Inside Melania and Ivanka Trump's "Complicated" Relationship

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According to a recent report by The New York Times, First Lady Melania Trump and First Daughter/Senior Adviser Ivanka have a “complicated” relationship.

Honestly, we’d be surprised if their relationship wasn’t complicated. I mean, what about working in the White House alongside your stepmother (who’s only 11-years your senior), doesn’t scream drama? Top it off with a dollop of Donald Trump, and you have yourself a straight-to-series cable drama — which would be so deliciously binge-able if it weren’t based on the events of our present reality.

Though Ivanka and Melania both hold positions of considerable influence over President Trump, the actions of their offices (in the West and East Wings, respectively) rarely overlap. Testament to the separation of their posts, Ivanka is scheduled for a visit to Africa alongside Senator Lindsey Graham this January, just a few months after Melania’s own trip to the continent.

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly has been tasked with managing the relationship between Ivanka and Melania’s offices, and was reportedly called to action last month while the First Lady was abroad.

In early October, several photos of Melania in Ghana were made available to the press, including one in which she cradles a small black child. FLOTUS shared a video montage from the trip as well. Two days later, Ivanka posted a similarly self-congratulatory montage of her visit to North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Florence. In the final frame of the video, Ivanka, too, holds a small black child.

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It’s unclear what, exactly, the problem was here — does Melania have a monopoly on holding small black children in promotional materials? Whatever the case, it was evidently enough of an overstep for Kelly to get involved, reportedly discussing the matter with members of Ivanka’s staff.

Complicated, indeed.