Ivana Trump was Donald Trump's first wife. The couple was married from 1977 to 1990, with her playing a key role in Trump's life and notoriety and becoming involved in his business, playing an important part in the Trump Organization, eventually becoming the CEO and president of the Trump Castle Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. The pair shared three kids together: Donald Jr, Ivanka, and Eric.
Ivana and Trump maintained a positive relationship all the way through her death in 2022. In the past, Ivana has shared her thoughts on Trump's later marriages, Marla Maples and Melania Trump. Ivana had a clear preference between the two women.
In an interview with CBS' Sunday Morning, Ivana was asked directly about Maples and Melania. “One is a nobody, the other is First Lady,” she said.
Ivana and Marla's charged relationship dates back to the '80s, back when Trump was married to Ivana and first met Maples, with the two kicking off a highly publicized affair. In her memoir, "Raising Trump," Ivana discussed her relationship with Maples, including a heated exchange that took place while on a ski trip to Aspen in 1989. “This young blonde woman approached me out of the blue and said ‘I’m Marla and I love your husband. Do you?’ ” Ivana wrote. “I said ‘Get lost. I love my husband.’ It was unladylike, but I was in shock.”
Trump has also discussed the infidelity and that specific encounter. “There wasn’t shouting, but you could obviously see there was some friction,” said Trump in a 1994 interview.
The incident proved to be fatal for their marriage, with Ivana filing for divorce the following year. Trump then married Maples, with their relationship lasting from 1993 to 1999. The pair shared one daughter, Tiffany Trump.
In that same interview, Trump shared some form of regret over the affair, praising Ivana and the life that the two used to have. “It's possible that maybe it would still be going on," he said of his relationship with Ivana and his affair with Maples. "My life was so great in so many ways ... beautiful girlfriend, beautiful wife, beautiful everything. Life was just a bowl of cherries.”
Trump's current wife, Melania Trump
Trump met his current wife, Melania, in 1998, while in the midst of divorce proceedings with Maples. While the pair had their on and off moments, breaking up and getting back together, in 2004, Trump proposed to her at the Met Gala. The two married in Palm Beach, Florida, at a ceremony attended by figures like Rudy Giuliani, Barbara Walters, and President Bill Clinton.
Once Trump became President in 2017, Melania became the first foreign-born first lady since 1829, when Louisa Adams was the nation's first lady as the wife of President John Quincy Adams.