Courtesy of Michael Campbell
A storyboard from Donald and Ivana Trump's 1995 Pizza Hut stuffed crust commercial.
- Toward the end of a commercial shoot for Pizza Hut's Stuffed Crust Pizza in 1995, then-businessman Donald Trump insisted on doing a final scene that his ex-wife, Ivana Trump, objected to doing.
- The scene alluded to their ongoing divorce, which was public in the New York City tabloids.
- Two ad writers on the commercial told the full story on Business Insider's new podcast, "Household Name".
Toward the end of a commercial shoot for Pizza Hut's stuffed-crust pizza in 1995, then-businessman Donald Trump insisted on doing a final scene that his ex-wife, Ivana Trump, objected to doing.
Ad writers Janet Lyons and Michael Campbell told the story on Business Insider's new podcast, "Household Name".
The final scene of the commercial was meant to allude to their ongoing divorce, which was public in the New York City tabloids at that point.
But the original ending wasn't working and the script needed to be changed, Lyons and Campbell said.
One of their writing partners came up with an idea to improve the final scene. He suggested having both Trumps go for the last slice of pizza with Ivana saying, "May I have the last slice?" Then, Donald would say, "Ivana, you're only entitled to half."
Lyons and Campbell liked the new idea, and they approached Donald and Ivana about the script change for the final scene. Ivana disliked it, but Donald loved it.
"She goes 'Absolutely not! Oh that is vulgar! Absolutely not!'", Lyons said. "And he goes 'What do you mean? It's really funny. We're doing it.'"
Courtesy of Michael Campbell
Donald and Ivana Trump signed a copy of the storyboard from the commercial.
Ivana reiterated that she would not do it, but Lyons remembered that Donald made it clear that it was the only way that the commercial was going to end.
"He just looks at her and he goes 'We're doing it'," Lyons said.
Ivana said she would only do the scene in one take, and they got it done because Trump "knocked it out of the park."
"He was a great actor," Lyons said. "We didn't have to do a second take on anything with him. He just gets it the first time. He knows exactly his persona, and luckily we got it, because she wasn't going to do it again because she didn't like it."
The story is featured on the second episode of Business Insider's "Household Name" podcast. Subscribe and listen here.
You can watch the original commercial below: