Emma Thompson has said she once turned down an offer from Donald Trump to stay in Trump Tower and have dinner with him.

The Saving Mr Banks actress was a guest on Swedish news outlet SVT when she revealed that Trump had asked her on a date years before he became US president.

As the host and guests talked about Trump, Emma said: “He asked me out once. You wanna hear?”

Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson turned down Donald Trump (Isabel Infantes/PA)

She explained that she had been in the US filming 1998 release Primary Colors and that she had just had divorce papers come through from her marriage to Kenneth Branagh, which lasted from 1989 to 1995.

Emma said: “The phone rings in my trailer, which it’s never done before, so it’s like a moose had just entered my trailer.

“I lift up the phone, ‘Hi, it’s Donald Trump here.’ I said, ‘Really? Can I help you?’

Donald Trump
Donald Trump called Emma (Niall Carson/PA)

“He said, ‘I wonder if I could offer you some accommodation in one of my Trump Towers, they’re really comfortable. I think we would get on very well, maybe we could have dinner some time.’”

Emma continued: “I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was on my own and I just said, ‘Erm, I’ll get back to you.’”

She said that she had not met up with him, but joked: “I wish I had, think of the stories.”