Dozens of women from Donald Trump's past have come forward to share stories of his controversial treatment of women – including one who says she was asked to parade around his Mar-a-Lago mansion in a bikini.
The anecdote is just one of many in a lengthy New York Times feature, based on more than 50 interviews, that paints the picture of a businessman obsessed with the appearance and bodies of the women who he was involved with both professionally and romantically.
One of the most striking examples is provided by bikini model Rowanne Brewer Lane who dated the tycoon in the nineties.
She tells how she was invited to Trump's Florida mansion, where she arrived to find a pool party filled with 50 models, according to the Times.
It only took mere minutes for the Donald, 44 at the time, to be completely taken with the 26-year-old and he gave her a private tour of his home, before asking if she would like to swim.
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Interviews with dozens of women who have worked for Donald Trump or interacted with him socially reportedly reveal a pattern of often unsettling personal behavior by the Republican presidential candidate
Donald Trump's ex-girlfriend, model Rowanne Brewer Lane (pictured with Trump, right, in 1990) told of how she had only just met Trump during his pool party at Mar-a-Lago in 1990 when he asked her to put on a swimsuit
There was just one problem – Lane did not have a swimsuit. But this was reportedly no problem for The Donald.
'He took me into a room and opened drawers and asked me to put on a swimsuit,' she said., according to The New York Times.
When she revealed she didn't have a suit, he gave her a bikini to put on before taking her to the pool to show to his guests.
'He brought me out to the pool and said: "That is a stunning Trump girl, isn't it?'' Brewer Lane recalled. She later became romantically involved with Trump.
The anecdote is just one of many in a lengthy New York Times feature that paints the picture of a businessman obsessed with the appearance and bodies of the women who he was involved with both professionally and romantically.
The women recounted episodes to The Times in which Trump treated women as sexual objects and made comments about their bodies.
Meanwhile, some women said Trump had encouraged them in their careers and promoted them within his businesses, often in positions in which women tended to be excluded.
Brewer Lane (pictured), met Trump when she was 26 and when he was 44 and in the midst of his first divorce from his then wife, Ivana Trump
When asked about the unflattering incidents described in the article, Trump either denied that they took place or disputed the details, the newspaper said.
'A lot of things get made up over the years,' Trump told theTimes. 'I have always treated women with great respect.'
A Trump representative did not immediately respond to a request by Reuters for comment.
That party at Mar-a-Lago turned into a brief, whirlwind romance between Brewer Lane and Trump, who at the time was 44 and in the midst of his first divorce from Ivana Trump.
In February, she told Inside Edition how Trump was pondering a presidential run 25 years ago, and how the 'gentle' billionaire treated her sweetly during their time together.
She noted that despite The Donald's infamously powerful public personality, in private, he was 'more gentle'.
'It was a spark from the beginning,' she told Inside Edition. 'He was funny!'
Brewer Lane, a model, (pictured)had reportedly dated Trump until they eventually went their separate ways after just three months, as work pressures pulled them apart
But despite all of the glamour and excitement - including a helicopter flight across the country to the Mike Tyson fight - there was also the pressure of being in the public eye.
'It was extremely intense,' Brewer said, recalling their first time in public together, with paparazzi all around.
Brewer and Trump eventually went their separate ways after just three months, as work pressures pulled them apart.
Barbara Res, who oversaw construction of Trump's Manhattan business headquarters, said he would sometimes interrupt meetings with comments about women's figures.
During a job interview for a Los Angeles project, for example, Trump made a random aside about Southern California women. 'They take care of their asses,' Res recalled Trump saying.
Res said Trump only had the most beautiful women in the office taking lunch orders, wanting everyone in the room to think 'that all the women who worked for him were beautiful'.
And she said Trump was hardly shy when it came to making comments about his own colleagues' bodies - including hers.
Res gained weight at one point while working for Trump, recalling that he told her: 'You like your candy.'
'It was him reminding me that I was overweight,' Res told the Times.
Barbara Res, (pictured left and right) who oversaw construction of Trump's Manhattan business headquarters, said he would sometimes interrupt meetings with comments about women's figures
During a job interview for a Los Angeles project, for example, Trump made a random aside about Southern California women. 'They take care of their asses,' Res (pictured far right with Trump on the cover of Savvy Woman) recalled Trump saying
Louise Sunshine, a fellow colleague, heard similar comments from Trump when she gained weight but instead saw them as someone reminding her 'how beautiful' she was when she was thin.
But his comments about weight had a much more damaging effect on Miss Universe 1996 Alicia Machado, who said Trump's bullying led her to become bulimic and anorexic for five years.
Machado gained weight after winning the title and asked the organization to bring in a doctor to help her shed the pounds.
But when she showed up at the gym in the hotel the organization had put her up in, 90 media outlets were waiting for her – and so was Trump.
'I was about to cry in that moment with all the cameras there,' she told the Times. 'I said, 'I don't want to do this, Mr Trump.' He said, 'I don't care.'
Trump said he will 'plead guilty' to pushing Machado to lose weight and said he has zero regrets about it. But it was a moment Machado said has taken 20 years of therapy to work through.
Former Miss California Carrie Prejean, who participated in Trump's Miss USA contest in 2009, recalled a similar experience in which a number of contestants felt humiliated by Trump.
She recalled the Donald asking all the contestants to line up onstage in their revealing opening number outfits, so he and his entourage could inspect each girl one by one.
Trump's comments about weight had a much more damaging effect on Miss Universe 1996 Alicia Machado pictured), who said Trump's bullying led her to become bulimic and anorexic for five years
Louise Sunshine, a former Trump executive, (left) heard comments from Trump when she gained weight. Barbara Fife, a deputy New York mayor in the 1990s, (right) recalled Trump one telling her he was in a hurry because he had date tonight with a model for Victoria's Secret
Trump then asked each contestant to step forward and declare who they thought was the most beautiful girl there.
'It became clear that the point of the whole exercise was for him to divide the room between girls he personally found attractive and those he did not,' she told the Times.
'Many of the girls found the exercise humiliating. Some of the girls were sobbing backstage after he left, devastated to have failed… to impress "The Donald".'
Trump said in an interview with the paper that he would 'never do that'.
That obsession with women's bodies even reportedly trickled down to his own daughter. Miss Universe 1997 Brooke Lee revealed he once asked for her opinion on Ivanka's physique.
'Don't' you think my daughter's hot? She's hot right?' she said the GOP frontrunner asked of his then 16-year-old teenage daughter.
'I was like, 'Really?' That's just weird. That's creepy.'
Trump earned a reputation for being seen with beautiful women dating back to his days at a New York military-style boarding school where he was named 'ladies' man' in the yearbook and later bragging about going on dates with Victoria's Secret models.
Trump pictured with his ex-wife Ivana Trump, right, in September 2014 at the Trump National Golf Club
From his powerful and unyielding father, Fred C Trump, he had learned how to deal with women, according to the Times.
In the late 1970s, Ivana Trump learned while at dinner one night with her then-boyfriend Donald and his family that the elder Trump exerted control when it came to decision making.
During dinner, she had made the mistake of asking for what she wanted when the waiter was taking orders but the elder Trump corrected her, she recalled in a previously unpublished interview with Michael D'Antonio, the author of 'The Truth About Trump,' the Times reported.
'I told the waiter, 'I would like to have fish.' O.K., so I could have the fish,' she recalled.
'And Fred would say to the waiter: 'No, Ivana is not going to have a fish. She is going to have a steak.''
'I said, 'No, I'm going to have my fish.' And Donald would come home and say, 'Ivana, why would you have a fish instead of a steak?''
'I say, 'Because I'm not going to be told by somebody to have something which I don't want.''
Trump later defended his father's behavior, saying his father would have only said that 'out of love' and 'only on the basis that he thought 'that would be better for her,' according to the Times.
To this day, Trump regards his parents as models and praises his stay-at-home mother for accommodating a husband who was constantly working and also for her 'brilliant' management of the situation, The Times reported.
As a candidate, Trump has made frequent references to his record in business as evidence of how American women would benefit if he is elected
'If something got interrupted because he was going to inspect a housing site or something, she would handle that so beautifully,' he said. 'She was an ideal woman,' he added.
It was an ideal Trump would later regret not creating for himself when he appointed Ivana to be the president of both Trump Castle, a major casino in Atlantic City, and the storied Plaza Hotel.
Ivana was only paid an annual salary of $1 for running Trump Castle - and later Trump said he regretted giving her a leadership role at all because 'work was all she wanted to talk about.'
'I will never again give a wife responsibility within my business,' he said in his 1997 book The Art of the Comeback.
Trump once told Res that women often worked harder than men - but said men 'tend to be better than women'.
But he added, 'a good woman is better than 10 good men'.
'He really thought he was complimenting me,' Res told the Times.
As a candidate, Trump has made frequent references to his record in business as evidence of how American women would benefit if he is elected.
He has often said that no one 'cherishes' or 'respects' women more than him.
Throughout his improbable campaign, Trump has managed to deflect criticism about his attitude to women, fueled by verbal insults he lobbed at Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly (right) and former Republican candidate Carly Fiorina (left)
Some of those interviewed praised Trump for giving women positions of power.
'I think there are mischaracterizations about him,' Jill Martin, assistant counsel at the Trump Organization, told theTimes.
'For me, he's made it a situation where I can really excel at my job and still devote the time necessary for my family.'
The story comes less than two weeks after the last of Trump's Republican rivals dropped out, all but assuring him the party's presidential nomination this summer.
Throughout his improbable campaign, Trump has managed to deflect criticism about his attitude to women, fueled by verbal insults he lobbed at Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly and former Republican candidate Carly Fiorina.
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