A devastating affair. An ugly divorce. And a president to-be with a serious addiction.
Keep watching for the true story of Donald and Ivana Trump's marriage.
It's probably fair to say that Donald Trump would not have been as successful without his first
wife, Ivana Trump. According to The Washington Post, Ivana "created" the New York mogul, and,
without her, "The Donald wouldn't exist." Former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown
believes that Ivana was critical to Donald's success. She told The Atlantic:
"Before and after her, you never saw Trump at any top gathering or cultural opening.
She brought him into circles he had ogled from outside and created a glamor aura."
In 1987 Ivana ran Trump's Castle, his Atlantic City casino, for the salary of $1
and all the dresses she wanted. At the time, Ivana compared her job to "running a small city."
Donald then repaid his first wife's hard work by having an affair with Marla Maples.
"Once the trust is broken, I just can't go back."
Donald and Ivana's divorce was ugly, to say the least. After two years of fighting
in the aftermath, Ivana was awarded a lump sum of $14 million, $650,000
a year for alimony and child support, an Upper East Side apartment, and a home in Connecticut.
Thirty years after Donald divorced his first wife, White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman told
People magazine that the former president talked to his ex-wife frequently, and Ivana was "one of
the very few he listened to." But that's not all that Donald gained from his marriage to Ivana.
One of the important lessons Donald Trump learned from Ivana Trump took place during their divorce.
Donald learned after the divorce that even negative attention could
reap rewards. Trump biographer Tim O'Brien told The Atlantic:
"The lesson Trump drew from it was that he could endure a grotesque
personal debacle, which he set in motion by his cheating on Ivana,
and come out the other side even more an object of interest than he was before."
Having fought his divorce in view of the press, Donald's experience added to what one
writer described as his "superpower." In a 2019 Washington Post op-ed, columnist Max Boot wrote:
"What is the superpower that allows President Trump to fight a never-ending battle for ego
gratification, money-making, and the Trump Way? It is a word so
ingrained in him that he has no need to even say it: 'Shameless!'"
Meanwhile, writer Kurt Anderson believes the former president is addicted to attention,
telling The Atlantic:
"I've never known anybody who is as dependent on attention as he
[Trump] is. [...] His obsession with fame is truly pathological [...] He had a real addiction."
Anderson co-founded the '80s satire magazine Spy, which regularly pranked
Trump. Spy sent checks for 13 cents to wealthy celebrities; Donald famously cashed his in.
Donald Trump used negative attention to great effect by making scandalous
claims about his rivals during his presidential campaigns. When Trump announced his candidacy
in June 2015 at Trump Tower, his outrageous remarks generated enormous news coverage.
"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best."
"They're sending people that have lots of problems."
After the New York mogul's announcement, the media constantly covered every word he spoke,
likely giving him a serious edge in the Republican primaries.
As CBS CEO Leslie Moonves told an audience in 2016:
"It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS."
During a speech at an industry event, Moonves added:
"I've never seen anything like this, and this is going to be a very good year for us. Sorry.
It's a terrible thing to say. But, bring it on, Donald. Keep going."
Once Trump was in the White House, the news cycles he created drove huge clicks
and ratings for media outlets. In fact, in 2021,
Forbes reported that journalists had complained Biden was "boring" after Trump. The complaints
caused Biden press secretary Jen Psaki to quip in an interview with Good Luck America:
"If you find that boring, I don't know. Maybe you should work for Us
magazine and cover scandals in Hollywood."
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