Donald Trump’s ex-wife Ivana passed away on Thursday at the age of 73. The couple divorced in 1990. Ivana managed to emancipate herself from Donald – and became more successful than ever.
Ivana Trump leaves a great legacy – she was a key figure in the Trump family clan, society lady from the very beginning and a colorful personality. Born Ivana Zelníčková in 1949 in what was then Czechoslovakia, she, a talented and promoted skier, began dating fellow skier George Syrovatka at the age of 18. She even moved to his place of residence in Prague for him. There she enrolled at Charles University and completed a master’s degree in physical education. This was also the time when Ivana Trump started modeling – and with it dreaming of the great freedom in the West.
Her boyfriend George Syrovatka finally helped her to leave her communist home country: through Syrovatka’s mediation, she married his Austrian ski friend Alfred Winklmayr in 1971 in order to obtain “Western” citizenship and finally be able to emigrate to Canada in 1972, like her actual boyfriend Syrovatka .
Ivana Trump was married to Alfred “Fred” Winklmayr for two years, the marriage was divorced in 1973. Years later, she herself reported in her memoirs about the background of this union: “If Fred and I were to marry, I would have an Austrian passport and could legally leave communist Czechoslovakia and still see my family.” And further: “The marriage would of course not be real and Fred had no illusions that it meant anything.”
Nevertheless, she had a hobby in common with her first husband: both were passionate skiers. Trump’s athletic talents were evident from an early age. She started skiing at the age of six. She was already participating in a national training program at the age of 12, then taking part in tournaments across Europe during her teenage years.
The love story between the model and “The Donald,” as she later dubbed him, began in 1976 on New York’s Upper East Side. Waiting in a restaurant, Donald Trump offered to get Ivana Trump and her friends a table – if he could sit with her.
One dinner and a short courtship later, the two married just a year later. The marriage made them a fixture on New York’s elite scene in the 1980s. Ivana Trump has three children with her second husband: Donald Jr. was born in 1977, Ivanka in 1981 and Eric in 1984. She became a US citizen in 1988.
Ivana Trump also went into her husband’s business, serving as vice president of interior design at the Trump Organization and later as president of Trump’s Atlantic City Casino and Plaza Hotel.
The marriage lasted 14 years. In a 2002 radio interview, Donald Trump said Ivana Trump’s accent initially charmed him. “Yes, it was amazing,” he says, “and then one day when I woke up, I found the accent horrible and I couldn’t take it anymore.”
However, the marriage failed less because of his wife’s accent (after all, his current wife Melania Trump also has an accent), but rather because of his infidelity. In 1990, rumors of an affair with Marla Maples became known.
A War of the Roses ensued. After lengthy divorce negotiations, Ivana Trump was finally awarded around 25 million US dollars. This number was remarkable because Trump’s real estate empire was on the brink of bankruptcy at the time.
Shortly after the divorce, Ivana Trump began successfully establishing herself as a businesswoman. She published books, launched branded perfumes, clothing and jewelry. However, her guest appearance in 1996 in the film “Der Club der Teufelinnen” (Original: “The First Wives Club”) was particularly spicy with the now legendary line: “Don’t get mad, get everything!” Don’t take it too hard, take it all!”).
Despite a nasty divorce, Ivana and Donald became friends, and she became one of his key advisors. She never said a bad word about her ex-husband while she was alive. And so it was he who announced the death of his former great love on Thursday.
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The original of this post “After the divorce from Donald, Ivana Trump herself became a successful businesswoman” comes from Bunte.de.
