The Trump family announced in a statement that Ivana Trump, the first wife of the late president Donald Trump, had passed away at the age of 73.
Donald Trump referred to his first wife as “a wonderful, beautiful, and amazing woman, who led a great and inspirational life” in a statement that was posted to Truth Social.
Eric Trump, Ivana’s son, paid tribute to his mother in a post on Instagram.
Eric Trump penned the following: “Our mother was an incredible woman — a force in business, a world-class athlete, a radiant beauty, and caring mother and friend.” “She embraced this nation after leaving communism. She instilled in her kids the values of compassion, perseverance, and grit.”
Ivana Trump was found by police to be unresponsive at the scene, and emergency medical personnel pronounced her dead, according to a statement from the New York Police Department. The city’s medical examiner will determine the cause of death because there were no indications of foul play.
According to a biography on the website of talent agency CMG Worldwide, Ivana Trump grew up in Gottwaldov, Czechoslovakia, which is south of Prague. Before starting a modeling career, she moved to Canada in the 1970s and worked as a ski instructor.
Marriage to Donald Trump
She met Donald Trump in 1976 while visiting New York for work. The biography states that the couple got hitched in 1977.
Her first child, Donald Trump Jr., was born in the same year. Her daughter Ivanka and son Eric were born the following year.
Ivana and Donald actively worked to create a celebrity aura around their union because they were frequently used as tabloid fodder.
Ivana Trump served as the Trump Organization’s vice president of interior design. She worked on the design of Trump Tower and held the position of CEO of a few Trump hotel properties.
The couple’s failing marriage was featured on tabloid front pages, and they eventually got divorced in 1992.
In the 1993 book Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald Trump, Ivana Trump claimed that her husband had raped her during their marriage and tore out her hair, but she later recanted this claim in a statement made just before the book’s publication.
Mr. Trump and I had marital relations on one occasion in 1989 when he acted very differently toward me than he had throughout our marriage, she claimed. “As a woman, I felt violated because he wasn’t showing me the usual amount of love and tenderness. I called this a “rape,” but I don’t want my words to be taken literally or in a bad way.
The claim was labeled as “obviously false” by Donald Trump.
After the divorce, she continued to be well-known and capitalized on her notoriety by appearing in commercials for well-known companies and starting a cosmetics line called Ivana Haute Couture.
After Trump was elected president, she caused controversy by referring to herself as the “first lady” in an interview with ABC News.
I have the White House’s direct number, but I don’t want to call him there because Melania is there and I don’t want to arouse any jealousy since I am essentially the first Trump wife, she said. I’m the first lady.
Donald, Ivanka, and Eric Trump, Ivana Trump’s three adult children, and several grandchildren, all survive her.
