Former President Donald Trump announced the death of his first wife, Ivana Trump, on July 14.
Ivana Trump is the mother of the oldest Trump children – Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump. She was 73 years old.
“I am very saddened to inform all of those that loved her, of which there are many, that Ivana Trump has passed away at her home in New York City,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “She was a wonderful, beautiful, and amazing woman, who led a great and inspirational life. Her pride and joy were her three children, Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric. She was so proud of them, as we were all so proud of her. Rest In Peace, Ivana!”
The Czechoslovakian model, born Ivanna Marie Zelnickova, married Trump in 1977. The couple was married for 15 years. She held several positions in the Trump Organization including executive vice president of the Trump Organization and president of the Trump Castle Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City.
In a 1988 interview with Vanity Fair, Ivana Trump said “Donald calls me his twin as a woman.”
After their contentious divorce in 1992, Ivana Trump married Riccardo Mazzucchelli in 1995. The pair divorced in 1997. In 2008, the former president hosted her wedding to Rossano Rubicondi at Mar-A-Lago. Ivanka Trump was the maid of honor.
Ivana Trump discussed her ex-husband’s presidential campaign with The Post in April of 2016.
“Probably five years before our divorce, Reagan or somebody brought him a letter and said, ‘You should run for president,’” she said during the interview. “So he was thinking about it. But then… there was the divorce, there was the scandal, and American women loved me and hated him. So there was no way that he would go into [politics] at that point. But he was always tooling around with the idea.”
She also said she thought Melania Trump, Donald Trump’s current wife, would “adapt just fine” to being the First Lady.
“She never did anything wrong to me. I wish them all the best,” the businesswoman said.
Her children released a joint statement remembering their mother as “an incredible woman — 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,” read the statement, per NBC News. “She taught her children about grit and toughness, compassion and determination. She will be dearly missed by her mother, her three children and ten grandchildren.”
A cause of death has not yet been released.
According to The New York Post, Ivana Trump was found dead in her Manhattan apartment just after 12:40 P.M. by police who were called for a wellness check.
