How Melania Trump Kept Ivanka Trump Out Of Inauguration Photos
Ivanka Trump and Mar-a-Lago's meatloaf are inseparable. To The Palm Beach Post, she described the dish as "incredible ... I couldn't believe it when I saw it on the menu, I was just shocked. And now it's pretty much all I order." Despite her fascination with the food, the former president's daughter hasn't been photographed often at Mar-a-Lago's restaurant since her father and her stepmother moved into the private club.
Does Melania Trump have to do with that? The last time that Donald moved residencies, things worked the other way around. Ivanka made her presence known at the White House first while Melania stayed away, renegotiating a prenup ... and if that doesn't seem like it has anything to do with Ivanka, you'd be wrong. According to The Washington Post (quoting journalist Mary Jordan's biography of Melania), Melania's prenup worries originated not the least because the idea that Ivanka might take over the reins of the Trump Organization kept her up at night — she didn't want Barron to miss out on his inheritance. Things got soap opera-ugly when the press started whispering that Ivanka might take the office space traditionally reserved for the first lady (via U.S. News and World Report). She was, furthermore, dead set on renaming the "First Lady's" office to the "First Family's" office (via Express).
Before you cast Ivanka as the next Marvel villainess, you might consider whether her quest to infringe on Melania's territory has to do with Melania's attempt to ensure that Ivanka got zero screen-time at her dad's inauguration.
Inside 'Operation Block Ivanka'
It was called "Operation Block Ivanka" according to Melania's former adviser, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff. In her memoir, Wolkoff wrote that Melania's team meticulously studied seating arrangements to ensure that Ivanka would get as little press attention as possible. "We were able to figure out whose face would be visible when Donald and Melania sat in their seats and then when the family stood with Chief Justice John Roberts for Donald to take the oath of office," Wilkoff admitted (via Elle). "If Ivanka was not on the aisle, her face would be hidden while she was seated. For the standing part, we put Barron between Donald and Melania and made sure that Don Jr. stood next to Melania, not Ivanka." Melania was, allegedly, all for the plan.
Just in case you haven't caught on, Ivanka and Melania are probably not BFFs. In fact, according to biographer Mary Jordan, the two women have ... errrr, telling? .... nicknames for one another (via Express). Melania has been known to call Ivanka "The Princess," while Ivanka has referred to Melania as "The Portrait." She even, per Jordan, told her peers at school that "her father's girlfriend spoke as much as a painting on the wall." Those were probably the same classmates that, per what ex-bestie Lysandra Ohrstrom wrote, Ivanka egged on to flash their breasts out of a school window and then pinned the blame on everyone but herself (via Vanity Fair).