The Struggle That Helped Tiffany And Ivanka Trump Form A Sisterly Bond

Siblings going through phases of not liking one another is nothing new, especially for step-siblings and blended families. But when those siblings have an entire country going through its phase of not liking them, we imagine that building common ground gets a little bit easier. The perfect example? Donald Trump's two daughters, Ivanka and Tiffany Trump.

Born 12 years apart to different mothers — Ivanka's mother was Donald's first wife, the late Ivana Trump, and Tiffany is the only child her father had with his second wife, Marla Maples. The half-sisters weren't always close, however, Tiffany and Ivanka Trump's relationship was bolstered by their shared experience of being thrust into the political arena after their dad was elected president.

A source close to the family described the sisters' bond to People, saying, "They used to not get along, but now they're bonded over their shared trauma of being the most hated kids in America. Going through that experience with their dad as president was awful for them."

Having a parent serve as president makes for a unique life experience regardless of age, and the Trump administration's public divisiveness and intense media scrutiny only added to the oddity. Ivanka Trump was closely associated with her father, Donald Trump's presidential campaign, and later served as a White House advisor. Meanwhile, Tiffany Trump took a backseat role in her family's political endeavors while she finished her undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania and law school at Georgetown. 

Following their father's failed bid for reelection in 2020, the half-sisters were eager to spend time away from the political arena. Ivanka and Tiffany both ended up in South Florida, with Ivanka moving to Miami with her husband, Jared Kushner, and their three kids, and Tiffany moving to Palm Beach with her husband, Michael Boulos. According to People's inside source, the Trump siblings "want nothing to do with politics this time. They never want to go through that again. They just want to chill in Miami."

Living a short drive away from one another is a relatively new concept for Ivanka and Tiffany, who spent their childhoods on opposite coasts of the country. Despite this distance, Ivanka wrote in a touching Instagram post that she had always dreamed of having a little sister: "From the first moment I held [Tiffany] in my arms and looked into those big, kind, curious blue eyes, I was smitten."

As is always the case between siblings, the relationship between Ivanka and Tiffany Trump has had its fair share of ups and downs. A Vanity Fair profile on the two sisters detailed a time when Ivanka, then 27, helped a then-15-year-old Tiffany obtain a credit card from their father while she was living in California with her mother, Marla Maples. According to the piece, Ivanka Trump has given her younger sister "politics advice, boy advice, and sister advice" (via Time).

Other accounts are far less gracious. Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's former lawyer, wrote in his book "Disloyal: A Memoir" that Donald and Ivanka Trump discussed whether they should pull strings to get Tiffany a job at Vogue post-undergrad. Cohen wrote that Donald told Ivanka, "She just doesn't have what you have, honey," to which Ivanka replied, "She just doesn't have the right look is the right way to say it, Daddy" (via Yahoo! Entertainment). Still, the Vanity Fair profile reported that Ivanka did help her sister land an internship with the magazine in 2011, and Tiffany's time at the publication was later confirmed by British Vogue. 

Regardless of the distance they faced when they were younger, both in age and location, the sisters seem to be closer than ever these days. After all, who else could empathize better about being the daughter of such a controversial figure as Trump better than each other?