Mother Jones illustration; Shutterstock
This post was originally published as part of “The Trump Files“—a collection of telling episodes, strange but true stories, and curious scenes from the life of our current president—on October 14, 2016.
It turns out Melania almost wasn’t the only Trump to strip down for a magazine.
In 1989, according to the Miami Herald, Cosmopolitan asked Donald to pose nude in “a feature lay-out [a] la Burt Reynolds” for its 25th anniversary issue. The Herald also reported that Trump was (inexplicably) “the readers’ choice as the sexy man they would most like to see featured in the nude.” To entice Trump, Cosmo promised to protect his modesty with “a stack of books, a potted plant, a towel or something,” and the magazine was even willing to throw in a $50,000 donation to the charity of his choice.
Alas, Trump said no (as, reportedly, did Dennis Quaid, Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, and others). The seemingly not-that-coveted-slot eventually went to David Hasselhoff.
