Melania Trump is currently pulling focus at her husband Donald Trump’s inauguration thanks to stepping out in a meme-friendly hat at the political event.
The president-elect will be sworn in to his second term in the White House on Monday, eight years after he first took the oath of office. Trump, a convicted felon, spent the eve of the inauguration at a rally, where he declared his supporters had “built a new American majority that will lead our country to success for generations to come”.
Melania, returning for her second non-consecutive term as First Lady, unveiled a new cryptocurrency venture after her husband delivered yet another Make America Great Again style speech on Sunday. Trump and Melania tied the knot at the start of 2005, at the Bethesda-by-the-Sea church in Palm Beach, Florida.
The couple welcomed son, Barron William Trump into the world the year following their marriage. Trump is also a father to four other children; Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump from his first marriage to Ivana Zelníčková, and Tiffany Trump from his second marriage to Marla Maples.
Ivana Marie Zelníčková, born in what was Czechoslovakia, experienced life under communist reign before emigrating to Canada in the 1970s where she had a stint as a model. Ivana was a skier, ski instructor and model before tying the knot with Donald Trump in 1977, when he was a real estate tycoon.
She partnered with Trump in managing casinos and hotels while helping him become a Manhattan and global socialite throughout the 1980s. She is also the mother to his children Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric. The couple divorced in 1992, with Donald Trump’s infidelity being the cause of their split.
He later married and divorced Marla Maples, with whom he had daughter Tiffany, and is now with his third wife, Melania. Prior to her death in 2022, Ivana backed her ex’s now successful bid to return to the White House but said she wanted “this whole thing to be over with” after he lost to Joe Biden and desperately sought to overturn the result, including by telling his supporters to “fight like hell” shortly before hundreds of them mounted a deadly attack on the Capitol.
She said she believed her children “enjoyed being around Donald and running the election and seeing what will happen” but she wanted them to one day “be able to live their normal lives”.
Ivana was found dead at her Manhattan home in July 2022 after appearing unusually tired and eating less than usual at her favourite restaurant, Altesi Ristorante, just hours before. The 73 year old socialite was discovered at around 12.40pm on 14th July following a 911 call reporting a person, believed to be Ms Trump, in cardiac arrest.
Despite the family’s statement and a post from the former president on Truth Social announcing her passing, they did not disclose the cause of her death. However, a New York police spokesperson later confirmed she was found dead on the stairs inside her apartment under non-suspicious circumstances.
Paola Alavian, the owner of Altesi Restaurant, told The Sun that he saw Ivana almost daily and noticed she seemed “Her health seemed normal, she looked maybe a little bit tired, but she otherwise seemed okay” and ate “a very, very small amount of food” during her last visit. He expressed his deep shock at her sudden death. The New York Fire Department quickly confirmed paramedics attended to a cardiac arrest at her apartment.
“Our mother was an incredible woman – a force in business, a world-class athlete, a radiant beauty, and caring mother and friend,” the Trump family said in a tribute. They added: “Ivana Trump was a survivor. She fled from communism and embraced this country. She taught her children about grit and toughness, compassion and determination.”
It was later confirmed that Ivana died from blunt force injuries to her torso that she suffered after an accidental fall. A spokesperson for the New York City office of chief medical examiner confirmed reports that Trump’s first ex-wife seemingly accidentally fell and was found at the bottom of her home’s stairs.
Images resurfaced last year, sparking fresh outrage over the neglected state of Donald Trump’s late wife’s grave at his sprawling 506-acre golf resort. Ivana Trump passed away in July 2022 following a tragic accident where she fell down stairs at her Manhattan residence.
She was interred at the National Golf Course in Bedminster, New Jersey, owned by Trump. In August 2023, photographs began circulating on social media again, showing Ivana’s resting place at age 73, shrouded by unkempt vegetation and tall grasses.
The original photos emerged in a Daily Mail article dated August 12, which highlighted that “Ivana Trump’s cordoned-off grave” was “barely visible in a completely overgrown area of the course.” The report indicated that these images were captured the weekend before the 2023 LIV Golf Invitational Bedminster tournament took place at the golf course.
Ivana, mother to Trump’s children Don Jr, Eric, and Ivanka, was laid to rest in a family plot near the first hole of the golf course on July 28, 2022. Subsequent photos taken after her burial in 2022 seemed to depict the same neglected spot as those published in August 2023.
The Mail quoted an anonymous “Trump official” who hinted that the current headstone for Trump’s late wife is just a placeholder, saying “the soil and foundation needed time to fully set, at which time a larger headstone will be used.” The condition of Trump’s deceased spouse’s grave remains a mystery.
In stark contrast, President Joe Biden is known to frequently visit the burial site of his first wife Neilia at St. Joseph on the Brandywine Roman Catholic Church in Delaware. Neilia and their 13-month-old daughter Naomi met with a tragic end in a car crash over Christmas in 1972, leaving their young sons Beau and Hunter, then aged 3 and 2, seriously injured.
Both Naomi and Biden’s son Beau, who succumbed to brain cancer in 2015 at age 46, are laid to rest in the same cemetery. On a poignant visit in December 2021, Biden, joined by his family, was observed walking the church grounds and spending moments at the graves of his dearly departed.
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