Inside Ivanka Trump's Relationship With Her Father
Ivanka and Donald Trump are perhaps two of the most notorious figures in recent memory. While these days it's become clear that Ivanka has felt the need to distance herself from her father amid his legal battles and allegations that he paid adult entertainer Stormy Daniels "hush money" while running for president of the United States, the pair have spent most of their life very close.
While they have been close, their relationship hasn't come without scrutiny. In November 2022, a source revealed to Us Weekly that the damaging end to her father's time in office, which saw the one-term president insisting that the election was stolen from him, made Ivanka stop and think twice about how far she was willing to go to defend him. As the source said, "Ivanka had a rotten time toward the end of her dad's reign and in the many months that followed as the whole family was put through the wringer by the messy way it all ended."
However, the source also insisted that the pair don't have a bad relationship, it's just different. And if there's one thing to be said about Ivanka and Donald Trump's relationship, it is that the relationship itself has been through many iterations, ups, and downs. Here is a look at what we know about Ivanka Trump's relationship with her father.
Ivanka Trump had an unusual childhood
Ivanka Trump was born on October 30, 1981, the daughter of Ivana and Donald Trump. Ivanka was actually named after her mother — her legal first name is also Ivana — but she was given the nickname Ivanka to distinguish the pair.
Ivanka's mother Ivana wrote in her book "Raising Trump" that the children didn't have the most typical childhood. When Ivanka and her brothers lived in Trump Tower in New York they didn't have many playdates, but she did suspend the rule for Michael Jackson, who also happened to live in Trump Tower at the same time. The Trump family also owned the Plaza Hotel for a time, which meant that Ivanka and her siblings had their birthday parties at the famed hotel. When she and her brothers wanted to participate in childhood activities like Halloween they were often accompanied by guards.
While speaking to CNN in 2016, Ivanka herself admitted that she definitely had her fair share of unusual experiences as Donald Trump's child. She would hide in a janitor's closet to call her father during recess at school and speak to any number of people. She said, "It was colleagues, it was titans of industry, it was heads of countries. He'd always tell everyone in the room how great a daughter I was and say cute things and ask me about a test I took."
Ivanka Trump started working for her father in 2005
Ivanka Trump joined her father's business the Trump Organization in 2005 after working as a real estate project manager at Forest City Enterprises. Upon joining the family business, Ivanka was put in charge of the expansion of the organization both in the United States and internationally. This included expanding the Trump Hotel to new locations around the world.
In 2014, Ivanka joined Donald, Eric, and Donald Trump Jr. for an interview with Leaders Magazine about their family's organization and how they work together. As she put it, "Family businesses tend to be either a total disaster or incredibly successful. Thankfully, we represent the latter and that is due, in part, to how well we work towards a common goal both collectively and separately." Ivanka also noted that at the time, her priority was the renovation of the Old Post Office in Washington, D.C., a $200 million project that transformed the building into the Trump International Hotel. (The hotel closed in 2022.)
Ivanka also began her own jewelry brand in 2007 and a clothing line four years later in 2011. The New York Times reported that in 2013, Ivanka's licensed products were pulling in $75 million in wholesale, although in 2018, her fashion brand shut down.
In 2017 Ivanka Trump stepped back from the Trump Organization
Ivanka Trump worked at the Trump Organization for over a decade, formally stepping back from her roles with the company following her father's win in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Ivanka was offered a position as senior adviser to the president in the Trump White House and accepted, a move that forced her compliance with ethics laws. Upon her resignation, Ivanka was free and clear to move to Washington, D.C., and to work in her father's cabinet.
Ivanka's husband Jared Kushner also left his positions at Kushner Companies and at The Observer newspaper. Kushner's lawyer Jamie S. Gorelick commented at the time, "These steps are consistent with federal law and executive branch practice and evidence Mr. Kushner's commitment to public service" (via Us Magazine).
However, Ivanka and her husband didn't get rid of all of their ties to the Trump Organization. They each were able to keep a number of real estate and property investments, the value of which wasn't entirely clear. At the time, The Associated Press reported that the total value was $240 million in assets while The New York Times reported that the number was much closer to $740 million.
Donald Trump has made a number of inappropriate comments about Ivanka
Donald Trump has a reputation for making comments that not everyone really approves of about women, and some of those comments have even been made about his own daughter, Ivanka Trump. For example, while being interviewed by Howard Stern in 2004, Donald felt that it would be okay to discuss his daughter's body and her career as a model. He commented that "everybody" believes his daughter is one of the most beautiful women in the world, and then added, "My daughter, Ivanka. She's 6 feet tall. She's got the best body. She made a lot of money as a model. A tremendous amount" (via Factbase).
Donald returned to the show later that year, and again he and Stern discussed Ivanka. Stern commented, "By the way, your daughter ... " and then Donald replied, " ... she's beautiful." Stern then pushed further and added, "Can I say this? A piece of ass." To which Donald answered, "Yeah" (via YouTube).
Donald hasn't limited comments of this nature to Howard Stern. When he visited "The View" in 2006, he was asked how he would feel if Ivanka posed in Playboy Magazine. He commented, "I don't think Ivanka would do that, although she does have a very nice figure. I've said if Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her" (via Facebook).
Ivanka Trump has always been one of Donald Trump's biggest defenders
Despite the fact that Donald Trump has spoken about Ivanka Trump in somewhat questionable ways, Ivanka has remained one of her father's most staunch defenders. In 2007, at the age of 25, Ivanka sat down for an interview with GQ and explained why her father is, well, the way he is.
She said, "You know, people sometimes call my father cocky or egomaniacal. They use these sort of attributes, but I don't know anyone who's successful like him who isn't cocky, who doesn't have a big ego." Ivanka went on to say that in order for an individual or company to be successful at the level that the Trump Organization has been, it's very nearly necessary to have an egotistical person at the helm. As she put it, when it comes to the buildings that the family launches, "If we didn't view it as the best, we shouldn't be building it."
Donald was also interviewed for the magazine and at one point appeared to back up what Ivanka said about him, whether or not he meant to. At one point, Donald marveled at his ability to let his children do the jobs he gave them. He said, "I'm letting them do things. I'm watching, but I'm letting them do things. I mean, I knew my children were competent. I just never knew that they were this competent."
Donald Trump has put Ivanka Trump in charge of major projects
Ivanka Trump's time working at the Trump Organization was a fruitful and impressive one. When it comes to entrusting his daughter with some of his biggest projects, Donald Trump can certainly say he has done exactly that. A 2015 interview with Vogue detailed two absolutely massive projects that Ivanka was working on at the time: The launch of a hotel at the Old Post Office in Washington, D.C., and an 800-acre resort in Miami. As the outlet noted, Ivanka made the latter deal happen while she was giving birth to her daughter.
Yet again, Donald was also featured in the Vogue piece. When asked about his daughter's ascension in the Trump Organization, he explained that Ivanka didn't have to join the family's business, but that she did so of her own free will. As he explained, "In the end, she chose the family business. Ivanka is a natural dealmaker. She'll take this company to great levels."
At the same time, Ivanka was enjoying success with her own jewelry and fashion labels. The key, she told the outlet, was to identify a space in which no other brand was operating. As she put it, "The girls in our office will have, like, a shell from Jones New York or an Ann Taylor Loft skirt. They're definitely not Instagramming that purchase."
Ivanka Trump isn't comfortable with rumors that her father has assaulted women
Donald Trump's 2016 presidential run brought up a lot of stories from his past that he and his family might have preferred to have kept in the time period in which they happened. Many people were very concerned about a number of women who claimed that Donald had sexually assaulted or harassed them over the years. Ivanka Trump, on the other hand, admitted that she was "bothered" by the fact that the accusations existed, because they didn't square up with the man she knew.
As Ivanka told CBS, she was uncomfortable with a New York Times story that featured quite a few women who claimed that Donald had offered up "unwelcome romantic advances, unending commentary on the female form, a shrewd reliance on ambitious women, and unsettling workplace conduct." But as Ivanka told the news outlet, her problem was with the women who made the allegations.
She said, "I found it to be pretty disturbing, based on the facts as I know them. And obviously, I very much know them, both in the capacity as a daughter and — in the capacity as an executive who's worked alongside of him at this company for over a decade."
Donald Trump believes Ivanka Trump could have her own political future
If there is one thing that was made clear during Donald Trump's time in office, it's that he saw his daughter Ivanka Trump as the child who could follow in his political footsteps. As he told The Atlantic in a 20-minute interview conducted while he was president of the United States, Donald believed, "If she ever wanted to run for president, I think she'd be very, very hard to beat."
The claim was a bold one, especially as Ivanka has not (before or after) voiced any ambitions toward political office. Donald himself seemed to have a lot of ideas about where and how Ivanka could advance any political leanings she might have had, and admitted to being open to having appointed her to a position with the United Nations or the World Bank.
It also seemed that Donald Trump wasn't the only one who saw a political future for Ivanka at the time. As The Atlantic went on to point out, while at a political event, a number of people offered up their opinions about Donald Trump's oldest daughter. Michael Caputo, a friend of Donald Trump's, also told the outlet that it was clear back in 2013 when Donald Trump first began thinking of running for president that her father trusted Ivanka "more than anyone."
Ivanka Trump has been implicated in allegations against her father
Donald Trump lost his bid for reelection in 2020, and in the years that followed more rumors and allegations of illegal activity began to build up around him. And while some have noted that Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner have appeared to distance themselves from Donald since 2020, the pair have also been implicated in some of the allegations.
As two friends of the family reportedly told CNN, Ivanka has focused on attempting to "undo the entanglements caused by the years at her father's side in the White House, as she seeks a less complicated life for her family." Some of that distance might also be due to Ivanka going on the record saying she does not believe the election was stolen from her father, despite his insistence to the contrary.
In February 2023, The New York Times reported that Kushner and Ivanka might be implicated in plenty of the allegations against Donald Trump. The newspaper reported that the pair "have been subpoenaed by the special counsel to testify before a federal grand jury about Mr. Trump's efforts to stay in power after he lost the 2020 election and his role in a pro-Trump mob's attack on the Capitol." Only time will tell what comes of that subpoena.
Ivanka Trump has announced she will not be part of her father's 2024 campaign
Donald Trump announced his intention to run for president of the United States yet again in November 2022. Almost as soon as the announcement was out, Ivanka Trump announced that she would not be taking part in her father's bid for office. This was a sharp departure from the past, as Ivanka worked closely with her father during his run for the 2016 presidency.
Ivanka made the announcement to Fox News, saying, "I love my father very much. This time around, I am choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family." Ivanka further clarified her position, explaining, "While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena. I am grateful to have had the honor of serving the American people and will always be proud of many of our administration's accomplishments."
In March 2023, a source close to the family told People that Ivanka had continued to keep her distance from her father. The source also added that when it comes to Donald Trump's 2023 legal woes, Ivanka can't do much. They said, "His help is in the hands of his lawyers and advisers. She is no longer working in that capacity."