Donald Trump’s First Wife, Ivana Trump, Dies At 73
The mother of three of Donald Trump‘s children and his first wife, Ivana, passed away at the age of 73.
“She was a wonderful, beautiful, and amazing woman, who led a great and inspirational life,” Mr Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social.
The former president and Ms. Trump, who was born in what is now the Czech Republic, wed in 1977. They got divorced in 1992, 15 years later.
Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, and Donald Jr. are their three children together.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the couple was a well-known public figure in New York, and the public was very interested in learning about their breakup.
Ms. Trump launched her own businesses of jewelry, apparel, and cosmetics after they divorced.
In her 2017 memoir Raising Trump, she also discussed raising the three Trump kids.
She said in her letter at the time that she now speaks to Mr. Trump around once a week and that their friendship has improved since their divorce.
In a statement, the Trump family lauded her as “a force in business, a world-class athlete, a radiant beauty, and caring mother and friend”.
“Ivana Trump was a survivor. She fled from communism and embraced this country,” the statement added. “She taught her children about grit and toughness, compassion and determination.”
She married Mr. Trump a second time. She supposedly married Alfred Winklmayr, an Austrian ski instructor and acquaintance, in order to get Austrian citizenship in her first marriage.
She was able to leave her communist homeland of Czechoslovakia thanks to that marriage without defecting.
Ms. Trump, a lifelong skier, is rumored to have participated in national competitions.
But in 1989, a regional Olympic official disproved reports that she served as an alternate on the 1972 Winter Olympic squad.
She held positions as a ski instructor and a model while residing in Canada in the 1970s.
She first met Mr. Trump in 1976, shortly after relocating to New York City, while she was with a group of models. They were married the following year and quickly became a tabloid fixture.
Ms. Trump served in a variety of capacities for the Trump Organization during their marriage, including manager of Manhattan’s renowned Plaza Hotel.
As they argued over four pre-nuptial agreements in 1990, Mr. Trump reportedly locked her out of her hotel office.
Ms. Trump had signed a non-disclosure agreement and collected $14 million (£11.8 million) as part of the divorce settlement when it was finalized in 1992, among other things.
Additionally, she was wed twice more: from 2008 to 2009, to Italian actor Rossano Rubicondi, and from 1995 to 1997, to Italian businessman Riccardo Mazzucchelli.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani wrote on Twitter that Ms Trump was “a truly talented, creative and beautiful person” who had “contributed greatly” to his city.
Maggie Haberman, a New York Times reporter who has covered the Trump family extensively, said she had been “an icon for a lot of women in the 1980s”.
And media personality Piers Morgan described Ms Trump as “a fabulously entertaining lady and great interviewee who remained fiercely loyal to her ex-husband”.
