Ivanka Trump reveals ‘extraordinary privilege’ of having her grandmother live with her
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First daughter Ivanka Trump recently opened up about her life in a video interview on the “Diary of a CEO” podcast; He shared with certainty that his extended family is the foundation of his life.
Trump, 44, talked about his mother, Ivana Trump, saying she was an “incredible pioneer” who set an example of “strength, resilience, grandeur, determination and ambition,” and he also mentioned his grandmother.
Ivana Trump was born Ivana Zelnickova in 1949 in the Czechoslovak city of Gottwaldov, formerly known as Zlin and renamed by the Communists who took over the country in 1948.
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Minister Donald Trump and Ivana Trump married in 1977 and had three children: Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric.
Partners in love and business, with Ivana Trump taking on roles such as the manager of an Atlantic City casino, the Trumps were fixtures of New York’s see-and-be-seen scene before their high-profile divorce in the early 1990s.
By then, Donald Trump had met his next wife, Marla Maples.
First daughter Ivanka Trump, pictured as a child, far right, described her grandmother Marie Zelníčková, far left, as “incredibly caring” and said it was “a blessing” to have her at her home in Florida today. (Ivanka Trump/Instagram)
“She was herself and very cheerful. She loved to dance and play,” Ivanka Trump said of her mother.
“She showed me a lot at a time when not many women were doing what my mother did in the boardroom and on the construction sites,” Trump added.
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Ivana Trump enthusiastically supported her ex-husband’s 2016 White House bid, telling the New York Post in 2016 that he was both a supporter and advisor.
Ivanka Trump referred to her mother as “an incredible role model to me for what’s possible.” “He taught me a lot about bringing intention to what you do.”
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Ivana said Trump has influenced her approach to parenting, adding that she “can’t do it alone and doesn’t act like she can.”
Ivana Trump and Ivanka Trump pose together in a photo taken by Mark Von Holden for Niche Media, LLC. (Mark Von Holden/WireImage)
Ivanka Trump shared that her parents are doing a good job of keeping her and her siblings afloat.
Even in her father’s high-profile life, she said, there was never a moment when he didn’t answer her phone calls.
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“There was never any doubt in my mind that his top priority was me and that he was available to me,” he said.
Ivanka Trump became visibly emotional at several points in the interview, pausing to compose herself as she reflected on her mother’s sudden death at her New York City home in 2022 at the age of 73.
Family portrait of, from left, socialite Ivana Trump, son Eric Trump, Donald Trump and daughter Ivanka Trump sitting at a table at their Mar-a-Lago estate, Palm Beach, Florida, 1998. (Davidoff Studios/Getty Images)
He said that after his mother’s death, he took time to examine her life to understand her better. “Today I understand him better about some aspects of his life. I see him more fully,” he said.
“He lived a good life,” Ivanka Trump added.
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She also talked about her grandmother, Marie Zelníčková, on the podcast; He stated that she was a fixture in his life and that he currently lives with him and his family in Florida.
Donald Trump Jr., Ivana Trump, Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump in New York in October 2011. (Ben Hider/Getty Images)
While Ivanka Trump thanked both her mother and father for shaping her into the person she is today, she said her “maternal grandparents really raised us.”
He described his grandmother as “incredibly caring” and said having her in his home was “a blessing.”
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“He taught me a kind of unconditional love and compassion,” Trump said.
“For me and my children to have this experience. [of being] “It’s an extraordinary privilege to have him there for a fraction of the time he was there for me.”
Ivanka Trump is seen during the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup Draw at Telemundo Studios in Miami, Florida on December 5, 2024. (Brennan Asplen/Getty Images)
“For him, food was very much an expression of love,” he added.
Fox News Digital’s Kelly McGreal and Adam Sabes contributed reporting.
