US President Donald Trump has long said he’s skilled in the art of the deal. And not just in business or politics but with wives, according to reports about his prenup with second wife Marla Maples.

Along with a stingy payout, one of the more bizarre revelations about the Maples deal was that their daughter never bear arms for her country.

Mr Trump insisted on the “modern-day necessity” of pre-nuptial agreements before his three marriages, despite saying after his most recent wedding to model Melania Knavs “it’s a hard, painful, ugly tool”.

There’s nothing fun about it, said the President, according to Business Insider.

“But there comes a time when you have to say, ‘Darling, I think you’re magnificent and I care for you deeply, but if things don’t work out, this is what you’re going to get’.”

Mr Trump, 72, has never spoken about the specifics of his legal agreement with First Lady Melania, 49, other than to say she’s on board.

“The beautiful thing is that she agrees with it,” Mr Trump was quoted by gossip columnist Liz Smith as saying.

Donald Trump returns from Mar-a-Lago with son Barron and wife Melania on March 10. Photo: Getty

The former real estate baron’s first taste of a working prenup came during his first divorce in 1992 from Ivana Trump, mother of his three oldest children Don Jr, 41, Ivanka, 37, and Eric, 35.

The cause of their split, Ivana, 70, wrote in her 2017 memoir Raising Trump, was Mr Trump’s affair with beauty queen Maples.

Mr Trump with ex-wife Ivana and kids Eric and Ivanka at Mar-a-Lago in 1998. Photo: Getty

That romance led to the infamous ‘Best Sex I’ve Ever Had’ New York Post headline in 1990 and the handing over to Ivana of $US14 million (all figures are in US dollars), the couple’s Greenwich estate and $650,000 per year in child support.

Ivana seemed philosophical: “Don’t get mad. Get everything!”

It’s not advice Ms Maples, 55, mother of Mr Trump’s daughter Tiffany, 25, was able to put to good use during her doozy of a divorce settlement from Mr Trump, Vanity Fair now claims.

Marla Maples and Mr Trump at a charity day in Amagansett in 1996. Photo: Getty

The magazine claimed to have a copy of the “draconian” prenup, whose conditions are at odds with Mr Trump’s public image “as a free-spending billionaire in his gilded triplex penthouse,” said Vanity Fair.

It said the White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

As Vanity Fair put it, the 1993 deal Mr Trump made with Ms Maples was a “raging success” from a business viewpoint, although “Marla was under duress”.

In the complicated financial document, Mr Trump put his worth at $1.17 billion, although he didn’t appear on Forbes‘ most wealthy lists between 1990 and 1995.

Ms Maples had $100,000 in the bank.

Mr Trump overstated his net worth, said Vanity Fair, so Ms Maples could never allege he hid money from her.

His goal? To protect what he did have.

Ms Maples said the prenup “had been placed before me just five days before our 1993 wedding,” according to The New York Post.

She reportedly wanted $25 million, but Mr Trump was only prepared to offer her $1 million if they separated within five years, plus another $1 million to buy a house.

Trump also would pay child support for Tiffany until she was 21 —with several unusual provisos.

Startlingly, she would be cut off from her father’s bank accounts if she joined either the Peace Corps or the military.

On June 6, Mr Trump spoke glowingly of the armed forces at D Day commemorations in Portsmouth. Last year he was so concerned with the need for the US to protect its borders he mooted the idea of making a ‘Space Force’ a reality by 2020.

And Mr Trump with Marla and TIffany at Mar-a-Lago in March 1997. Photo: Getty

According to reports, Ms Maples “caved” to the prenup 24 hours before 1000 guests were due to arrive at New York’s Plaza Hotel for the December 1993 wedding.

“We basically came to an agreement that for the first few years we would agree on something and then tear it up,” Ms Maples told a journalist, according to Vanity Fair.

She also said the hoped to re-negotiate a better deal after five years.

The marriage only lasted four.