Tiffany Trump has been photographed in public with her brothers more than ever before since
their father moved into the White House. But are they friends? Here's a look at some of
the times Tiffany and her brothers have crossed paths in the media to find out how they get
along.
Donald Trump has five children from three different wives. Don Jr., Eric, and Ivanka
share a mother in Ivana Trump, and grew up with her and Donald in New York City. Barron
is Donald's son with Melania Trump. Tiffany, however, is the daughter of Marla Maples,
Donald Sr.'s former mistress-turned-wife, who scandalously ended his marriage to Ivana.
Donald Sr. and Marla Maples were divorced in 1999, and Maples moved with their daughter
to California.
While Donald paid $650,000 a year to Ivana in child support, he paid only $100,000 to
Maples, who also got $1 million herself and $1 million for a house as per her prenuptial
agreement, according to Vanity Fair. Still, mother and daughter lived comfortably in California,
though it made getting to know her siblings difficult for Tiffany and, if nothing else,
created a highly distanced relationship.
The Trumps are not the first family to squabble over a big inheritance, but they might be
the first one to have it discussed on The Howard Stern Show. When Donald appeared on
the shock jock's program back in 2005, host Howard Stern asked him if his kids were trying
to "bump off" Tiffany, according to tapes obtained by Newsweek.
Donald dodged the question until Stern finally cornered him, and Donald admitted it was true.
Earlier in the interview, Donald made the point that every time he has another child
the inheritance goes down by 20 percent, so, of course, his kids would get upset. Only
Don Jr. and Ivanka were mentioned during the interview, so no word on if Eric had tried
to have his younger sister disinherited. Donald did deny, however, that Tiffany had put a
"hit" out on Melania's then-unborn baby, Barron. Though Donald did say,
"Well, you know, it does cut up the pie as you keep producing."
Which might imply there's some financially induced resentment from Tiffany's older brothers.
For some families, traditions are holiday dinners and summers at a lake cabin. For the
Trumps, tradition means attending a prestigious Ivy League university. Donald Trump Sr. graduated
from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in 1968, a fact he mentioned no fewer
than 52 times in speeches between 2015 and 2018, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian,
the school's official newspaper.
Don Jr. also graduated from the Wharton School, where, according to People, he had a reputation
for hard partying and drinking. Similarly, Ivanka graduated from Penn. So it was no huge
surprise when Tiffany opted for Philadelphia's premier private school, despite living on
the West Coast. After graduating with a double BA in sociology and urban studies, according
to Vogue, she opted to attend law school at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Georgetown, not coincidentally, is the alma mater of her older brother Eric.
Long before Tiffany's booze-filled 27th birthday escapade in Miami made headlines, her reputation
for enjoying adult beverages during the daylight was comic fodder. At least it was for her
brother Eric, who appeared on Fox News in 2019 to defend a lawsuit his family had filed
to stop a congressional subpoena of Trump family financial records.
Eric said the request was overreaching and an invasion of privacy, claiming congress
was asking for trivial things like his bank records and documentation of how much his
wife spent on baby formula. But Eric insisted the prying wasn't limited to himself. Ridiculing
Congress' requests, he added,
"I want to know how many beers Tiffany had on Friday afternoon in Georgetown. I mean,
these are literally the things they're asking for."
In May 2020, Tiffany graduated from Georgetown University, where she was a student at the
time of the interview. No record of a congressional request for her bar tabs has been confirmed,
and the joke may be more of a dig at Congress than his little sister's drinking habits.
Still, we wonder how she felt about them.
In October 2020, Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" segment welcomed "special guests"
Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., played by Alex Moffatt and Mikey Day. In an effort to
show the Trump family's unified front, the characters invited their sister to join them
on stage. But because Ivanka, quote, "doesn't like [them]," they had to settle for Tiffany
instead.
Chloe Fineman rolled onstage as Tiffany, donning a sailor's hat and bringing a champagne bottle
to mock Tiff's headline-making Miami birthday soiree. She cracked a few jokes about partying
without a mask and how stepchildren named Tiffany are supposed to get drunk in South
Beach.
"Don, who is that lady? … That's your sister, Eric. Wait, Tiff, I don't know if you and
Eric have officially met."
Though the sketch was obviously satirical, it demonstrated that the Trump brothers may
not take Tiffany as seriously as they do their other sister — at least, that's how it may
appear to those on the outside looking in. Even if they don't actually, as the sketch
implied, call her "Not-Vanka."
Though her brothers didn't necessarily flock back to New York to work in the Trump real
estate empire after college, Tiffany has shown interest in joining the family business. According
to Vanity Fair, Don Jr. moved out to Colorado and lived out of the back of a truck before
returning to New York in 2001 to join the Trump Organization. He and Eric now head the
business — and Tiffany may be joining them sooner rather than later.
During a 2016 interview with ABC News, which the older Trump brothers were also part of,
Tiffany was asked if she was planning to work with her family. She responded,
"Of course, I'm interested. I think — I'm applying to law school though so I like to
bring — a different kinda skill set to the company."
President Trump seems excited at the prospect. When congratulating Tiffany on her Georgetown
Law graduation in May 2020, he jokingly tweeted,
"Just what I need is a lawyer in the family."
With all of them working together, perhaps Tiffany and her brothers can forge the relationship
they never had growing up.
Though some may have perceived hostility between Tiffany and her brothers, the younger Trump
sister insists it's more a matter of growing up thousands of miles away from her siblings.
She told Oprah Winfrey in 2013,
"Since I have grown up on the West Coast, I'm definitely different from all of them
growing up on the East Coast."
She went on to say she was grateful for growing up far from the media spotlight that followed
her siblings in New York, describing herself as a "normal kid."
A People profile backed her up, citing a source close to the family as saying there wasn't
really a rift between Tiffany and her siblings. Rather, the insider claimed there was a "separation
of time and distance" because Tiffany grew up in a different time zone. But the same
source admitted she was not as "intimately involved with the family dynamic" as her siblings,
which may further the perception of Tiffany as an outcast.
During a 2016 60 Minutes interview with the Trump family, the elder children had clearly
defined roles as members of the Trump transition team, whereas Tiffany didn't say much. But
the Trump kids would contribute toward their father's 2020 reelection bid years later.
All the adult Trump children gave speeches at 2020's Republican National Convention,
but outside the RNC, they've had decidedly different styles of campaigning for their
dad.
By 2020, Tiffany received great praise from some in the conservative media. The Washington
Examiner trumpeted,
"Tiffany Trump makes a much better case for the president than her brothers do."
The Examiner pointed to Tiffany's appeal to women, especially suburban women from places
like Calabasas, as far more relatable than her older brothers.
And while the elder Trumps' speeches, quote, "fanned the flames of the culture war," Tiffany
focused on the president's accomplishments and American values. This, the publication
said, gave her wider appeal for those outside Donald's traditional base. This may signal
a greater role for Tiffany moving forward and, possibly, working more closely with her
older brothers.
As of December 2020, Tiffany is dating Michael Boulos. He is a wealthy Nigerian heir who
she met on a Greek escapade, according to Page Six. The same story said that things
were going so well with Boulos that Tiffany brought him to Mar-a-Lago for Thanksgiving
in 2018, and introduced him to the whole Trump clan at the estate. A source told the tabloid,
"She introduced him to her family at Thanksgiving, and he comes across as a very intelligent
young man from a great family."
Though neither Donald Jr. nor Eric has commented publicly on their opinion of Tiffany's boyfriend,
Boulos posted a picture on Instagram in February 2020, showing himself with the Trump family
at the U.S. Capitol. In the photo, the four eldest Trump children posed with their significant
others at the State of the Union speech, showing they attend events together and are familiar
with the important people in each others' lives.
A 2018 People profile told the story of Tiffany growing up in California, with only limited
opportunities to visit her older siblings in New York. But as she's gotten older, Tiffany
spends more time at Mar-a-Lago and at the White House — mainly for holidays and big
events.
The Trump children have appeared in a number of interviews together. More often than not,
Eric and Don Jr. take up much of the air time, and Tiffany doesn't get too many words in.
During a 2016 post-election 60 Minutes interview, she made one comment about how she felt after
her father's election and only after prompted by Lesley Stahl. Same with a 2016 interview
with Sean Hannity, during which Tiffany finally spoke up at the end, saying,
"It's hard but we know who our father is, and I think no tabloid can write anything
that will make us doubt that."
"We know the truth."
Perhaps Tiffany's most telling group interview, however, came in a 2015 interview with Barbara
Walters. When Walters asked if anything Donald Senior said on the campaign trail made them
"cringe," Eric answered with a quick "no." Tiffany, on the other hand, had a more diplomatic
answer, saying,
"He's true to himself, and he speaks in a way that the average person can understand.
I think that's refreshing for everyone."
It shows Tiffany isn't afraid to make her own statements separate from her brothers.
"I'm so happy to be Tiffany Trump. I'm so happy to be in the family I'm in, you know,
with my siblings and my father and my mother."
You may have noticed that Tiffany tends to walk behind her older siblings. Could they
simply be lined up in order of age, or does this formation say more? In an Elite Daily
analysis of the Thanksgiving turkey pardoning ceremony, body language expert Dr. Lillian
Glass remarked on Tiffany's tendency to stand in the back. Speaking of Tiffany's relationship
with Ivanka Trump, Glass said,
"There is genuine respect. [...] Tiffany stays in the background [...] once again knowing
she is not out front and center."
This body language could translate to her body language with her brothers too, meaning
she knows to stand back from them in official situations.
There's been a large focus on Tiffany's relationship with her older brothers, but she also has
a younger brother, of course. Melania and Donald's only child, Barron, is closer in
age than Tiffany is with her older brothers, but because Donald's youngest son is not photographed
nearly as much as the adult Trump kids, it's hard to know much about his relationship with
Tiffany.
She did, at least, give him a happy birthday Instagram post in March 2020 when Barron turned
14. She wrote,
"Happy 14th birthday to the best 'little' brother I could ever ask for! You mean so
much to me, Barron, I wish you all the happiness in the world! Love you!"
This may just be a caption, but it was thoughtful and shows they have a friendly relationship.
Interestingly, Tiffany beat her father to the punch. The president reportedly hadn't
yet publicly wished his son a happy birthday.
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.