Steph Deschamps / July 21, 2022
Donald Trump and his eldest children gathered Wednesday in a New York church to say goodbye to the former U.S. president's first wife, Ivana, who died last week at age 73.
Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric Trump, the three children the billionaire had with Ivana, were reunited with the former First Lady of the United States and current wife of the Republican, Melania, for a funeral service at St. Vincent Ferrer Church on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Donald Trump and Melania entered through a side door, a photographer from AFP noted, during the funeral under tight security. Inside, Eric Trump told the audience that his Czech-born mother had been the embodiment of the American dream and a force of nature, the New York Post reported.
For her part, Ivanka Trump described her mother as a pioneer at the Catholic ceremony, the New York tabloid added.
Former cross-country skier and model, Ivana Trump, married to Donald Trump from 1977 to 1992, died at age 73 last Thursday at her home in New York in an accidental manner after a fall down the stairs, according to several U.S. media outlets.
Throughout the 1980s, the Trumps were one of New York's most high-profile couples, a celebrity status enhanced by Donald Trump's soaring real estate business.
Their high-profile split in the early 1990s, reportedly caused in part by Donald Trump's affair with actress Marla Maples, had provided juicy content for the New York tabloids.
Ivana Trump went on to pursue her own career in the business world, developing her clothing, jewelry and beauty lines and writing books. She has been married four times in her life, once before Donald Trump and twice after.