The Truth About Meghan Markle's Relationship With Ivanka Trump

Meghan Markle has made no secret of the fact that she isn't a fan of President Donald Trump (per Insider). That's why many royal watchers are surprised about a report that she once admired his daughter, Ivanka Trump.

There's no mention of Markle's relationship with the president's daughter in the newest book about her life with Prince Harry, Finding Freedom. This has drawn criticism, with the Daily Mail accusing its authors of "conveniently airbrush Ivanka from the record, perhaps fearful that the Trump formula for success and happiness might jar against Harry and Meghan's new mission to 'build a humanitarian legacy that will make a profound difference in the world.'"

In contrast, a 2018 biography of Markle, Meghan, A Hollywood Princess, called Trump one of Markle's "feminine idols." While it should be noted that neither biography was authorized by Markle or anyone in the royal family, some think that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex did have a hand in how they were portrayed in Finding Freedom and didn't want Markle's past relationship with Trump mentioned.

It's true that Markle spoke admiringly of Trump, but this was long before she was the president's daughter. "I love Ivanka Trump," she told InStyle in 2015 (via People). "I love what she's done with her company. I think she's spectacular."

On Markle's now-defunct website, The Tig, she interviewed Trump and gushed about the "savvy and intelligent" woman. "It's so easy to knock the girls who come from privilege – to assume they rested on their laurels and garnered accolades simply by being fancy from the womb," she wrote in 2014. "But I always remember Ivanka being different – she wasn't dancing on tables as a teenager or releasing pop albums. She wasn't running amuck publicly, swearing and being smacked with DUIs. Instead she was graduating from The Wharton School (cum laude, I might add), launching the Trump Hotel Collection, and building her own brand."

In 2017, after Markle and Prince Harry became engaged, Trump conveyed her best wishes to the couple. "Wishing Meghan and Prince Harry a lifetime of love, laughter and happiness together," she wrote on Twitter. These days, though, the two women don't seem to be in communication, although they did both attend the 2019 wedding of their mutual friend Misha Nonoo (per Vanity Fair).