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La Toya Jackson comes from a show business dynasty. Her family has seen superstars like Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson. Her own life has been marked by abuse and a difficult relationship with fame.
Part of her struggle with fame had to do with untrue rumors. According to Jackson, Donald Trump was part of making one particular rumor spread. That rumor being Jackson was trying to pursue him romantically.
This is something Jackson denied, but that wouldn’t be the last she heard from Trump. Many years later, she would join the cast of Celebrity Apprentice and found herself reunited with the former President.
Donald Once Claimed La Toya Pursued Him And La Toya Fired Back
In 1993, Jackson made an appearance on The Joan Rivers Show. During the interview, Rivers asked Jackson about a claim Trump previously made on the show. According to Rivers, Trump claimed Jackson pursued him romantically.
“He claims I pursued him?” Jackson asked.
Rivers checked with someone off camera to verify Trump made the claim on their show. When it was confirmed he did indeed make that claim, Jackson said it wasn’t true.
“I would never,” she said. “I would never, ever pursue Donald.”
Jackson then went into detail about her history with Trump and said in reality, it was the other way around.
“Donald has always been very, very nice to me,” Jackson began. “He’s a very nice man, don’t get me wrong. He’s always been nice. He’s always called me up. He’s always asked me, ‘Would you like something?’ ‘Would you like to go to dinner?’ ‘What are you doing tonight?’ And I’ve always been very polite to him and said, ‘No, that’s very kind of you, thank you very much, but I think I’m going to stay home and read a book.'”
“And I’ve always said things like this to him, because I didn’t go out, I didn’t date, I didn’t do those things,” she continued.
“And I think because of that, it got out in the tabloids. Not though me, but through someone else. And Donald doesn’t like the fact that he was rejected and the public knows about it. He has an ego.”
Jackson then claimed she was shocked Trump would make such false claims, because he had always been nice to her.
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“So because of that, this man comes on television, he goes to the tabloids, and he says such terrible things about me. And I’m in total shock like, ‘This is the nice guy who would always call me and talk to me. I have never called him, he calls me all the time. And I would never go out with him and that’s what it is.”
La Toya Joins ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ And Gets Fired By Donald Trump
Jackson reunited with Trump when she joined the cast of Celebrity Apprentice. In 2013, she spoke with Digital Spy about her experience on what would be her second time on the show.
“It’s very exciting,” Jackson said. “I learned this time you can not really let your heart or emotions get too involved… This is business and you’ve got to keep it business. You can’t let your emotions or heart be a part of this. And I think Donald’s very, very good at that; he knows how to separate the two.”
Jackson was fired from the show during her first appearance in 2011. She raised $65,000 for her chosen charity, AIDS Project Los Angeles. Jackson said she was initially nervous to return to the show two years later.
“I wanted to do it in the very beginning but the second time around I was a bit hesitant because I knew what I was faced with the first time,” Jackson said. “And I said, ‘You know what, you never give up, you always have to keep believing, you have to believe that you’re the winner, come through this really straight-forward and strong’, and I went for it.”
She continued, “I went for it, because if I’ve learned anything I’ve learned what Trump has taught us all – that we need to put our best foot forward and don’t let anybody block us from anything that we wish to do or want to do. I felt it was very, very important to bring awareness as well to my charity, which was National Network To End Domestic Violence because this show is so big and so wonderful.”
La Toya Has Said That Trump Is Misunderstood In Past Interviews
In April 2013, Jackson sat down with The Hollywood Reporter for an interview. During the chat, she shared her thoughts on Trump. She said that he was simply misunderstood and not what people perceived.
“Donald is a very nice man,” Jackson said.
“He’s very sweet, he’s very kind. I know there are people out there who think he’s prejudiced. Donald is not prejudiced whatsoever. Republican, that’s different. However, I will say that there’s a lot of misconceptions about him that people don’t really realize. His heart is good. He will put out a fire in two seconds. He speaks what’s really on his mind, what he’s thinking at the moment.”
Two years earlier, Jackson spoke with Reuters and shared similar thoughts on Trump, calling him “a wonderful person.”
“He’ll probably kill me for saying this, but I think he just likes to come off hard sometimes, because he really isn’t, not at all,” Jackson said. “I love that guy.”
