Proud, independent mama. Ivana Trump told guests at a Lifeline benefit in New York City on Wednesday, October 5, that she raised her three children with ex-husband Donald Trump without much assistance or guidance from the controversial Republican presidential nominee.
“I brought up the children single-handedly,” Ivana, 67, said while discussing their kids Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr. at the event, which benefited pediatric cancer in Serbia.
“Donald wasn’t really interested in the children until he could talk business with them,” Ivana reportedly added, according to the New York Daily News. “When they turned 21, I handed them over to him and said, ‘Here’s the finished product. You can take them from here.’”
Donald Jr., 38, Ivanka, 34, and Eric, 32, have all supported and been instrumental to their famous father’s campaign. During Ivanka’s speech at the Republican National Convention on July 21, viewers praised the fashion designer, who argued her controversial father will indeed fight for women’s issues.
Ivana, according to the New York Daily News, also supports her ex but has given him a few words of advice.
“I’m watching the debates very closely,” guests at the event reportedly heard her say. “I tell him to stick to the big issues and to forget about Trump University and Miss Universe, because no one cares.”
Ivana and the former Apprentice host were married from 1977 to 1991. They split over Trump’s affair with Marla Maples, whom he later married in 1993 before divorcing in 1999; they share daughter Tiffany, 22. (He wed third wife Melania in 2005, and they share son Barron, 10.)
As previously reported by Us, Trump recently made headlines for bashing former Miss Universe Alicia Machado after his opponent Hillary Clinton brought her up during the first presidential debate on September 26. During a Twitter rant, the businessman alleged that Machado has a sex tape and that Clinton somehow got her citizenship to later use to her benefit during the campaign.
