How historically accurate is The Apprentice?

The Apprentice explores the origin story of Donald Trump, charting his early rise to power decades before he became the controversial political leader he is today.

Starring Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong as Trump and his once mentor Roy Cohn, respectively, the film examines how the business mogul came to be the person he is today. Ali Abbasi's film is said to be inspired by real events, with Trump's campaign claiming it was "pure fiction" when reports first emerged about the film.

Read more: Controversial Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice shocks Cannes audience

Here is everything we know about the movies most controversial moments, how much of it is true and how much of it has been fictionalised for the purpose of the film.

How historically accurate is The Apprentice?

Did Donald Trump rape his first wife Ivana?

Possibly the most controversial scene to be featured in The Apprentice sees Trump (Stan) sexually assaulting his first wife Ivana (Maria Bakalova). In the sequence the pair argue before Trump is depicted telling Ivana he is no longer attracted to her before forcing himself upon her.

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This sequence is based on the late model's 1989 divorce case deposition, in which she claimed Trump had allegedly raped her once during their marriage. These allegations were reported on in 1993 by Harry Hurt III in his book The Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump, and shortly before its publication Ivana disavowed her previous allegations, and did so again in 2015.

Per ABC News, Ivana said in a statement: "During a deposition given by me in connection with my matrimonial case, I stated that my husband had raped me. On one occasion during 1989, Mr. Trump and I had marital relations in which he behaved very differently toward me than he had during our marriage.

"As a woman, I felt violated, as the love and tenderness, which he normally exhibited towards me, was absent. I referred to this as a ‘rape,’ but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense."

Did Donald Trump have plastic surgery?

The Apprentice depicts Trump as undergoing scalp reduction surgery as well as liposuction, and this narrative takes inspiration from Ivana's divorce case deposition.

Per The Daily Beast, she said under oath that Trump allegedly had scalp reduction surgery by her doctor, Dr. Steven Hoefflin, in 1989 and he had flown into a fit of rage as a result of the pain. In the deposition she claimed this was when the sexual assault took place, she also alleged at the time that Trump had liposuction on his waist and chin. Trump denied having had plastic surgery in 1993.

Did Donald Trump take amphetamines?

The Apprentice depicts Trump as taking drugs, with his doctor advising him not to take amphetamines because of the impact it has on his body.

Read more: How The Apprentice's Sebastian Stan transformed into Donald Trump

Trump has long claimed he has never taken drugs or even had alcohol, attributing his tee-total lifestyle to his older brother Fred's struggle with alcohol abuse. His brother died in 1981 at the age of 42 as a result of his substance abuse.

In a 2016 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Trump said: "The alcohol just ate him away and I lost him. Every day he lectured me, 'Look at the mess I’m in. If I ever catch you smoking, you’ll be sorry, drinking even a glass of booze because you’ll like it too much.' He knew I was excessive — if I smoked, four packs a day; if I drank, an alcoholic. Even now, I’ve never had a drink nor cigarette. Freddy did a good job."

Did Roy Cohn mentor Donald Trump?

Yes, Roy Cohn was famously a mentor for Trump, and the lawyer and political fixer was a big influence on the future President particularly when it came to his approach to business dealings.

2019 documentary Where's My Roy Cohn? charts the relationship they had, with director Matt Tyrnauer telling NPR at the time: "Donald Trump is Roy Cohn. He completely absorbed all of the lessons of Cohn, which were attack, always double down, accuse your accusers of what you are guilty of, and winning is everything. And Trump absorbed these lessons and has applied them in every aspect of his life and career."

The pair's working relationship is depicted to have begun when Trump's organisation was being sued by the federal government for racial discrimination in housing. This is true, Cohn represented Trump in the 1970s in the case per The New York Times. And, like the film depicts, Cohn also advised him during his building of Trump Tower.

Did Roy Cohn die of AIDS?

The lawyer was a closeted gay man and denied both his sexuality and having AIDS, The Apprentice depicts him in this light and ends with Cohn dying from AIDS. It is true that Cohn hid his sexuality and he even helped Joseph McCarthy to persecute gay people as an aide during the McCarthy Investigations.

Tyrnauer said of Cohn in his 2019 NPR interview: "Cohn himself was a closet homosexual, yet he and McCarthy conspired to ruin many gay people’s lives because they were accusing them of disloyalty. And this hypocrisy and this bare-knuckle win-at-all-costs philosophy — which, I will add, he passed on to his great student, Donald Trump — is what caused people to consider Roy Cohn to be an evil person."

Cohn maintained that he had liver cancer up until his death in 1986 but it is largely understood that he had died from AIDS.

The Apprentice is out in UK cinemas now