Before Ivana Trump’s burial, loved ones are paying their condolences at her townhouse in New York City.
Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancée, Kimberly Guilfoyle, left for New York City on Tuesday to be with her family as they grieve the passing of the Trump family patriarch.
Exclusive DailyMail.com images show Guilfoyle boarding a taxi in Manhattan before travelling to the opulent Loews Hotel on Park Avenue while carrying a Louis Vuitton tote bag and a black outfit.
The former Fox News host was on the phone and was observed walking through the city streets with her mouth covered.
Ivana, her future mother-in-law, passed away last week at the age of 73 following a fall from the stairs in her Upper East Side residence.
On Tuesday, as city workers set up barricades in advance of the socialite’s memorial, mourners left floral tributes and heartfelt letters outside the residence.
Ivana, the first wife of the late President Donald Trump, will be remembered at an elaborate Catholic church nearby on Wednesday during a “Celebration of Life.”
According to a family source, Melania Trump, the current spouse of Donald Trump, won’t attend Ivana’s funeral.
It is unknown if the former president will show up.
Ivana, who passed away on July 14 from “blunt impact injuries” sustained in her fall, will be remembered during a service on Wednesday at the St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church on Lexington Avenue.
According to an invitation acquired by the New York Post, the event will start at 1.30 p.m.
It featured a glamorous image of a young Ivana, who was once a competitive skier, pounding the slopes.
Additionally, the invitation asked guests to donate to the Big Dog Rescue in lieu of flowers.
Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric Trump, Ivana’s three children, all want to attend her funeral, a family source revealed.
Uncertainty surrounds whether their father, former President Donald Trump, will accompany them.
On Monday, he and Melania landed at their previous New York apartment in Trump Tower.
Following their departure from the White House at the beginning of the year, the former first couple moved to Palm Beach, Florida.
According to a source close to the real estate mogul, Donald is “extremely upset” about Ivana’s passing: “Donald talked to her frequently and sent flowers on every birthday and other occasions.”
The insider went on to say that if he decides to go to his ex-burial, wife’s he will not be going with Melania.
All of Donald and Ivana’s children have openly shared how devastated they are by their mother’s passing.
Hours after Ivana’s demise, Eric, 38, released a touching obituary with Dailymail.com that was written by him, Ivanka, and Don Jr.
It recalled Ivana as a ‘amazing woman’ who was ‘a force in business, a world-class athlete, a radiant beauty, and compassionate mother and friend.
The joint statement highlighted the businesswoman’s difficult background behind the Iron Curtain and amazing migration to the US after fleeing communism in Czechoslovakia and then settling in Canada and New York City.
They said she will be “deeply missed” and that she “taught her children about courage and fortitude, kindness and dedication.”
In addition, he has been visiting his mother’s house frequently since her passing on Thursday.
On Monday, he was seen leaving the house with a black plastic bag.
It’s unknown if Ivana’s cherished possessions have been removed from the home since her passing.
Ivanka, 40, also praised their mother, describing her as “bold” and noting that she was always willing to take the required action.
She referred to her as “The One to Go to.” She would serve in that capacity if necessary. Then did. Wash the dishes yourself, and you did.
‘Wicked. With vigour. When asked to describe her mother, her daughter remarked that “she brought joy and self-confidence.”
She recalled that “when they owned The Plaza Hotel, it wasn’t all comportment and grace” when her mother was a significant player in Donald’s real estate business.
She would let me run with her through the hallways when I arrived from school. I’d adhere to her.
The love of finer things in life that Ivana had was also mentioned by her daughter, who said that “she loved the beautiful things and would criticise what she believed wasn’t.”
Guilfoyle and Donald Jr., 44, paid tribute to Ivana on Instagram on Friday night. I am who I am today because of you, he said.
I appreciate how you always pushed us, didn’t let us get away with anything, and instilled so many amazing ideals and character traits in us.
Ivana, 53, was hailed by Guilfoyle as the “embodiment of the American Dream” and praised for being a “devoted and loving mother” in addition to her professional accomplishments.
She said, “Ivana Trump was a devoted and loving mother to @DonaldJTrumpJr, @IvankaTrump, & @EricTrump.
She was also a successful businesswoman, a wonderful athlete, & most importantly, a magnificent lady.”
She represented the American Dream in every way. Knowing and loving her was a privilege. We all miss her terribly.
Donald Jr. and Guilfoyle started dating in 2018, and on New Year’s Eve 2020, they got engaged.
After insiders verified the pair had kept their engagement a secret for more than a year, DailyMail.com announced it in January.
The Trump family is apparently a “huge fan” of Guilfoyle, and the two have been close friends for more than 15 years.
Additionally, she was appointed in 2020 as the Trump Victory Finance Committee’s National Finance Chair.
Ivana was born in the Czech city of Zlin in 1949 to parents Milo Zelnek, an electrical engineer, and Marie Zelnková, a telephone operator.
She was an amazing skier. Her father had encouraged her to pursue that talent, and it turned out to be the key to her 1971 escape from the depressing Communist lifestyle behind the Iron Curtain.
In order to obtain an Austrian passport and a one-way ticket to the West, she briefly wed her friend, Austrian ski instructor Alfred Winklmayr.
After less than two years, they got divorced.
In the early 1970s, Ivana herself instructed skiing in Montreal.
Before relocating to New York City to be with Donald, to whom she was married from 1977 until 1992, she made her home in Canada.
In her story, Ivana described how Donald got her and her guests a table at a popular Manhattan restaurant, took care of the bill, and drove her back to her hotel in a Cadillac.
In her 2017 biography, “Raising Trump,” she stated, “My instincts told me that Donald was smart and witty – an all-American nice person.”
Ivana utilised her renowned work ethic to parlay her $14 million divorce settlement from Donald into an even greater fortune, but that encounter was key in catapulting her to a life of unfathomable wealth and luxury.
Throughout the Trumps’ turbulent 15-year marriage, Ivana worked as executive vice president of interior design for the company owned by the then-real estate billionaire rather than taking it easy.
This included being in charge of the Trump Tower’s interior design, which features a famous pink marble finish.
Along with the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City, Ivana managed the development of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.
After Donald acquired the Central Park South property in 1988, she later rose to the position of manager at the famed Plaza Hotel in New York City.
At the height of their romance, the two were business partners and collaborated on a number of significant ventures, including the construction of the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the renovation of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City, and the development of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
The pair, however, began to have some problems in 1989, as they were seen fighting while on vacation in Aspen, Colorado, after Ivana learned that Donald was having an affair with Marla Maples, who would later become his second wife.
Ivana and Donald’s marriage broke down in 1990, but she was able to use a pre-nuptial agreement that had been revised four times throughout their union to negotiate one of the largest divorce payments in history at the time.
After the divorce was finally settled in 1992, she received a tidy $14 million.
Ivana received the lump sum payment in addition to a one-bedroom apartment at Trump’s New York Trump Plaza apartment building and a 45-room house in Connecticut.
In 1998, she went on to sell the Connecticut estate for $15 million, nearly tripling her wealth overnight.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Ivana’s net worth stood at an estimated $100 million at the time of her passing.
Despite their bitter divorce, Donald and Ivana reconnected in 1995 for a witty Pizza Hut commercial that parodied their own union.
The couple pretended to flirt in the commercial while subtly suggesting that reconciling would be “wrong.”
Then they said that they had been talking about starting with the pizza crust.
That advertisement exemplified Ivana’s desire to work in order to advance her career rather than squander her divorce settlement.
Her renowned glittering taste in apparel and jewellery served as the inspiration for a number of her fashion lines, which she created and sold on QVC and the Home Shopping Network.
Ivana would frequently go on television to promote her products because she understood the power of her image.
Making her followers believe that buying something from one of her collections will enable them to start living an enviable lifestyle like her was the key to her success.
The House of Ivana fashion and fragrance company was established on New York’s Park Avenue by Ivana in 1995, marking the apex of her career as a fashion plate.
Ivana dabbled in the media in 1998, buying a stake in the Slobodna Dalmacija newspaper in Croatia, which was ultimately sold as the business struggled.
Although she dabbled in real estate development, marketing her own image was where she consistently found the most success.
For Love Alone and Free To Love are two of the many autobiographical books Ivana has written.
She also wrote The Best Is Yet To Come, a 1995 self-help book, and she even started writing an agony aunt column.
From 1995 until 2010, it was published under the title “Ask Ivana” and ran for an astounding 15 years.
Ivana spent most of her later years mainly out of the public eye. The authoritative story of her marriage to the then-newly elected president, Raising Trump, was released by her in 2017.
The book also discussed Ivana’s interactions with the three kids of the couple—Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric.
Ivana was referred to as a “great, lovely, and amazing woman” by Donald in a memorial message on his social networking programme Truth Social.
She also claimed to have a tight relationship with her ex-husband, claiming to have a direct line to the White House that she reportedly never used out of respect for Donald and Melania, 52.
Ivana didn’t speak much about Melania’s place in their life, although she did once remark that Ivanka finds her father’s third wife to be “decent.”
When Melania formally proclaimed herself the first lady in 2017, rumours about Ivana’s alleged dislike for her quickly spread.
Since I am the first Trump wife, I don’t want to arouse any jealously or other negative emotions while Melania is present. OK, I’m the first lady. Ivana stated in an interview with “Good Morning America” in October 2017.