Topher Grace: Dating Ivanka Trump ‘wasn’t a political statement’

When he romanced Ivanka Trump back in 2006, Topher Grace likely had no idea his she’d become a First Daughter … or that he’d still be answering to that relationship more than a decade later.

In a new interview with The Daily Beast, the 40-year-old reluctantly admitted to having dated the now-36-year-old daughter of President Donald Trump. “Uh… I did,” he replied.

As the website noted, Grace and Ivanka were spotted dancing, cuddling, and kissing at her 25th birthday party at Las Vegas’ Pure nightclub at the time, a party Chelsea Handler and Adam Levine also attended. By that point, Grace had reportedly dated Anne Hathaway, Ginnifer Goodwin and Emmy Rossum; and Ivanka had been linked to Lance Armstrong and Pierce Brosnan’s son Sean.

But in the new interview, the star of That ‘70s show downplayed the relationship with the fashion designer. “Certainly it wasn’t a political statement,” he explained. “This was a decade ago. I met her here in New York and we went on a couple of dates. I wouldn’t say that we ‘dated,’ but … I didn’t do it for political reasons.”

Grace — who’s currently shooting the drama film Breakthrough with Chrissy Metz and Mike Colter — started dating actress Ashley Hinshaw in 2014 and proposed to her the following year. The couple got married in May 2016 and welcomed daughter Mabel Jane in November 2017.

Now, Grace seems shellshocked by the Trump administration’s actions. “It’s a daily deluge,” he told The Daily Beast. “I can’t even think what the scandal was five weeks ago.”