Ivana Trump Dies: Ex-Wife Of Donald Trump Was 73

Ted Johnson
·3 min read
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Ivana Trump, the first wife of Donald Trump, has died at the age of 73.

The former president confirmed her death in a post on his Truth Social account.

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“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,” the former president wrote. “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 Trump family said in a statement to ABC News, “It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved mother, Ivana Trump. Our mother was an incredible woman — a force in business, a world-class athlete, a radiant beauty, and a caring mother and friend. Ivana Trump was a survivor. She fled from communism and embraced this country. She taught her children grit and toughness, compassion, and determination.”

WABC-TV in New York reported that police responded to a call at her Upper East Side apartment at 12:40 PM ET, with reports of cardiac arrest, and that she appears to have died of natural causes.

Ivana Trump, a native of Communist Czechoslovakia who emigrated to the United States, married Donald Trump in 1977, and they became one of Manhattan’s most recognized — and publicity friendly — power couples. She was a top executive at the Trump Organization, drawing on her expertise as a designer, in sync with the gilt and excess of the go-go 1980s. She worked with husband on his ever-expanding empire of hotels and casinos, and managed the Plaza Hotel, a jewel in her husband’s crown, when he purchased it in 1988.

Donald Jr. was born in 1977, Ivanka was born in 1981 and Eric was born in 1984.

Their divorce in 1992 became one of the most notorious of all celebrity splits, the subject of endless tabloid fodder, fueled in part by Donald Trump’s affair with Marla Maples and own penchant for publicity and attention.

After their split, Ivana Trump drew on her business acumen to launch a fashion line and advice column, and she had a cameo, fittingly, in the 1996 feature The First Wives Club. That year, a TV movie was made of her novel, Ivana Trump’s For Love Alone. She wrote a book about her marriage to Trump that was published in 2017.

She married businessman Riccardo Mazzucchelli in 1995, but they divorced two years later. She married actor and model Rossano Rubicondi in 2008, in a big ceremony at Mar-a-Lago, but the marriage was short lived although they reportedly maintained a relationship in the years since then. He died last year. She had a previous marriage before Donald Trump, to Austrian skier Alfred Winklmayr.

In later years, though, Ivana supported her ex-husband as he pursued the presidency, albeit from a distance. In an interview with a U.K. talk show in 2020, she said that he was “pro everything I believe in. He is Republican and so am I. He’s achieved so much, especially with immigration.” She also indicated that they stayed in regular contact when he got to the White House.

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