Ivanka Trump's close bond with her father is well-documented - but what isn't as widely
known is that she is also very close to her mother, Ivana Trump. So what's the real story
behind these two controversial figures? Here some details about the relationship between
Ivana and Ivanka Trump.
Obviously, Ivanka Trump looks quite a bit like her mother - but their physical similarities
are far from the only thing they have in common. They even share a name. While you might assume
that Ivanka's name was merely inspired by her mother's, her legal name is actually Ivana
- just like her mom. Ivanka, it turns out, is a nickname for Ivana. In a tweet, Ivanka
explained:
"In Czech, Ivanka is the baby name for Ivana, like Bobby is to Robert."
Ivana itself is also a variation of another name. It is a feminine version of the name
Ivan, a Slavic name that can ultimately be traced back to the widespread name John. Interestingly,
Ivanka isn't the only diminutive associated with Ivanka - and Ivanka could have also gone
by the nicknames Iva or Ivka.
Both during Ivana and Donald Trump's marriage and after they split up, most of the child-rearing
was left to Ivana. In 2016, Ivana Trump said at the Lifeline benefit that she had raised
her children - Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Jr. - single-handedly.
While the Trump kids would later grow close to their father, Ivana claimed that, until
they were 21, she was in charge. According to Ivana, her ex-husband wasn't interested
in the children at all, until he could talk business with them. Ivana has pointed out
that Donald took over from pretty much the moment the kids were old enough to drink.
She said:
"I handed them over to him and said 'Here's the finished product, you can take them from
here.'"
Ivana repeated the claim in her book Raising Trump, in which she wrote that she had sole
custody of the kids after the divorce - and made all major decisions with regards to things
like education and extracurricular activities.
Ivanka Trump spent a lot of time traveling the world as a young girl. She wrote in her
book The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life that her mom would often schedule
a vacation on a whim, whisking her away to every corner of the world. Ivanka writes:
"My mother would get excited about some part of the world she'd never seen or experienced,
and off we'd go."
Ivanka called the experience of traveling so much with her mother "outrageous" and "wonderful,"
saying that she enjoyed her "special time alone" with Ivana. In an interview with O,
The Oprah Magazine, Ivanka revealed that she even had a special souvenir collection from
these mother-daughter trips. She explained that every time she and her mother traveled
somewhere when she was little, she would pick flowers, dry them, cover them in resin, and
then make paperweights out of them.
While Ivanka Trump is clearly close to her mother, their relationship has been tested
at times. Ivanka herself has even admitted that, at some points in her youth, she was
quite the handful - and while she wasn't exactly a rebel, she did try Ivana's patience. Ivanka
later told Marie Claire:
"I think my mom threatened to put me up for adoption a few times."
By her own admission, Ivana was a stern disciplinarian, and she also made sure to teach Ivanka a sense
of responsibility. She was made to pay her own phone bills as a teenager, for example,
and Ivana wrote in Raising Trump that she kept all of her kids on a short leash.
She recounted the time that a teenage Ivanka almost got a belly button piercing with her
friends but decided not to, having become afraid of how her parents would react. Ivana
called this a good choice, saying that if her daughter had gotten any kind of piercing,
a tattoo, or a shaved head, she - in her own words - "would have killed her."
Ivanka Trump has long been a key figure in the Trump family. Before her father embarked
on his political career, she worked for the Trump Organization - and then later became
one of his most trusted advisors when he made it to the White House. Ivanka has played a
critical role in her father's endeavors, but her mom thinks that the role she has played
in his work is larger than she typically gets credit for.
In her book, Raising Trump, Ivana Trump wrote of just how big of a role Ivanka played in
her father's election to the highest office in the United States. According to Ivana,
if it hadn't been for her daughter, Donald Trump may very well have lost the election.
Ivana believes that voters were won over because of Ivanka, and that Ivanka helped endear her
father to the public. She writes:
"Voters looked at her and thought, I like her. I trust her. She loves her father, so
he can't be that bad."
Ivana Trump is very supportive of her only daughter - and is optimistic about her future,
too. Not only does Ivana credit Ivanka with helping her father win the presidency, but
she also thinks that Ivanka Trump could end up in the Oval Office herself one day.
"She's smart as hell, she's beautiful, she's au courant, and uh, how much more you can
have?"
In Raising Trump, the proud mother writes that she thinks her daughter could one day
be not only the first female president of the United States but also the first Jewish
president.
While Ivana may believe her daughter's potential is limitless, she does worry about Ivanka.
In an interview with Time magazine, she admitted that she worries her daughter has a little
too much on her plate, between working with her father and raising three children of her
own. Then again, Ivana herself raised three children while also managing her career, so
it seems like her daughter learned at least a thing or two about juggling family and work.
As proud as Ivana Trump is of Ivanka, she wasn't exactly thrilled to see her daughter
give up her career in fashion. While she may want Ivanka to end up in the White House one
day, it seems that she doesn't necessarily want her to be a lifelong political operative.
In a 2018 interview with Page Six, Ivanka said that she was worried her daughter was
being overshadowed in the White House. She added that she would prefer her daughter to
focus on her own growing empire, such as her numerous fashion lines.
Ivanka told the outlet that she'd like to see her daughter move back to New York, as
she believes that politics is a very dirty business. Interestingly enough, Ivana herself
gave up the opportunity to play a prominent role in the Trump presidency. When her ex-husband
offered her the chance to be the ambassador to the Czech Republic, she turned him down.
As she told CBS Sunday Morning, she was simply enjoying her freedom and traveling too much
to take on the responsibility. She said:
"I have a perfect life."
Ivanka Trump is well-known for her keen sense of style, and she has frequently spoken about
how it was inspired by her mother. Ivanka has even said that watching her mother get
ready for events is her favorite childhood memory, and recalls sitting on the bathroom
floor in her pajamas watching her mother applying makeup at her vanity.
In Raising Trump, Ivana wrote about brushing and braiding Ivanka's hair when she was little
- something her own mother did for her. She said that she would pull Ivanka's hair back
with ribbons and bows for special occasions, writing:
"I loved indulging her in the 'girly' things we both loved so much."
Even as an adult, Ivanka has been seen taking style cues for her mom, and she's been known
to borrow clothes from her mom's lavish wardrobe.
Ivanka Trump also takes after her mother in another very specific way - both are accomplished
skiers. Ivana began skiing competitively at the tender age of 6. By the time she was 12,
she was getting serious about the sport and entered a national training program. Ivana
skied competitively throughout her teen years and has claimed to have been an alternate
for the Czechoslovakian ski team during the 1972 Olympics. Before embarking on a modeling
career, Ivana also worked as a ski instructor in Canada.
Ivana made sure that her children, including Ivanka, also learned how to ski. She wrote
in Raising Trump that the kids took ski lessons and that she used skiing to cultivate their
sibling rivalry on ski trips by setting challenges for them. These challenges included seeing
who could get to the gondola first, or who could make the sharpest turns.
Even though Ivanka was primarily raised by her mother, she claims that she is close to
both her mother and her father. And while divorce can be hard on children, especially
when one parent has sole custody, Ivanka said that her parents splitting up actually helped
her bond with both of them.
The divorce was a brutal one, but Ivanka told People magazine that her parents did a remarkable
job protecting the children from the media frenzy that followed. She explained that,
for a while, the children weren't allowed to watch television without a parent, and
newspapers were also kept out of the house.
Ivanka said that the experience made her closer with both parents, explaining that she was
at the age where you do take your parents for granted - and that she stopped doing so
after they split up.
Ivana Trump writes in Raising Trump that it was clear from the beginning that Ivanka Trump
and Jared Kushner truly cared for each other. There was just one problem, though: Kushner
was Jewish, while Ivanka was raised Catholic. The religious differences led to them breaking
up for a year, as Kushner's family wouldn't let Ivanka marry him.
Ivanka eventually converted to Judaism to marry Kushner, with her mother's full support.
Ivana apparently told her daughter that she doesn't care about religion, encouraging her
to convert if she truly loved Kushner. Ivana writes that her daughter and Kushner are incredibly
happy together, which is all that really matters to her.
However, while she is supportive of her daughter's religion, Ivana has admitted that she's not
convinced about some of the Orthodox customs Ivanka and the Kushners follow. Then again,
according to her, if Ivanka is willing to give up lobster and bacon for Kushner, then
she really must love him.
Not only does Ivana Trump have a good relationship with her daughter, but she is also close to
her grandchildren. Ivanka wrote in her book Women Who Work that her kids call Ivana "Glamma"
and that her mother gives her advice on how to raise her kids. One tip?
"To keep your kids out of trouble, keep them busy."
In an appearance on Oprah: Where Are They Now, Ivana said that she loves being a grandmother.
After raising three children on her own, having grandchildren is quite the liberating experience.
Ivana said that she loves being able to just have fun with her grandchildren without the
pressure of actually having to raise them. Instead, they just play together, before she
sends them back home to their parents.
"No need to change the diapers, been there, done that. So it works perfectly."
Ivanka Trump has worked in several fields, and balances her busy career with her family
life. While having it all may often seem like an unattainable aspiration, Ivanka Trump credits
her mother with showing her how to achieve all of her dreams. She wrote in Women Who
Work that, as a child, she was inspired by watching Ivana at work as she oversaw the
renovation of the Plaza Hotel.
Ivanka described her mother as being unapologetically feminine in a male industry, saying that Ivana's
example "first embodied and defined" what it means "to be a multidimensional woman."
Ivanka also writes that:
"She taught me to define success on my own terms, to set my own priorities, and to be
true to my values."
Ivana set quite the example for her daughter, and she made having it all seem effortless.
It wasn't until Ivanka had her own family and career, of course, that she realized balancing
everything isn't as easy as her mother had made it look.
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