Ivana Marie Trump (néeZelníčková;[a] February 20, 1949 – July 14, 2022) was a Czech and American businesswoman, socialite, and model. She lived inCanada in the 1970s, before relocating to the United States and marryingDonald Trump in 1977. She held key managerial positions inthe Trump Organization, as vice president of interior design, CEO and president of Trump's Castle casino resort, and manager of thePlaza Hotel.
Ivana and Donald Trump were prominent figures in New York society throughout the 1980s. The couple's divorce, granted in 1990, was the subject of extensive media coverage.[b] Following the divorce, she developed her own lines of clothing, fashion jewelry, and beauty products which were sold onQVC UK and theHome Shopping Network. She wrote an advice column forGlobe called "Ask Ivana" from 1995 through 2010, and published several books, including works of fiction, self-help, and the autobiographyRaising Trump.
Ivana Marie Zelníčková[a] was born on February 20, 1949, in Gottwaldov,Czechoslovak Republic (present-dayZlín, Czech Republic), the daughter of Miloš Zelníček (1927–1990) and Marie Zelníčková (née Francová, b. 1926).[2][3][4] She was raised in aCatholic household.[5] Her father was anelectrical engineer and her mother worked as a telephone operator.[6] Her father encouraged his daughter'sskiing abilities, a practice she began at age four.[6][7] After developing skills as a skier, Ivana joined the junior national ski team, which offered her opportunities to travel beyond theSoviet-era communist boundaries of what was then the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.[6] She attendedCharles University in Prague and earned a master's degree inphysical education in 1972.[8][7] In 1970 Ivana appeared onCzechoslovak Television in the children's television seriesPan Tau.[9]
An (StB) informant with the cover nameLubos reported to his superiors in 1977 how Ivana had begun work at a petrol station in Austria, where she had met her first husband in 1968. She had then emigrated to Canada, where she married Trump.[10]
In 1988 Ivana told journalists she had been selected as a substitute on the Czechoslovak ski team during the1972 Winter Olympics, specializing indownhill andslalom.[11][7] However, Czechoslovakia only sent four female athletes to the 1972 Winter Olympics and none were alpine skiers. In 1989 Petr Pomezný, Secretary General of theCzechoslovak Olympic Committee, denied Ivana's claim and stated that, despite searching extensively, no record could be found of her involvement.[8] In 2021Snopes confirmed that Czechoslovakia had not sent female alpine skiers to the 1972 Winter Olympics.[12]
In 1971 Ivana married Alfred Winklmayr, anAustrian ski instructor and her platonic friend, in order to obtain a passport.[13][14][15] The marriage granted her the freedom to leave Czechoslovakia withoutdefection so she could retain the right to return to visit her parents.[13][16][14][17] As Ivana Winklmayr, she received her Austrian passport in March 1972.[15] In August 1973,[18] she obtained an absentee divorce from Alfred Winklmayr inLos Angeles,California, where he had moved to teach skiing.[13][16][15]
Ivana was romantically involved with the lyricist and playwrightJiří Štaidl [cs] who was killed in a car accident in 1973.[19] After Štaidl's death, Ivana moved to Canada where she lived with George (Jiří) Syrovátka whom she had dated since 1967; Syrovátka had defected to Canada in 1971 and owned a ski boutique in Montreal.[16][13][17] She claimed at the time to be married to Syrovátka, though the two never wed.[20][21] Ivana worked as a ski instructor while living in Canada.[22] She lived inMontreal for two years where she continued to improve her English via night courses atMcGill University.[17] Working as a model, Ivana told theMontreal Gazette in 1975 that she considered modelling to be a job, rather than a career.[23] Her modelling clients includedEaton's department store and the fashion designer Auckie Sanft, along with promotional work for the1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.[17]
During the marriage, Ivana and Donald had three children:Donald Jr. (born 1977),Ivana (Ivanka) Marie (born 1981), andEric (born 1984). Donald Jr. learned to speak fluentCzech (with the help of his maternal grandfather), while Ivanka gained only a basic understanding of her mother's native tongue, and Eric was not exposed to the language since his grandparents were comfortable using English.[31][32]
"While still married to (redacted) and presumably still living in Austria, she became a citizen of Austria in 1972. One year after her marriage to Trump, she became a Canadian citizen. And, 5 months after that she became a permanent resident of the US."[33]
A reviewer of the 2018Netflix documentary miniseries on Donald,Trump: An American Dream, described Ivana as "a charismatic workaholic, a career woman, an equal", and a life partner deliberately chosen by Trump to "work beside him and challenge him".[34]
The Trumps' troubled marriage became the subject of public interest over the Christmas holidays in 1989, when they were seen fighting after Ivana encountered Donald's mistress,Marla Maples.[35] TheChicago Tribune reported that by February 1990, Donald had locked Ivana out of her office at thePlaza Hotel, and a legal battle ensued over the legitimacy of the fourprenuptial agreements the pair had successively negotiated over the years.[35]
In October 1990 Ivana's 63-year-old father, Miloš Zelníček, died suddenly from a heart attack. According toThe Guardian her father was an informer for Czechoslovakia'sStátní bezpečnost (StB)intelligence service who relayed information from his daughter, including a correct prediction thatGeorge H. W. Bush would win the1988 presidential election.[36] Despite their marital troubles and pending divorce, Donald stood at her side at her father's funeral inZlín[37] held in November 1990.[36]
The Trumps' divorce proceedings received worldwide publicity.[38] Front-page coverage appeared in New York tabloid newspapers for eleven days in a row, and the story was the subject of gossip columnistLiz Smith's entire news coverage for three months.[39] In a deposition relating to their divorce, Ivana accused Donald of rape.[40] InHarry Hurt's bookLost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump, she confirmed that she had "felt violated". However, in a statement provided by Donald and his lawyers, she said that she had used the wordrape, but she did not "want [her] words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense".[41] The uncontested divorce was granted in December 1990 on the grounds of cruel and inhumane treatment by Donald.[38][42] Ivana had to sign anon-disclosure agreement as a condition of the divorce settlement, and she was required to seek Donald's permission before publicly discussing their marriage.[41][43]The New York Times reported in 1991 that Ivana's divorce settlement included $14 million, a 45-room Connecticut mansion, an apartment in theTrump Plaza, and the use ofMar-a-Lago for one month a year.[1]
Soon after the divorce, Ivana developed lines of clothing, fashion jewelry, and beauty products which have been sold through television shopping channels, including theHome Shopping Network[50] andQVC London.[51] In 1995 she presided over The House of Ivana, a fashion and fragrance company with a showroom located onPark Avenue in New York.[50]
In 1998 Ivana pursued business interests inCroatia (a vacation destination her parents frequently visited), which included the purchase of 33% of the nation's second largest daily newspaper, Polo+10.[52][53]
The Ivana-branded Bentley Bay development inMiami, Florida, filed for bankruptcy in 2004.[54] The following year, she was involved in several proposed condominium projects, including the never-builtIvana Las Vegas.[54][55]
In 2010 Ivana sued Finnish fashion companyIvana Helsinki, accusing it of selling women's clothing that incorporated her name without permission.[56]
Ivana wrote several books, includingFor Love Alone (1992),Free to Love, (1993) and aself-help book calledThe Best Is Yet to Come: Coping with Divorce and Enjoying Life Again (1995).[57] Trump wrote an advice column about love and life forGlobe, titled Ask Ivana, from June 1995 through January 2010.[58][59]
In February 1999 Ivana launched her own lifestyle magazine titledIvana's Living in Style.[60] She contributed an advice column forDivorce Magazine in 2001.[61]
Ivana released an autobiography,Raising Trump, in 2017. It covered her own upbringing and the early years of raising her children with Donald.[62][63]
Ivana and Donald made several appearances together on television programs includingThe Oprah Winfrey Show in April 1988,[64] followed by the BBC'sWogan in May 1988.[65] After her divorce from Donald, Ivana was interviewed byBarbara Walters for ABC's20/20. In 1991 Donald cut off heralimony payments after the interview and announced his intention to sue Ivana for monetary damages.[66] She returned toThe Oprah Winfrey Show in 1992 with the message, "I will not let men dominate me anymore."[67]
Ivana had a cameo role in theHollywood filmThe First Wives Club (1996) with the line, "Ladies, you have to be strong and independent. And remember: don't get mad, get everything."[68] She was the host of a reality TV special titledIvana Young Man, which aired onOxygen Network in 2006. In the reality dating program she helped a wealthy, middle-aged woman find a younger partner.[22] In 2010 Ivana appeared in the UK television seriesCelebrity Big Brother7; she placed 7th.[22]
Ivana married Italian entrepreneur and international businessman Riccardo Mazzucchelli in November 1995.[72][73] They divorced in 1997.[74] That same year she filed a $15 million breach of contract suit against Mazzucchelli for violating the confidentiality clause in their prenuptial agreement,[75] while Mazzucchelli sued Ivana and her ex-husband Donald in a British court forlibel.[73] The suit was later settled on undisclosed terms.[74]
In the summer of 1997 Ivana began dating Italian aristocrat Count RoffredoGaetani dell'Aquila d'Aragona Lovatelli.[76] Their relationship continued until his death in 2005.[77]
Ivana dated Italian actor and model Rossano Rubicondi for six years before they married on April 12, 2008.[78][79] The marriage to Rubicondi, 36, was the fourth for Ivana, who was 23 years his senior at the age of 59.[79] The couple's $3 million wedding for 400 guests was hosted by ex-husband Donald atMar-a-Lago with daughter Ivanka as her maid of honor.[80] The wedding was officiated by Ivana's ex-sister-in-law JudgeMaryanne Trump Barry.[79] Although Ivana and Rubicondi divorced less than a year later, theiron-again, off-again relationship continued until 2019, when Ivana announced they had once again "called it quits".[22][81] Rubicondi died on October 29, 2021, at the age of 49, reportedly frommelanoma.[82][83]
Ivana had ten grandchildren.[84] In the late 2010s she reportedly split her time between New York City, Miami, andSaint-Tropez.[22] She stated she was fluent in Czech, English, German, French, and Russian.[45]
On February 14, 1989,Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) headquarters in Washington, D.C., recommended a preliminary inquiry into Trump's connections toCzechoslovakia based on information from a confidential source. The inquiry was initiated by the FBI New York Field Office the following week, and is reported to have spanned at least two years.[85][86] In March 2023 it was revealed that Ivana had been investigated by the FBI's counterintelligence division into allegations connected to her native Czechoslovakia.[87]
Ivana left behind an estate worth $34 million.[95] The majority of herassets were willed equally to Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric. Other beneficiaries include personal friend Evelyne Galet and the family's former nanny, Dorothy Curry.[95][96]
^Trump, Ivana (January 25, 2010). "Bye, Bye Ivana!".Globe. p. 18.Dear Readers: After years of hard work and devoted service as GLOBE's advice columnist, I regretfully have decided to resign from the position. While I have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the GLOBE family, as well as the many friendships that I have developed over the years, other business pursuits, both nationally and internationally, will not allow me to devote the attention necessary to the column and to my readers.
^Leopold, Jason; Beckwith, Ryan; Dorning, Mike (March 28, 2023)."FBI Releases Files on Ivana Trump".Bloomberg News.Donald Trump's first wife, Ivana, was under an FBI counterintelligence inquiry into allegations about her connections in her home country of Czechoslovakia in the 1990s, according to excerpts from her FBI file obtained by Bloomberg News. [...] In one document dated February 14, 1989, the FBI said it "recommended a preliminary inquiry be opened on Ivana Trump" based on information the bureau obtained from a confidential source. According to the document, "It is unknown if the allegations stem from jealousies of her wealth and fame. Investigation continuing." [...] While the nature of the FBI's inquiry into Ivana Trump is unknown, it involved the bureau's counterintelligence division and was highly sensitive, according to the documents, and spanned at least two years.
Barrett, Wayne (2016) [1992].Trump: The Deals and the Downfall (First Regan Art Paperback ed.). Harper Collins.ISBN978-1-682450-79-6. Paperback title:The Greatest Show on Earth: The Deals, the Downfall, the Reinvention.
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