₦airaland Forum

Ivana Trump, the first wife to former U.S. President Donald Trump and the mother of his three eldest children, unexpectedly died Thursday at her New York City apartment, officials say. She was 73 years old.

The incident was first reported at about 12:30 p.m. on Thursday when emergency services were called for a cardiac arrest at an apartment on East 64 Street in Manhattan, where Ivana lived. Paramedics arrived on the scene and she was later pronounced dead.

“I am very saddened to inform all of those that loved her, of which there are many, that Ivana Trump has passed away at her home in New York City,” former President Donald Trump said in a statement. “She was a wonderful, beautiful, and amazing woman, who led a great and inspirational life.”

Donald Trump added: “Her pride and joy were her three children, Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric. She was so proud of them, as we were all so proud of her. Rest In Peace, Ivana!”

Ivana, a Czech-American businesswoman, media personality, fashion designer, author, and former model lived in Canada in the 1970s before migrating to the United States.

Ivana was in New York City with a group of models in 1976 when she met Donald Trump. On April 7, 1977, the couple married at Marble Collegiate Church in a wedding officiated by Norman Vincent Peale. They became tabloid figures in New York society during the 1980s and worked together on several large projects, including the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, the renovation of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City, and the construction of the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. She was ​vice president of interior design, as CEO and president of Trump's Castle casino resort, and as manager of the Plaza Hotel.

During the marriage, Ivana and Donald Trump had three children: Donald Trump Jr. (born December 31, 1977), Ivana Marie Trump, better known as Ivanka Trump, (born October 30, 1981), and Eric Trump (born January 6, 1984).

The Trumps' troubled marriage became the subject of public interest over the Christmas holiday in 1989 when on vacation in Aspen, Colorado they were observed fighting after Ivana encountered Donald Trump's mistress Marla Maples. It was reported that by February 1990, Donald Trump had locked Ivana out of her office at the Plaza Hotel, and a legal battle ensued over the legitimacy of the four prenuptial agreements the pair had successively negotiated over the years.

The Trumps' divorce proceedings received worldwide publicity. Front-page coverage appeared in New York tabloid newspapers for eleven days in a row, and the story was the subject of Liz Smith's entire news coverage for three months. In a deposition relating to their divorce, Ivana accused Donald Trump of rape and of pulling out handfuls of her hair. In Harry Hurt III's book Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump, she confirmed that she had "felt violated".

However, in a statement provided by Donald Trump and his lawyers, she said that she had used the word "rape", but she did not "want [her] words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense." The uncontested divorce was granted in December 1990 on the grounds of cruel and inhumane treatment by Donald Trump. Ivana had to sign a non-disclosure agreement as a condition of the divorce settlement, and she was required to seek Donald Trump's permission before publicly discussing their marriage. The New York Times reported in 1991 that Ivana's divorce settlement included $14 million, a 45-room Connecticut mansion, an apartment in the Trump Plaza, and the use of Mar-a-Lago for one month a year. The divorce was finalized in 1992.

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