Ivana Trump has said that her daughter Ivanka likes her father Donald’s third wife ‘fine’ in a rare public insight into their relationship – adding that the first daughter did not like Trump’s second wife Marla Maples.
Ivana, who is mother to Ivanka, Don Jr. and Eric, refused to even name Marla Maples as she discussed her 37-year-old daughter’s relationship with her stepmother, 48.
‘She likes her [Melania] fine, because she didn’t cause me to break up the marriage like the other one – I don’t even want to pronounce her name,’ Ivana said of Maples in an interview with The Atlantic.
Another source described as close with Ivanka in the article – whose author had a short off-the-record meeting with the first daughter – said the two women have a ‘desire to be mutually respectful,’ but added that their relationship is nowhere near ‘affectionate.’
Ivanka, and her husband Jared Kushner, both serve as senior advisers to President Trump.
Stephanie Grisham, the spokeswoman for the first lady, told the magazine that Ivanka and Melania have ‘always shared a close relationship and still do today.’
Relationship: Ivanka Trump – who was described by her mother Ivana as liking Melania Trump ‘fine’ – headed to work at the White House Friday
A source close with Ivanka said she doesn’t have an ‘affectionate’ relationship with the first lady, but added they have a mutual interest in getting along. Although the two have appeared together during the campaign and the Trump presidency, joint appearances are rare
Trump’s first wife Ivana, 70, says their daughter Ivanka likes First Lady Melania Trump more than ‘the other one,’ referring to Trump’s second wife model Marla Maples. Ivana was seen in New York Thursday buying a hot dog near her Upper East Side home
Ivana and President Donald Trump have three children, Donald Trump Jr., (left) Eric Trump, and Ivanka. They remain close to their mother but all three are involved in their father’s political career – Don Jr. and Eric as prominent surrogates, and Ivanka as a White House adviser
Trump’s first wife said around the time of their divorce that Ivanka would come home from school crying every day and ask if she was still going to be Ivanka Trump even after her parents were no longer together.
Ivana married Trump in 1977. But Trump began an affair with model Marla Maples in 1989. The two got divorced in 1992 after an ugly public battle between Ivana and Marla, 15 years her junior.
It exploded into the public eye shortly after Christmas 1989 when Trump flew Maples on his private jet to Aspen, Colorado, where he had already traveled with his wife and three young children.
He put Maples up in a hotel but three days into the trip his mistress collided with the family in a restaurant and engaged in a screaming match with Ivana in front of the children.
‘It’s out! It’s finally out!’ Maples yelled.
The confrontation gripped the nation. ‘With Dynansty dead, just tune to the Trumps,’ the Chicago Tribune quipped.
In her memoir The Trump Card, Ivanka – who was nine – claimed that she was accosted by reporters as she walked to school following the incident.
She claimed she was even asked to confirm an infamous story on the front page of the New York Post, that Maples had told friends of her lover: ‘Best sex I’ve ever had.’
Maples married Trump in 1993, two months before their daughter Tiffany was born.
The couple announced they were separating in 1997. They divorced two years later.
Trump began a relationship with Melania shortly after he met her in 1998, and they married in 2005, Barron, Trump’s youngest son, was born in 2006.
The description of the first daughter and first lady’s chilly relationship came in a profile of Ivanka in which her father claimed she could run for president and win – and revealed how he had wanted to make her his ambassador to the United Nations.
Trump once again gushes about his daughter Ivanka in a new profile where he says his unpaid advisor ‘created millions of jobs’ and confirms he considered her for two prominent posts with global reach.
Trump called his daughter a ‘natural diplomat,’ and said he considered naming her both to run the World Bank or serve as the nation’s representative at the United Nations, where Nikki Haley’s departure created a vacancy.
Ivana and Trump got divorced after he engaged in a long-time affair with Marla Maples which began in 1989 and culminated in his divorced and remarriage in 1992. The two divorced in 1999, two years after they had announced their separation
Infamous: At the height of Donald Trump’s public affair with Marla Maples, the New York Post’s front page carried this claim. Ivanka Trump was later to claim she was asked about the boast as she walked to school
Online friends: Despite Ivana Trump saying that Ivanka does not like Marla Maples, the president’s second wife commented on this picture posted this week by Ivanka of her sons in their bedroom
‘If I did, they’d say nepotism, when it would’ve had nothing to do with nepotism. But she would’ve been incredible,’ Trump said of of the UN post.
Trump made the claim about his daughter’s suitability for the powerful posts in an interview with the Atlantic.
‘She went into the whole helping-people-with-jobs, and I wasn’t sure that was going to be the best use of her time, but I didn’t know how successful she’d be,’ Trump said, highlighting his daughter’s efforts securing corporate pledges to provide job training.
‘She’s created millions of jobs, and I had no idea she’d be that successful,’ Trump said, crediting his daughter for a portion of the job gains during a continued economic expansion during his term.
Trump said the thing that held him back was a belief that others would claim he pushed forward his daughter, whose husband Jared also works as a key advisor, due to nepotism.
‘She would’ve been great at the United Nations, as an example.’ I asked why he didn’t nominate her. ‘If I did, they’d say nepotism, when it would’ve had nothing to do with nepotism. But she would’ve been incredible,’ Trump said.
The president sometimes calls his daughter ‘Baby’ in meetings, according to the article
LEGACY: Describing Donald Trump Jr.’s recent activities, Trump said: ‘Don is, uh, he’s enjoying politics; actually, it’s very good’
Trump also praised Tiffany Trump, a law student at Georgetown Law School in Washington D.C. and his son Eric (pictured with wife Lara, who is expecting their second child) who now runs the Trump Organization with Don Jr.
‘I even thought of Ivanka for the World Bank,’ where the U.S. traditionally gets to put forward a leader. ‘She would’ve been great at that because she’s very good with numbers.’
Trump also discussed other members of his clan.
‘Barron is young, but he’s got wonderful potential,’ Trump said of his child with First Lady Melania Trump.
‘And Tiffany’s doing extremely well,’ Trump said of his daughter, who is a student at Georgetown Law School.
Trump held back when briefly describing Donald Trump Jr., who has been whipping up Trump rallies with speeches and defending his father on Twitter. ‘Don is, uh, he’s enjoying politics; actually, it’s very good,’ he said.
‘And Eric is running the business along with Don, and also very much into politics. I mean, the children—the children have been very, very good,’ Trump said.