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.
“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.”
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.
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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.”
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.
“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.”
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.”
Before the release of “Raising Trump,” she spoke with the media and Newsmen and said she still spoke to her former husband about once every two weeks and that she had a “direct number” to the White House.
