Have you ever wondered what Ivanka Trump really thinks of Tiffany Trump? Did Tiffany enjoy
the same kind of upbringing that her sister did? Is Ivanka really her father's favorite
child? Well wonder no more, because we're taking a deep dive inside Tiffany and Ivanka
Trump's relationship.
Anyone with an older sister can tell you that she will give you advice, whether you ask
for it or not. And it looks as if Ivanka Trump really got the memo, because she has advised
her little sister on just about everything, as noted by Vanity Fair. A friend of the sisters
told the magazine that Ivanka shares her thoughts with Tiffany Trump on a variety of topics,
including, quote, "politics advice, boy advice, and sisterly advice."
But according to the source, Ivanka also shares her thoughts on Tiffany's wardrobe, etiquette,
and public life. Specifically, Ivanka has advised Tiffany on what colors work best for
her wardrobe, and how to sit with her legs crossed like a lady.
The source said Ivanka has shared, quote, "all the things she picked up from being famous"
with Tiffany. Tiffany was even spotted in 2016 shopping at high-end department store
Bloomingdales, with her Secret Service detail, where she bought a lipstick that Ivanka had
recommended to her.
Most sisters have tension between them, naturally. But according to Donald Trump's lawyer, Michael
Cohen, Ivanka Trump treats her only sister with, quote, "casual cruelty." In his tell-all
book, Disloyal: A Memoir, Cohen wrote that Ivanka has always treated Tiffany Trump badly.
Cohen wrote,
"The casual cruelty included Ivanka, who jealously guarded her position as Trump's favorite and
surrogate, even at the expense of her vulnerable younger sister, as I saw firsthand."
Cohen further divulged that he had sympathy for the younger Trump sister, writing,
"The pecking order of the kids was painfully apparent. Trump was very specific about his
views on the importance of female beauty in measuring the value of women, including inside
his own family."
Cohen also recounted an interaction between Ivanka and Donald, during which they openly
spoke about Tiffany's appearance — and how she isn't as attractive as Ivanka. Ivanka
reportedly said,
"She just doesn't have the look is the right way to say it, Daddy."
Maybe there is some bad blood between Tiffany and Ivanka Trump, after all. It came to light
in 2017 that Ivanka perhaps wasn't too thrilled to share the Trump family wealth with her
half-sister. Newsweek reported on a resurfaced recording of Donald Trump on The Howard Stern
Show in December 2005, where he implied that two of his children, Ivanka and Donald Trump
Jr., might not be happy having to eventually split part of their inheritance with Tiffany.
Stern joked that Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. probably wanted to, quote, "bump off" Tiffany
and keep her share for themselves. Trump responded at first by defending Tiffany and the rest
of his kids, saying,
"Tiffany is great. I have a great child in Tiffany. I have great children."
But Trump also implied that there might be some truth to what Stern was saying, minus
the whole "bumping off" part, telling the shock jock,
"The fact is every time you have a child it's 15, 20, 25 percent less of all the money [...] It
does cut up the pie as you keep producing."
Donald has five children with three different mothers, and Tiffany is the only child he
had with his second wife, Marla Maples. Perhaps her childhood out in California, separated
from her half-siblings, added to the animosity between them.
Divorce can be difficult for the children involved, and Ivanka Trump was no exception
to this. After cheating allegations, Donald Trump and his first wife Ivana divorced in
1992, when Ivanka was only 8 years old. Donald then married the woman he cheated with, Marla
Maples, and became a father to Tiffany Trump in 1993. They then got divorced in 1999. So
there's a lot of family drama going on here.
"I'd rate myself less than a great husband."
However, in a 2016 interview with People, Ivanka spoke kindly about her relationship
with Tiffany, despite the tension between their parents. Ivanka revealed,
"We would see each other on all of the holidays and talk to each other frequently. I've been
close to Tiffany her whole life, and I really love her."
But when it comes to Tiffany's mom, Ivanka is a lot less chipper. When asked if she was
at all close with Maples, Ivanka was clear, saying,
"I'm not. She was out in California and really my relationship is with Tiffany."
The age gap between Tiffany and Ivanka Trump isn't the only difference between the sisters.
Growing up, they both had very different lives, as well as relationships with their father.
Ivanka grew up in Manhattan, as noted by Vanity Fair, in a lavender colored bedroom in Trump
Tower; the view from her 68th floor window was of Central Park. She went to movie premieres
with her father, vacationed at Mar-a-Lago, and attended high-society events in Manhattan.
Photos of her childhood show a young woman enjoying the spoils of elite life.
By contrast, Tiffany wasn't surrounded by quite so much luxury. Raised in California
to an all-but single mother, Tiffany didn't get nearly as much time with her father, nor
did she enjoy the same lavish lifestyle. In fact, at one point Tiffany was given a budget
from her father of $500 per month, according to a friend. The source also divulged that
Tiffany would stress over the very small details of splitting a bill for dinner, even down
to the penny.
While we love a cute social media moment that celebrates the bond between siblings, Tiffany
and Ivanka may have missed the mark with this one. The photo in question, which Ivanka posted
on her Instagram page in 2016, shows Ivanka and Tiffany standing side-by-side, their arms
around each other's waist and shoulders.
However, if you dig deeper, you can get some pretty interesting insight into the sisters'
relationship. Body language expert Patti Wood broke down the post for Refinery29, saying,
"While their body language in this photo says 'we're close,' the tension is there for both
of them. They're leaning their torsos away from one another, and the smiles look forced."
Wood did note that the sisters' arms around each other is a good sign, as they don't share
that kind of physical contact in photos often. She added, pointing to potential conflict
between the half-siblings,
"The pulling back and stiff smiles say they're not super-comfortable with this."
When Tiffany Trump was just a tiny baby, tension was already rising between the Ivana Trump
kids and Marla Maples side of the family. When Tiffany was only two months old, Donald
Trump married Maples — but Ivanka and her two brothers didn't attend the wedding ceremony,
according to Vanity Fair. Even after Donald's divorce from Maples in 1999, there was tension
between Ivanka and Tiffany's mom.
The tabloids covering the scandal even followed Ivanka while she was exiting school one day,
and tried to get her to comment on Marla's claim that Donald was a good lover. She later
said of the situation,
"What type of person would ask a nine-year-old girl that kind of question?"
Because of all that pent up tension, Ivanka's relationship with Tiffany suffered. Talk about
family drama.
Well this is uncomfortable. In an attempt to wish her little sister a happy birthday
on social media in October 2020, Ivanka Trump tagged the wrong Tiffany Trump. Instead of
tagging her sister's real Twitter account, Ivanka tagged a bot account with no tweets.
The actual post itself was quite sweet — it featured a photo of a teenage Ivanka holding
Tiffany as a small child. The caption read,
"Hope this year marks your best turn yet around the sun! Love you so much."
The internet picked up pretty quickly that Ivanka hadn't looked to see if she had tagged
the right Tiffany, and had a field day because of it. One user commented,
"Instead of saying it on Twitter and tagging an unused account, you, I don't know, call
her and tell her?"
Another wrote,
"You tagged the wrong Tiffany. What a big sister."
The mistake clearly wasn't brought to Ivanka's attention, because the birthday tweet with
the wrong Tiffany tagged remains on her account.
Due to her days in the Manhattan fashion scene, Ivanka Trump was able to help Tiffany Trump
in her career pursuits. In the summer of 2011, Tiffany interned at fashion magazine Vogue,
thanks in part to her older sister's connections.
But the Trump name and reputation didn't always help Tiffany during her college years, the
way it's benefitted Ivanka throughout her life. In her first year of undergrad at the
University of Pennsylvania, Tiffany was ousted from the recruiting process for the Tabard
Society, a secret society at the university with elite connections.
At the time, Donald Trump was knee-deep in his birtherism campaign against then-President
Barack Obama, and the society was fearful of the repercussions of having a Trump in
their ranks. According to a member who spoke to Vanity Fair,
"[The society was] fearful that the presence of a Trump might scare off the kind of presentable
and connected young women that Tabard has typically attracted."
The Trump sisters may have some pretty stark differences, but if there's one setting where
they work well together, it's promoting the Trump Organization. Ivanka and Tiffany Trump
joined forces during the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Trump international Hotel in 2016.
Pictured together enjoying a very genuine laugh, the sisters looked as natural as they
ever had.
Body language expert Patti Wood broke down the moment for Refinery29, saying,
"I really like how their upper arms and shoulders are touching intimately. Both of them have
their attention in other places, but they're still sharing a moment of amusement."
Wood went on to say that she sees similar body language shared between celebrity couples
— that when a moment of enjoyment arises, they lean in towards each other as a way to
share the situation. Speaking of the Trump sisters, she notes that they're sharing a
laugh naturally in this moment, and it's not posed like some of their other photos.
One of the worst kept secrets about the Trump sisters is their father's tendency to play
favorites. A close source to Tiffany Trump told People in 2017,
"Tiffany and her father have sometimes gone for months without speaking and she went a
very long time without seeing him."
Trump has joked about his "hands-off" parenting approach in the past ...
"I'm not going to be doing the diapers. I'm not going to be making the food. I may never
even see the kids, frankly. Okay?"
The source also told People magazine that Tiffany did not feel welcome at a recent Trump
family function. This is in direct opposition to Ivanka Trump's relationship with their
father, who has often been deemed Donald Trump's favorite.
"Who is his favorite?"
"I'm going with Ivanka. I'm going with Ivanka."
But the politics of the sisters' relationship with their father and each other got heated
in 2019, when Donald's personal assistant was fired for saying she, quote, "had a better
relationship with Trump than his own daughters," as reported by Politico.
A person close to the situation also said that the former assistant revealed Donald
didn't like to be photographed with his youngest daughter, because, quote, "he perceived her
as overweight." The situation quickly had the president on the defense, and he later
announced that his assistant had been fired.
"Does everybody love school?"
"YES!"
College graduation is a big deal, so when Tiffany Trump finished her degree, it wasn't
lost on Ivanka Trump. Tiffany celebrated graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 2016
with an Instagram photo of her and her sister, Tiffany, in her cap and Ivanka giving her
a kiss on the cheek. It was, by most accounts, a kind gesture.
However, body language expert Patti Wood broke down the exchange for Refinery29, and by her
assessment, the celebration wasn't nearly as cheery as it was meant to appear. She told
the outlet,
"This photo [...] seems more staged and tense than some of the others. Ivanka is doing that
kiss she always does, which is a very posed, puckered lip."
She added that you may be tempted to think that Tiffany's smile is legit, but it's too
tense to be genuine. Wood also noted that Tiffany is looking down and away from the
camera, saying,
"If you're really happy, you'd be looking towards the person who's kissing you or upwards."
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus, even more List videos about your favorite
stuff are coming soon. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss
a single one.