Ivana Trump says her ex-husband President Donald Trump offered her the ambassadorship to the Czech Republic but she turned it down so she could keep up her jet-set lifestyle and summers in Saint-Tropez.
The Czech native had long been rumored for the post – and floated the idea herself in a 2016 interview with the New York Post.
Now, she tells CBS the president followed through with an offer – which she refused.
‘I was just offered to be the American ambassador to Czech Republic – and Donald told me. He said, “Ivana, if you want it, I give it to you,” Trump told the network.
Ivana Trump says her ex husband President Trump offered her the ambassadorship to the Czech Republic
‘But I like my freedom. I like to do what I want to do, go wherever I want to go with whomever I want to go. And I can afford my lifestyle,’ she explained.
‘Okay, why would I go and say bye-bye to Miami in the winter, bye-bye to Saint-Tropez in the summer, and bye-by to spring and fall in New York? I have a perfect life,’ she said.
Trump had put out the idea herself during the campaign – when she notably backed her ex and said nice things about him during his run.
The Czech native and former model told the Post:’I will suggest that I be ambassador for the Czech Republic,’ she told the paper.
‘[That] is where I’m from and my language and everybody knows me. I’m quite known all around the world. Not only in America. I have written three books, and they were translated in 40 countries in 25 languages. I’m known by the name Ivana. I really did not need the name Trump,’ she said.
Donald Trump and his then-wife Ivana smile as they attend a formal party, early 1980s
Ivana Trump and her boyfriend Rossano Rubicondi arrive for Sir Elton John’s White Tie and Tiara Ball at his Berkshire mansion in Woodside, Crimp Hill, Old Windsor Thursday 24 June 2004. All funds from the exclusive private party go to the Elton John AIDS Foundation
Ivana Trump and Donald Trump are seen in December 1982 in New York City
Trump nominated Stephen B. King, a Wisconsin political operative, to the post in July.
Trump said the president is still a big part of her life and that they speak ‘maybe once a week,’ and that he is ‘still asking me for advice.’
She said he asked her: ‘Should I tweet, should I not tweet.’
But she gave a simple reply: ‘I said, I think you should tweet.’
‘PERFECT LIFE’: Ivana Trump attends the Massimo Gargia Birthday Party at the VIP Room Saint Tropez on August 18, 2014 in Saint Tropez, France. She said her lifestyle is why she turned down an ambassadorship
Ivana Trump sighted at The Deck at The Island Gardens on March 6, 2016 in Miami, Florida.
Donald Trump pictured with Melania Knauss (now first lady Melania Trump) at the 57th annual Emmy Awards in 2005
‘It’s a new way, a new technology. And if you want to get your words across rightly, without telling the New York Times, which is going to twist every single word of yours, this is how you get your message out,’ she said.
Defending the practice, which has gotten the president in hot water when he lashed out at members of his own administration or ‘Rocket Man’ King Jong-un of North Korea, she said: ‘Well, it’s a tweeting president. This is his new way, how to put the message across. And he’s right.’
Trump, 68, has previously said she raised the three children she shares with the president, Donald Jr., Eric, and Ivanka virtually alone.