News/Commentary

‘She showed me’: Ivanka gives emotional tribute at service for mom, trailblazer and icon Ivana Trump

July 21, 2022 | | Print Article

Ivanka Trump delivered an emotional tribute to her “trailblazer” of a mother on Wednesday, the iconic Ivana Trump — a woman who believed there was “nothing she couldn’t do in heels.”

“Growing up, my mother didn’t tell me a woman could do anything she wanted to — she showed me,” the 40-year-old former first daughter told the approximately 100 friends and family who gathered for a private service at the St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church on New York City’s Upper East Side, according to the New York Post.

“She was a trailblazer [to] men and women alike,” Ivanka said.

As previously reported in BizPac Review, Ivana Trump, the former wife of Donald Trump and mother to Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric, died tragically one week ago at the age of 73 following an apparent fall down the stairs of her Manhattan home.

 

From what is now the Czech Republic, Ivana and the former president were married from 1977 until 1990 and were considered one of the most glamorous power couples of the 1980s.

“She was outstanding,” Donald Trump told The Post gossip columnist Cindy Adams following his ex-wife’s untimely death. “Beautiful inside and out. We began all of it, our lives together, with such a great relationship.”

And as Trump told Adams, Ivana was more than just a pretty face.

“Beautiful, yes,” he said, “but she was also a hard worker.”

At her funeral service, Ivana’s ever-stylish daughter recalled, “My mother once told me there was nothing she couldn’t do in heels.”

“She taught us how to spearfish and then cook what we caught,” Ivanka said. “My mom expanded our minds.”

During his words of remembrance, Don Jr. called his mother “fearless and independent” for “escaping the iron curtain” that was once the communist Czech Republic, saying, “[She] shattered so many norms.”

Eric Trump, his wife, Lara, and Don Jr.’s teenage daughter Kai also remembered Ivana at the service, as did family friends Dorothy Curry and Dennis Basso, The Post reports.

In the front row were Donald Trump, who did not speak, former First Lady Melania Trump, and their son Barron.

Though Ivanka said she would follow her mom around Trump Plaza in the ’80s while the astute businesswoman oversaw the daily operations, she said Ivana was “pure fun” when the workday was done.

In her announcement online of her mother’s passing, Ivanka called her mother “brilliant.”

“Heartbroken by the passing of my mother,” she tweeted. “Mom was brilliant, charming passionate and wickedly funny. She lived life to the fullest — never forgoing an opportunity to laugh and dance. I will miss her forever and will keep her memory alive in our hearts always.”

“Mom,” Ivanka said at Thursday’s service, “I’ll always love you today and every day.”

Fighting back tears, she added, “You were and always will be the light of our lives.”

Melissa Fine
Latest posts by Melissa Fine (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles