Former President Donald Trump’s first wife, Ivana Trump—the mother of his three eldest children—died on Thursday. She was 73.
“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 about her death.
“Ivana Trump was a survivor. She fled from communism and embraced this country,” they continued. Ivana Trump was born in the former Czechoslovakia, a Warsaw Pact country that was controlled by the Soviet Union until its dissolution in the early 1990s.
She was the mother to Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump. Donald Trump has two other children—Barron and Tiffany Trump.
Ivana Trump “taught her children about grit and toughness, compassion and determination,” the Trump family added. “She will be dearly missed by her mother, her three children, and ten grandchildren.”
On Truth Social, the former commander-in-chief praised Ivana as a “wonderful, beautiful, and amazing woman who led a great and inspirational life ... rest in peace, Ivana!”
“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,” former President Trump also wrote.
After leaving Czechoslovakia, she married Donald Trump in 1977. The pair got divorced in 1992.
Following their divorce, Ivana Trump developed her own lines of clothing, jewelry, and other products. She also authored several books, including one called “Raising Trump,” as well as an advice column.
“Probably five years before our divorce, Reagan or somebody brought him a letter and said, ‘You should run for president,’” she told the paper in 2016.
She added: “So he was thinking about it. But then . . . there was the divorce, there was the scandal, and American women loved me and hated him ... so there was no way that he would go into [politics] at that point. But he was always tooling around with the idea.”
Her most recent ex-husband, Rossano Rubicondi, died in 2021. She later confirmed to People magazine at the time that she was “devastated” by his passing.
Ivana’s cause of death was not disclosed by the family.
Her death is not considered suspicious. Officials told ABC7 that she appeared to have died of natural causes.
Additional information was not made available by the family or officials.
