long attempted to make part of the course a public cemetery, presumably to obtain tax benefits. Donald has expressed the desire to be interned there himself one day.
According to Ivana’s sworn statements, her plastic surgeon, Dr. Steven Hoefflin, who had performed Donald’s waist and chin liposuction procedures, also performed his scalp reduction surgery. Donald is said to have suffered “nagging headaches caused by the shrinking of the scalp, and the pain of the initial incision.” Had I previously mentioned the waist and chin liposuction? Vanity is his name.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of William Spivey's work on Medium. And if you dig his words, buy the man a coffee.