At the 78th Locarno Film Festival, Emma Thompson, an Oscar-winning actress, shared a rather surprising story from the late 1990s. It was about a day she received a phone call that turned out to be an unexpected invitation from Donald Trump for a date.

Back then, Emma had just finalized her divorce from fellow actor Kenneth Branagh and was busy filming the movie Primary Colors.

Emma recalls being in her trailer when the phone rang:

“Hello, this is Donald Trump,” said the voice on the other end.

Initially, she dismissed it as a prank, but upon reflecting, she found the timing intriguing and joked that he might have been on the lookout for “a nice divorcee” to be his companion.

Emma did not accept the invitation, but she laughed, musing that agreeing might have provided her “a story to tell” and, who knows, maybe even altered “the course of history.”

This amusing revelation was part of a broader discussion about her past relationships. Emma and Branagh had tied the knot in 1989 and went their separate ways in 1995.

Following their divorce, there was much talk about Branagh’s budding relationship with actress Helena Bonham Carter. Despite the gossip, all involved have since moved on with pleasant camaraderie.

Post-divorce, Emma found enduring love with Greg Wise, an actor she met while working on the film Sense and Sensibility. The couple married in 2003 and are blessed with two children.

Meanwhile, Helena Bonham Carter enjoyed a lengthy relationship with filmmaker Tim Burton, and Kenneth Branagh walked down the aisle with art director Lindsay Brunnock in 2003.

Today, Emma cherishes both a successful career and a joyful family life. That unexpected interaction with Trump remains a charming, albeit surprising, tidbit in the tapestry of Hollywood stories.