Ivana Trump, the former president’s first wife, has died aged 73

Ivana Trump, a skier-turned-businesswoman who in the 1980s was the first wife of former President Donald Trump and the mother of his eldest children and half of the advertising couple, has died in New York, her family said on Thursday. He was 73 years old.

The former president posted on social media that he died at his home in Manhattan.

“She was a wonderful, beautiful, amazing woman who led a great and inspiring life,” he wrote in Truth Social. The couple had three children, Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric.

“He was as proud of them as all of us of him,” he wrote. “Rest in peace, Ivana!”

Two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that police are investigating whether Ivana Trump fell down the stairs and believe her death was accidental.

According to people, he was found unconscious near the stairs of the house. People were unable to discuss the matter publicly and spoke with the AP on condition of anonymity. The official cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner.

“It was a very sad day, a very sad day,” Eric Trump said as he left his mother’s home near Central Park.

In a statement, she and her siblings called her an “incredible woman: a business force, a world-class athlete, a radiant beauty and a loving mother and friend” and survivor.

“He fled communism and embraced this country,” the three said in the statement. “He taught his kids about strength and endurance, compassion and determination.”

A Czech-born ski racer and former model, he met the future president in the 1970s and quickly came to see him as “a smart, funny American good guy,” as he wrote in a 2017 book. 1977.

She’s become an icon in her own right, sporting ’80s style and glam, complete with her signature blonde hair. She influenced Patsy Stone’s look in the classic British comedy absolutely fabulousOne character praises Ivana as “huge” in one episode.

Trump himself would eventually appear in the 1996 hit film. first wives club With the already famous phrase: “Ladies, you have to be strong and independent and remember, don’t be angry, accept everything”.

The Trumps became partners in love and business. He ran one of his Atlantic City casinos and helped make Trump Tower an image of ’80s success (or excess, for some).

According to Donald Trump biographer Wayne Barrett, he turned down architects to install a 60-foot waterfall in the Trump Tower atrium and went to an Italian quarry to select the pink and cream Breccia Pernice marble that lines its floors and walls.

Barbara Ress, former executive of the Trump Organization and responsible for the construction of the skyscraper, recalled that Ivana helped the decorator and was very interested in details such as the uniforms of the doormen.

“He did everything he could to impress Donald, to win his approval,” Ress said. “He was traveling from place to place and leaving his children behind. He had a tremendous work ethic. “

The two were the setting for the see-and-be-seen scene in New York before their equally public and messy divorce in 1992. Donald Trump met his future wife, Marla Maples.

“I couldn’t turn on the TV without my name,” Ivana Trump wrote in her book.

During their separation in the early 1990s, Ivana Trump accused him of rape. He later said that he didn’t mean it literally, but that he felt insulted.

Donald Trump said at the time that he regrets Ivana accompanying him on business, blaming him for the breakup of his marriage.

“I think putting your wife to work is very dangerous,” he told ABC News in the early 1990s. “If you’re in the business, I really think it’s a bad idea to put your wife with you,” he said. , complaining that when he became an entrepreneur, “the smoothness disappeared”.

However, Ivana ended up being friends with her ex-husband, whom she called “Donald”. He enthusiastically endorsed his 2016 White House candidacy and said it would “make a big difference” in the United States, saying New York Post that she was giving him suggestions about her campaign.

“We talk before and after the show and he asks me what I thought,” she said. He said he advised her to “take it easy”.

“But Donald can’t keep quiet,” he added. “He is very sincere. He just says how he is. “

Although sympathetic, it sometimes disturbed the feathers.

In 2017, while promoting his book, he told good morning america That he spoke to the then president every two weeks and had his direct number from the White House, but he didn’t want to call too much because of the presence of then-first lady Melania Trump.

“I don’t want to cause any jealousy or anything like that because I’m basically Trump’s first wife, okay?” Ivana said with a laugh. “I’m the first lady, okay?”

A spokeswoman for Melania Trump at the time responded, saying that “obviously there was no substance to the ex’s statement, unfortunately it’s just hypocritical and attention-seeking noise.”

Ivana Trump has continued her business adventures in recent years, promoting an Italian diet for weight loss in 2018.

“Health is the most important thing we have. Let’s continue,” he said at the time.

His death comes during a difficult week for the Trump family. Their two sons, Donald Jr. and Ivanka, and the former president will appear in the coming days in the New York attorney general’s civil investigation into the family’s business practices.

Ivana Trump was born in 1949 in Gotwaldov, formerly Zlin, in Czechoslovakia, the daughter of Ivana Zelnickova, who was recently renamed by the Communists who took over the country in 1948.

He has been married four times, most recently to Italian actor Rossano Rubicondi. They split in 2009 after a year of marriage but remained apart until 2019 when she told him New York Post The relationship ran its course. He died of cancer last year, aged 49.