Ivana Trump, the flamboyant and irrepressible ex-wife of Donald Trump and the mother of three of his children, passed away in July 2022 at the age of 73. As the Trump clan adjusts to life without the matriarch, we take a look back at the socialite and businesswoman's fascinating life and the places she called home, from humble beginnings in communist Czechoslovakia to her remarkable $26 million (£21.9m) New York townhouse, which was recently revealed to be the most significant asset in her last will and testament. Click or scroll on for more...
Most recently, Forbes has lifted the lid on Ivana Trump's probate documents to reveal the biggest beneficiaries of her $34 million (£27.7m) estate—as well as a surprise snub. Ivana's children, Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric, were given the most valuable asset in the will, her beloved New York City townhouse where she spent her last days. The trio listed it for $26.5 million (£21.6m) following her death and will split the proceeds from the eventual sale evenly. Ivana named Eric as her personal representative, which means that he takes on the responsibility of managing and redistributing the estate.
Interestingly, Ivana's fourth ex-husband, Rossano Rubicondi, is also named in the will. She was briefly married to the Italian actor from 2008 to 2009, however, the pair had dated for six years before they tied the knot at her former husband Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, of all places. They reportedly continued to see each other and off in the decade following their divorce. Ivana had bequeathed a property in St Tropez, France to Rubicondi, but sadly that benefaction lapsed when Rubicondi passed away in 2021 at the age of just 49.
While one ex-husband made the will, Ivana's most notable former partner, Donald Trump, was snubbed in the probate papers. Ivana and Donald were married from 1977 to 1992, however, their divorce was especially messy, triggered by Donald Trump's affair with American actress Marla Maples, who he later wed. Nevertheless, the former couple appeared to reconcile in more years. In a statement obtained by CNN during the 45th president's first run for the White House in 2015, Ivana said: "Donald and I are the best of friends and together have raised three children that we love and are very proud of. I have nothing but fondness for Donald and wish him the best of luck on his campaign."
Aside from her three children, the second-largest beneficiary of Ivana's will is thought to be her long-standing employee, Dorothy Curry. Joining the Trump family as a nanny, Curry helped raise Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric. In Ivana's book, Raising Trump, Eric is quoted as saying: “Dorothy is my second mother... She’s raised me since I was a baby, and we are incredibly close—inseparable. I love her immensely.” Curry later became Ivana's assistant and maintained a close relationship with the Trumps for many years. Her loyalty was clearly appreciated, as the probate papers reveal that Ivana left Curry her Yorkshire terrier, Tiger Trump, and a plush Florida condo, reportedly worth over $1 million (£815k) according to Forbes.
Let's take a look around the most valuable asset in Ivana's will—her historic New York City townhouse. Following her divorce from Donald Trump in 1992, Ivana bagged this imposing townhouse on East 64th Street on Manhattan's Upper East Side, which dates back to 1879. The moneyed divorcée spent $2.5 million (£2m) on the generously apportioned property, according to The New York Times. She is also said to have acquired homes in London and St Tropez.
Ivana thrived after her separation from Donald. Putting her business skills to good use, she launched a succession of jewellery, clothing and beauty lines for the likes of QVC and Home Shopping Network and kept her position as one of New York's top socialites. She's pictured here in 1997 cosying up to a Ferrari in front of the beloved Upper East Side home, which still bears so many personal touches.
Placed on the market for $26.5 million (£21.6m) after Ivana’s passing in July 2022, her Upper East Side townhouse is a portal back to the height of 1980s opulence. Though her property portfolio was substantial back then, the townhouse immediately became her favourite, according to her son, Eric Trump, who told Mansion Global: "She was so comfortable there... it was the last possession in the world she would ever have gotten rid of."
The home is entered via a set of custom black and gold grilled doors, which lead into a formal gallery lit by an enormous Italian crystal chandelier and framed by custom gilded panelling. A painted mural wraps around the stairwell, while a damask-clad powder room and a gated elevator flank the sweeping marble staircase, which leads up to the home’s primary entertaining level.
The second storey boasts 10.5-foot ceilings and four chandeliers spread out across a range of regal rooms specifically designed for entertaining. A forest green living room boasts exceptional millwork, sumptuous fabrics, ornate crown mouldings, a gold-embossed marble fireplace and views out across East 64th Street.
The Versailles-inspired dining room features walls covered in gold brocade panels, a bold red carpet and a large crystal chandelier. There is also another gold-embossed marble fireplace, a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking a private courtyard, and bespoke, built-in cabinetry. In an enclave at the end of the room, a smaller circular table creates a more intimate dining space. The primary kitchen adjoins the dining room and features a full range of state-of-the-art appliances.
As evidenced by even this snug dining nook, the home’s interiors are decedent in the extreme and similar to much of the interior design found in Trump Tower. With its wall-to-wall gilding, pink marble, leopard print furniture, and crystal chandeliers, the home’s aesthetic ‘embodied Ivana Trump’, according to Eric. The six-storey Gilded Age home is steeped in history and these entertaining spaces once hosted celebrities, luminaries, and leaders from around the world during Ivana's tenure.
Ivana is pictured here in the home's lavish dining room. The Trump matriarch spent her final days in her beloved townhouse, where she resided with her Yorkshire terrier, Tiger. Since her tragic passing at the property, Tiger has reportedly remained in the house alongside Ivana's longtime assistant, though it seems change is on the cards now as a new buyer is sought for this desirable piece of real estate.
The home’s primary suite, which was once no doubt Ivana's, occupies the entire third storey. It consists predominantly of a large, south-facing bedroom appointed in muted pinks, greens and golds, and features a large, restored mural. The room also boasts a canopied bed fit for a princess, yet another gold-embossed fireplace, and of course, a crystal chandelier, and opens out onto its own private terrace.
The adjoining master bathroom is decked entirely in pink onyx marble and gold hardware. The opulent bathing space features a double sink, an oversized soaking tub, illuminated vanity, mirrored walls, and a separate water closet.
Adjacent to the bathroom, Ivana’s exotically appointed office is clad in floor-to-ceiling leopard print. Leopard print upholstery adorns the furniture and the walls, and even a large mural of a leopard covers one wall. The room also boasts a large onyx and gold fireplace, and the obligatory oversized walk-in closet.
The 8,725-square-foot townhouse includes five bedrooms and five-and-a-half bathrooms in total. Three bedrooms occupy the fourth floor, including one with its own ensuite and dressing room, while the other two bedrooms share a full bathroom. The fifth floor boasts a large guest bedroom with its own ensuite, as well as two smaller adjoining rooms suitable for staff, storage or additional office space.
In addition to its decadent living spaces, the property boasts a range of amenities, including a large media room with an adjoining kitchen, a home office, and a large finished basement with a Swedish sauna, laundry room, and extensive storage space. The home also offers an enclosed garden, a rare find in Manhattan. All in all, the exceptional property is a remarkable piece of New York history frozen in an era of opulence. We can see why Ivana was so attached to her final home!
Read on to retrace Ivana's remarkable property journey from Czechoslovakia to New York City
In the wake of Ivana's death in the summer of 2022, the Trump family issued a joint statement via Eric Trump's Instagram account, remembering her as: "An incredible woman—a force in business, a world-class athlete, a radiant beauty, and caring mother and friend. Ivana Trump was a survivor. She fled from communism and embraced this country. She taught her children about grit and toughness, compassion and determination. She will be dearly missed by her mother, her three children and ten grandchildren.”
Ivana Trump was born Ivana Zelnickova on 20 February 1949 in Gottwaldov (now called Zlin), in post-war communist Czechoslovakia (now Czechia). The grim industrial company town was built around the famous Bata shoe factory, which employed much of the population, though Ivana's father Milos Zelnicek and Marie Zelnickova worked elsewhere as an engineer and telephone operator respectively.
Ivana was raised in one of these boxy 'Bata houses'. The identikit buildings were constructed to house factory workers and visually reflect the communist ideal of collectivism. While they were basic and cheap to build, each of the homes had a garden and offered more space than the high-rise blocks that were so typical of the era.
A sporty student, Ivana attended university in Prague, where she studied physical education. In 1970 while she was a 21-year-old studying at college, the future celebrity appeared in an episode of Czech children's TV show Pan Tau (pictured right). But it wasn't acting that would take her on the path to freedom in the West.
Ivana's father introduced her to skiing at the age of four and by 15 she'd earned a place on the Czech national junior ski team (this picture was actually taken in Aspen in the 1990s). Travelling abroad with the team opened the young athlete's eyes to the wider world. Ivana vowed to leave for the West but didn't want to defect as that would mean never being able to visit her parents.
Instead, she got out legally by marrying a strictly platonic friend, Austrian ski instructor Alfred Winklmayr. Ivana received her Austrian passport in 1972 and divorced Winklmayr the following year. Amid the divorce, Ivana's boyfriend at the time, the renowned Czech lyricist Jiří Štaidl (pictured), was killed in a car accident. Crestfallen, she left for Canada in an attempt to escape the pain of his passing and deal with the loss.
Settling in Montreal, Ivana worked as a ski instructor and model, according to Encyclopedia.com. It was during a trip to New York in 1976 promoting the Montreal Olympics that she met Donald, who spied her with a group of fellow models waiting to be seated at Manhattan's upscale Maxwell's Plum restaurant. Donald pulled some strings, got the group a table and hit it off with Ivana, paying for the party's dinner to boot. The pair started dating soon after.
The up-and-coming Big Apple power couple tied the knot in April 1977, with New York's finest attending the ceremony. The newlyweds are posing here with Donald's parents Fred and Mary and Ivana's folks, Miloš and Marie. Already major fixtures on the New York social scene, the hottest duo in town attended the opening of legendary nightclub Studio 54 that same month.
The happy couple are shown here on their honeymoon, looking as loved-up and carefree as could be on that sunny beach. With Donald expanding his real estate empire, Ivana was hired as an interior design consultant. She would work on various projects over the years, before taking on executive roles at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan and Trump's Castle Hotel and Casino.
Donald was living in an apartment building on Third Avenue called the Phoenix, according to '80s TV personality Nikki Haskell when he met Ivana. Following their nuptials, the couple moved into a condo in the luxe, amenity-packed Olympic Tower looming over St Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue, which was the place to reside in New York back then, with very little in the way of competition.
Ivana and Donald welcomed their first child, Donald Trump Jr, on New Year's Eve 1977 when they were living in the coveted Olympic Tower condo. With the real estate mogul's career taking off big-time, the couple were going up in the world and becoming even more high-profile.
Two years after Donald Jr's birth, the trio decamped to the ultra-high-end 800 Fifth Avenue, another one of New York's most prestigious addresses. The 33-storey tower is as plush as Manhattan residential blocks come and offers some of the most breathtaking vistas of Central Park in the entire city.
Ivanka Trump was born in October 1981. Donald had wanted to name her Tiffany after the jewellery company. Ivana's response was “over my dead body” and their daughter was christened after her mother, but nicknamed Ivanka from an early age (Ivanka is the diminutive form of Ivana), a moniker which stuck. Donald finally got his wish in October 1993 when his second daughter was born to Marla Maples.
A year after their daughter came into the world, Donald and Ivana bought their first big family home, an eight-bedroom, 13-bathroom Georgian Revival mansion in affluent Greenwich, Connecticut that they could escape to at weekends. The couple paid $4 million (£3.3m) on the 19,773-square-foot waterside property.
Sitting on nearly six acres of lush green land, the property boasts sweeping views of Long Island Sound. Part of Donald Trump's amazing real estate portfolio, it was decorated in Ivana and Donald's favourite Louis XVI-style: think copious gold leaf, enormous crystal chandeliers, extravagant frescoes and statues galore. A photo of Donald at home in 1987 shows the grand entrance with a double staircase and what looks like a hand-painted wall mural.
The couple had become wealthy enough by this point to afford a coterie of staff. They are pictured here with their personal chef in the mansion's homely yet high-end kitchen. While antique in style by and large, the kitchen has that unmistakable 1980s feel.
Ivana gazes lovingly at her husband in this shot by the pool, but as we all know their marriage wasn't to last. Following their bitter, much-publicised divorce in 1992, Ivana was awarded the Connecticut mansion, in addition to a $14 million (£11.4m) settlement. She went on to sell it in 1998 for $15 million (£12.2m).
Completing the family of five, Ivana and Donald's third child Eric was born in January 1984. Even while she was married to Donald, Ivana almost single-handedly raised their kids. As she puts it in her 2017 memoir Raising Trump, she both worked and “made the decisions about their education, activities, travel, child care, and allowances” until they went to college.
A couple of months after Eric was born, the family moved into a 6,096-square-foot triplex penthouse apartment spanning floors 66 to 68 of Trump Tower, Donald's flagship Fifth Avenue development. Ivana was in charge of interior design for the entire tower, overseeing its lavish outfitting. “If something could be leafed in gold... it was,” she wrote in her memoir. “Italian marble? I bought a mountain's worth.”
Donald and Ivana are pictured here with former New York City mayor Ed Koch at the skyscraper's opening party. As well as bowling them over with its gold and marble, the glitzy tower wowed New Yorkers with five levels of restaurants, galleries and high-end stores like Cartier and Loewe, as well as premium apartments.
The triplex penthouse on the uppermost floors was initially designed by Halston's Angelo Donghia and was relatively restrained in terms of décor. Subtle gold accents were tempered by black lacquered walls and onyx tables, and muted hues abounded.
Donald and Ivana decided to redecorate and transformed the stylish if muted décor into a lavish, Versailles-inspired scheme with marble columns, gold candelabras and cream soft furnishings. Donald Trump was said to be inspired by an apartment he'd visited in the Olympic Tower condo building that belonged to the flashy Saudi arms dealer Adnan Koshnoggi.
Ivana was married to Donald when he bought the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida in 1985. He spent millions refurbishing the sumptuous oceanfront property, a 118-room Spanish-Moorish-style palace built in the 1920s. Donald bought the estate as a vacation retreat but following the divorce, it was converted into an ultra-exclusive private members' club. During their sojourns there, Ivana and Donald stayed in the splendid owner's suite. The suite houses the Pine Hall and Louis XV Hall living rooms, Versailles Master Bedroom, an additional bedroom, bathrooms and offices.
Very much in keeping with the couple's tastes, the living room is completely covered in gold leaf. It's said the decoration job depleted America's entire reserves of the stuff. And if that wasn't enough, Donald reportedly spent $7 million (£5.7m) gilding the palatial space and $100,000 (£81.5k) on gold basins for the bathrooms.
The Versailles Master Bedroom is shown here in the 1990s, with a heavy dose of Louis XVI extravagance. Interestingly, Melania later redecorated in a more sedate style, but when he found out she'd messed with the room, a furious Donald had the minimal furniture removed and ornate pieces put back.
Ivana is pictured with Ivanka in the lucky girl's Mar-a-Lago suite. The Baby House as it's called was inspired by Sleeping Beauty and features an enchanting silver-plated four-poster bed with squirrel motifs, which Ivanka and her mother are posing on here, as well as a fireplace decorated with garlands of plaster roses.
Ivana could easily have lived a life of ease and luxury living off her husband's billions, but she chose to work. Ivana took an active role in the Trump family business and acted as CEO of the Castle, one of three hotels and casinos Donald owned in Atlantic City in the late 1980s. She is posing here in 1987 in the resort's snazzy atrium, which was decorated with gold castles sitting on mirrored columns.
Ivana would have taken plenty of trips on her husband's private jets, given her role in the Trump Organization, overseeing the interior design for numerous Trump buildings and managing the Plaza during the time it was voted America's best luxury hotel.
Two years after her marriage to Donald ended, Ivana acquired a covetable Palm Beach retreat of her own for $4.4 million (£3.6m). Renowned architect Addison Mizner designed the 14,406-square-foot Spanish-Moorish oceanfront estate in 1921 including the grand column-lined dining area, a lotus-shaped pool and a private tunnel to the beach.
Ivana had fought hard to gain sole custody of the kids. Fortunately, there was plenty of space for them in the nine-bedroom villa, which was decorated in an uncharacteristically low-key style. With her children all grown up, Ivana decided to offload Concha Marina in 2014. The property was listed for $18.9 million (£15.4m) but ended up selling for $16.6 million (£13.5m), netting her a tidy profit nonetheless.
While their split was acrimonious, Ivana and Donald became increasingly amicable as the years went by. The exes are shown here with Roffredo Gaetani, Ivana's partner from 1997 until his death in 2005. Ivana married for the third time in 1995 to Italian entrepreneur and businessman, Riccardo Mazzucchelli but the union lasted only two years. She got hitched for a fourth and final time in 2008 at Mar-a-Lago to actor Rossano Rubicondi. The duo were divorced within the space of a year but had an on/off relationship until 2019. Rubicondi died from skin cancer in 2021 aged just 49.
While her unexpected death shook the Trump family, there's no denying Ivana Trump had an incredible life, despite the ups and downs. She herself admitted she was blessed with good fortune and grabbed every opportunity that came her way. As she once wrote: “One should never live with regrets or with 'what if'. I've loved the good times, and I have learned from the bad. All in all, it's been a pretty fabulous life for me.”
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