--- title: Donald Trump Ex-Girlfriend Rowanne Brewer Lane Refutes NYT description: Rowanne Brewer Lane claims the New York Times "spun" her story to make it appear more negative canonical: https://time.com/4336792/rowanne-brewer-lane-donald-trump/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-16T12:45:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:33:49.203Z article:section: Politics og:title: 'He Was a Gentleman': Trump Ex Refutes Claims About Mistreatment og:description: Rowanne Brewer Lane claims the New York Times "spun" her story og:url: https://time.com/4336792/rowanne-brewer-lane-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2f0fdb356ba349fc/6988933c524fc0054adf7fd8/gettyimages-5309620541.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Meets With Congressional GOP Leaders In Washington DC og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'He Was a Gentleman': Trump Ex Refutes Claims About Mistreatment twitter:description: Rowanne Brewer Lane claims the New York Times "spun" her story twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2f0fdb356ba349fc/6988933c524fc0054adf7fd8/gettyimages-5309620541.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Ex-Girlfriend Comes to His Defense: 'He Was a Gentleman' ## Video: 2016 Time 100 Gala: Donald Trump on the Red Carpet [Watch (HLS stream): 2016 Time 100 Gala: Donald Trump on the Red Carpet](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YP93aLhr.m3u8) (0:50)  _Published 2016-04-27. Donald Trump on the red carpet at the 2016 Time 100 Gala: "Nobody has told me to act more presidential."_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 16, 2016 12:45 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives at Republican National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill ahead of a meeting with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) and GOP House leadership May 12, 2016 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives at Republican National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill ahead of a meeting with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) and GOP House leadership May 12, 2016 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla—Getty ImagesChip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 16, 2016 12:45 PM UTC After the release of a scathing news report about Donald Trump’s treatment of women, one of the [businessman’s former girlfriends is speaking out and alleging the media got her story wrong](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/732166121013575680). “He never made me feel like I was being demeaned in any way,” Rowanne Brewer Lane said Monday on [Fox & Friends](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/732166121013575680). “He never offended me in any way. He was very gracious. I saw him around all types of people, all types of women. He was very kind, thoughtful, generous, you know. He was a gentleman.” The New York _Times_ story [opens with a story involving Brewer Lane and Trump’s first encounter](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/us/politics/donald-trump-women.html?%5Fr=0). The story quotes Brewer Lane as saying: --- > “” --- The article then goes on to describe the encounter as a “a debasing face-to-face encounter between Mr. Trump and a young woman he hardly knew.” Brewer Lane says she believes that is an inaccurate depiction of her relationship with Trump, whom she says never mistreated her. Brewer Lane also insists she never witnessed Trump mistreating other women. Brewer Lane also claims the [New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/us/politics/donald-trump-women.html?%5Fr=0) “spun” her statements to make the encounter appear worse than it was. “They spun it to where it appeared negative. I did not have a negative experience with Donald Trump, and I don’t appreciate them making it look like that I was saying that it was a negative experience because it was not,” she said. Donald Trump has also spoken out against the story on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump). > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/732166121013575680) Trump misspelled Rowanne’s first name in his tweet. The businessman and leading Republican presidential candidate has been lambasted in traditional media for his treatment of women in public, from statements he’s made on his television show the _Apprentice_ to comments he made following a [Fox _News_ debate hosted by Megyn Kelly](http://time.com/4326784/megyn-kelly-donald-trump-fox-news/) last summer. **Read more**: [RNC Chair Says Trump Will Have to ‘Answer for’ Reported Treatment of Women](http://time.com/4336482/donald-trump-reince-priebus-women/) Trump denies that he’s sexist and has called the allegations proof of liberal bias. The New York _Times_ has not yet released a statement about Brewer Lane’s claims. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4336792/rowanne-brewer-lane-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4336792/rowanne-brewer-lane-donald-trump/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Ex-Girlfriend Comes to His Defense: 'He Was a Gentleman'","datePublished":"2016-05-16T12:45:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:33:49.203Z","description":"Rowanne Brewer Lane claims the New York Times \"spun\" her story to make it appear more negative","url":"https://time.com/4336792/rowanne-brewer-lane-donald-trump/","keywords":["Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2f0fdb356ba349fc/6988933c524fc0054adf7fd8/gettyimages-5309620541.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2f0fdb356ba349fc/6988933c524fc0054adf7fd8/gettyimages-5309620541.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Meets With Congressional GOP Leaders In Washington DC","caption":"Donald Trump Meets With Congressional GOP Leaders In Washington DC","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4336792/rowanne-brewer-lane-donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump Ex-Girlfriend Comes to His Defense: 'He Was a Gentleman'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"NYT Interviews Dozens of Women Insulted by Trump","description":"The New York Times interviewed dozens of women and combed through published personal accounts of Donald Trump's questionable relationships with women he's encountered throughout his life.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/46WCV3Uf/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-05-16T18:59:31.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/46WCV3Uf.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4336792/rowanne-brewer-lane-donald-trump/","duration":"PT1M18S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4336792/rowanne-brewer-lane-donald-trump/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"2016 Time 100 Gala: Donald Trump on the Red Carpet","description":"Donald Trump on the red carpet at the 2016 Time 100 Gala: \"Nobody has told me to act more presidential.\"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/YP93aLhr/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-04-27T00:43:22.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YP93aLhr.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4336792/rowanne-brewer-lane-donald-trump/","duration":"PT50S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4336792/rowanne-brewer-lane-donald-trump/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```