Everything Ivana Trump Said About Ex-Husband Donald Trump's Presidency

Jamie McCarthy/Getty; NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty

Ivana Trump's life was one of glamour and political prestige as a businesswoman, fashion designer and first wife of former President Donald Trump, to whom she was married from 1977 to 1992.

The couple shared three children together from their marriage: Donald Jr., Eric, and Ivanka, all of whom played major roles within the White House throughout their father's presidency.

But during those four years, Ivana was outspoken at times in regards to her ex's political affairs — whether it was declaring herself the "first Trump lady" or offering her advice to the president on his notorious tweets to the public.

Here are Ivana's headline-making statements about the 45th president of the United States.

She claimed Donald Trump caught COVID because he was 'careless.'

One of the major obstacles Donald confronted during his presidency was the coronavirus pandemic. Donald and his wife, Melania, tested positive for COVID-19 in October 2020.

The then-president was taken to Walter Reed Hospital for treatment, a time which Ivana described as "a stress" for her and their children.

"He was careless," Ivana told PEOPLE at the time of her ex's attitude toward the pandemic. "He didn't think it would happen to him."

For more on Ivana Trump, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.

"I am afraid," she said. "I'm going to be afraid until he gets well and he gets out of it."

Despite being an immigrant herself, she supported President Trump's stance on immigration.

In 2020, the Czech-born model and businesswoman appeared on the U.K. talk show Loose Women, where she faced criticism for some of her statements about immigrants.

"I have absolutely no problem with the immigrants, but they have to come to the country legally," she said. "They have to get a job, they have to pay taxes like the rest of Americans and just live and be well and just [mesh] into the society."

Ivana praised her ex-husband in the interview as "pro everything I believe in. He is Republican and so am I. He's achieved so much, especially with immigration."

She believed her daughter, Ivanka, could become the United States' first woman president.

In the same interview, Ivana gushed about her daughter Ivanka, who worked heavily alongside her father during his tenure in the White House.

"I tell you, I think, she's in the White House every day, you know? She's next to her father every day. She knows all what is going around," she said on Loose Women. "I think she could be one day the first woman president, definitely. She's smart as hell, she's beautiful, she's au courant. How much more you can have?"

She was the 'first Trump lady.'

In a 2017 Good Morning America interview, Ivana seemingly shaded Donald Trump's current wife, Melania Trump, when she referred to herself as the first lady.

In conversation, she admitted to having a direct line to the White House if she needed to reach her ex-husband, but admitted she refrains from calling him there "because Melania is there."

"And I don't want to cause any kind of jealousy or something like that, because I'm basically first Trump wife. Okay? I'm first lady," she said.

She clarified her comments later that same year, after sharing that the statement upset Melania during her appearance on The Ray D'Arcy Show in Ireland.

"I said, 'I'm first Trump lady. I'm first Trump lady,' and first lady went bananas over it," she explained. "I have no idea why. I don't know how it sparkled, but I am definitely first Trump lady."

RELATED: Melania Trump's Spokesperson Slams Ivana's 'I'm First Lady' Claim as 'Attention-Seeking, Self-Serving Noise'

She said, "I was married to Donald. I have three kids with him, and I have no idea why she resents it," adding, "Who cares?"

When asked if she thought Melania was doing a good job as first lady, Ivana quipped, "I think she's trying her best."

She offered the former president advice on life — and his tweets.

As recently as 2017, Ivana revealed she was one of Donald Trump's private advisors who he consulted for suggestions on his infamous tweets.

"He's still asking me for advice, yes," she said in a preview clip for the interview with CBS Sunday Morning. "He asks me, 'Should I tweet, should I not tweet?' I said, 'I think you should tweet.'"

In June 2021, she admitted to offering him separate advice about aging and growing old as he approached his 75th birthday.

"Donald hates his birthdays," Ivana told PEOPLE at the time.

"So I did speak to him and wished him happy birthday and told him, 'Don't worry about your age. Age is just a number, and his and mine [are] unlisted,'" she joked.

After Ivana's passing Thursday, former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman told PEOPLE that the president "constantly" sought advice from his ex, adding, "She is one of the very few people that Donald truly listened to."

She thought Donald Trump was 'missing a little bit of his old life' by his second presidential campaign.

When asked if she felt her ex-husband would run for a second term, Ivana answered she thought he was looking forward to picking up his old life again.

"I think he's missing a little bit of his old life," she admitted in her 2017 appearance on The Ray D'Arcy Show. "You know he was in Trump Tower, and he would go to Mar-a-Lago, he would go to play golf on Westchester, and things like that. Now from 8 o'clock in the morning to midnight, he's working, working, working and everybody shoves at him the problem of the country."

The then-68-year-old added — to laughs from the audience — "I don't envy him, I think he must be freaking exhausted."

By the end of Donald Trump's run as president, Ivana wanted 'this whole thing to be over with.'

When all was said and done after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to current President Joe Biden, Ivana revealed she was looking forward to closing this chapter of life for herself and her family.

"I just want this whole thing to be over with, one way or the other," Ivana told PEOPLE at the time. "I really don't care."

"He's not a good loser," she added. "He doesn't like to lose, so he's going to fight and fight and fight."

Of their shared children, who were also involved in Donald's campaign, she said: "I just want them to be able to live their normal lives — normal lives. Not the Washington life and all that, just in New York or wherever they're going to be and just live their normal lives."

"I think they enjoyed being around Donald and running the election and seeing what will happen, but now it is — thank god — over," Ivana added. "I'm not really sure what they are going to be up to."