Ivana Trump, ex-wife of former President Trump, dies at age 73
Ivana Trump is survived by three children:
Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric Trump.
Ivana Trump, the ex-wife of former President Donald Trump, has died at age 73,
the family told ABC News.
The former president said she died at her home in New York City.
Ivana Trump was Donald Trump's first wife. They had three children together:
Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric Trump.
"Our mother was an incredible woman -- a force in business, a world-class athlete,
a radiant beauty, and caring mother and friend," the Trump family said in a statement.
Donald Trump Jr., Ivana Trump, Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump attends the
9th Annual Eric Trump Foundation golf invitational at Trump National Golf Club
Westchester, Sept. 21, 2015, in Briarcliff Manor City.
Ivana Trump, her son Eric Trump, her former husband businessman Donald Trump,
and her daughter Ivanka Trump are pictured at the Mar-a-Lago estate,
Palm Beach, Fla., in 1998.
"Ivana Trump was a survivor. She fled from communism and embraced this country.
She taught her children about grit and toughness, compassion and determination,"
the family said. "She will be dearly missed by her mother, her three children and
ten grandchildren."
As Eric Trump walked out of his mother's apartment building Thursday afternoon,
he told reporters, "It's been a very sad day."
Manhattan paramedics, responding to a call for cardiac arrest, found a 73-year-old
woman in the Upper East Side apartment where Ivana Trump lived just after 12:30 p.m.
Thursday, according to the FDNY. She was pronounced dead at the scene, the NYPD said.
Ivana Trump was found unconscious and unresponsive at the bottom of a set of stairs
in her apartment, according to police sources. The police are investigating whether
she fell and, if so, whether the fall contributed in any way to her death, the sources
said. A medical examiner will determine her cause of death, police said.
In a statement on his platform Truth Social, the former president remembered Ivana
as 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," he wrote.
"She was so proud of them, as we were all so proud of her."
The Trump family in 1986, pose for a family photo. Donald had three children
with his first wife Ivana, Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric.
Norman Parkinson/Corbis via Getty Images, FILE
Ivana Trump, born Ivana Marie Zelníčková, grew up under communist rule in the former
Czechoslovakia. She left in the 1970s and married Donald Trump in 1977.
She worked for years in Trump's business empire as a senior executive. She was appointed
CEO of Trump's Castle, one of his hotel casinos in Atlantic City, and helped design interiors
for the Grand Hyatt Hotel and Trump Tower. She also authored multiple bestselling books
and created her own clothing line.
Ivana Trump aboard the Trump Princess super yacht, circa 1988, in New York City.
Bettina Cirone/Getty Images
Ivana Trump, Donald Trump's first wife, in lobby of Trump Casino in Atlantic City, 1987.
Joe McNally/Getty Images
"No matter how busy I was, I had breakfast with my children every day. I sat with
them at dinner every night and helped them with their homework (I loved algebra)
before going out in a Versace gown to a rubber-chicken charity event," Ivana Trump
wrote in her memoir, "Raising Trump." "The kids and I celebrated, traveled, and
grieved together. Our bond was, and is, our most valuable possession."
Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, and Ivana Trump attend a reception held at Ivana Trump's
Residence in New York City on May 2, 2007.
M. Von Holden/WireImage for Niche Media via Getty Images, FILE
ABC's Barbara Walters interviews Ivana Trump for the TV show "20/20," Oct. 15, 1987.
Donna Svennevik/ABC News via Getty Images
Ivana and Trump divorced in 1992. Their marriage dissolved amid revelations that the
former president was having an affair with Marla Maples, who would become his
second wife.
In a 2017 interview with ABC News' Amy Robach, Ivana Trump said she had forgiven
her former husband. She also described the formative years of raising her children
with Donald Trump.
"He was a loving father, don't get me wrong, and he was a good provider, but he was
not the father which would take a stroll and go to the Central Park or go play to
baseball with them or something," she said. She added, when they "were about
18-years-old," "he could communicate with them, because he could start to talk
business with them."
Ivana Trump attends an event Kaufman Astoria Studios, Nov. 29, 2018, in New York City.
Patrick McMullan via Getty Images, FILE
Ivana Trump and her ex-husband Rossano Rubicondi perform on the Italian version
of Dancing with the Stars (Ballando Con Le Stelle), May 5, 2018, in Rome, Italy.
Elisabetta A. Villa/Getty Images