--- title: Candice Bergen Admits She Once Had a Blind Date with Trump description: The 'Home Away' actress recalled an ill-fated rendezvous between her 18-year-old self and a young Donald Trump, calling him a "douche." canonical: https://time.com/4941328/candice-bergen-donald-trump-date/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-14T16:01:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:28.462Z og:title: Candice Bergen Details Her Color-Coordinated Date with Trump og:description: "He was a good-looking guy. And a douche." og:url: https://time.com/4941328/candice-bergen-donald-trump-date/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e5a5686397bbc2a/6988ddc4fb4eacc71f893b88/candace-bergen.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Celebrities Visit SiriusXM - September 6, 2017 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Candice Bergen Details Her Color-Coordinated Date with Trump twitter:description: "He was a good-looking guy. And a douche." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e5a5686397bbc2a/6988ddc4fb4eacc71f893b88/candace-bergen.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Candice Bergen Describes Her Very Color-Coordinated Date With Donald Trump > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=b796eaba-2abe-4ac0-9ea7-f06f03dba7f1&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: A Body Language Expert Analyzes Trump and Putin's First Meeting [Watch (HLS stream): A Body Language Expert Analyzes Trump and Putin's First Meeting](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/LpHu3R2W.m3u8) (1:45)  _Published 2017-07-07. TIME spoke with Patti Wood, a body language expert, to read between the lines._  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Sep 14, 2017 4:01 PM UTC  Actress Candice Bergen visits the SiriusXM Studios on September 6, 2017 in New York City. Actress Candice Bergen visits the SiriusXM Studios on September 6, 2017 in New York City. Taylor Hill—Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Sep 14, 2017 4:01 PM UTC Famously no-nonsense actress [Candice Bergen](http://time.com/3768622/10-questions-with-candice-bergen/) has a story to tell about the time she went on a blind date with none other than the current U.S. President. During an interview with Harry Connick Jr., Bergen recalled that fateful evening with [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4941110/donald-trump-crooked-hillary-clinton-lost-the-election-because-she-had-no-game/) many years ago. “I was 18,” [Bergen said](http://ew.com/tv/2017/09/13/candice-bergen-donald-trump-blind-date/) of the time of her date. “He was a nice-looking guy, I mean, he was. And I was in college, and it’s where he was going to be going to college… It was like a blind date. He called me in the dorm. I was bored,” she explained. (Bergen attended the University of Pennsylvania just like Trump, although she eventually left the school to pursue her modeling and acting career.) But that’s not all: “He picked me up. He was wearing a burgundy three-piece suit with burgundy patent leather boots, and he was in a burgundy limousine, so it was very color-coordinated. I was home by nine.” When pressed, she clarified that “nine” was P.M., not A.M. “It was a very short dinner,” she noted. On a Wednesday night appearance for Andy Cohen’s _Watch What Happens Live_, Bergen — wearing a “Free Melania” sweater — [reiterated](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/candice-bergen-trump%5Fus%5F59ba7f09e4b02da0e13f88d3) the same version of events. “He was a good-looking guy. And a douche,” she said of her former date, deadpan. She added there was no physical contact between the two. Trump, of course, went on to marry three times. For her part, Bergen’s other dates seem to have [found better success:](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/candice-bergen-and-her-fine-romances/2/) she was married for 15 years to the French filmmaker Louis Malle before his passing, and has spent the last 17 with husband Marshall Rose, a real estate magnate. ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] If you look at that handshake, he is the one [00:02] that's initiating his body and he offers his hand, [00:06] more palm up, more in supplication. Usually he offers [00:09] it palm down to be on top. When you use your left [00:13] hand in a handshake, typically it's a power move that [00:14] to say, I surround you, but there's [00:19] variances in that, and in this particular case, Trump [00:24] put his left hand up underneath Putin's arm and [00:29] pats it three times. Three actually has a strong [00:33] symbolic reference in nonverbal communication And [00:34] typically it means a true feeling or a true emotion it [00:39] means I support you, I really support you. Trump has a [00:40] standard seating position where he has his legs spread [00:40] apart with his [00:44] hands clasped and pointed between his legs. It's [00:50] all about manliness. And typically, Trump's legs [00:55] are slightly further apart. So inthis case, they're not [00:57] quite as far apart. His slouch is a little bit more [01:00] pronounced. Trump is actually facing toward Putin [01:00] when Putin is speaking. He's nodding his head as Putin [01:01] speaks, even though he doesn't understand what Putin [01:01] is saying at the time. That's another of I have less [01:04] power, I want to be nice to [01:09] you. Trump likes to pull the hand towards him. In [01:13] this case, the [01:17] handshake clasp is actually more towards Putin. Putin [01:21] has his left arm bent as a shield over his heart when [01:23] he shakes hands, and Trump has his left Hand over [01:28] his pelvis, and that's [01:32] also protection. There was a couple of moments when [01:35] they looked very similar as if they were matching and [01:37] mirroring, or at least as if Trump was matching [01:42] and mirroring. 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