Ivana Trump thinks Donald Trump should 'just go and play golf' instead of running for reelection, wants Ivanka to get out of DC, and feels sorry for Melania Trump
- Ivana Trump gave Page Six a candid interview on the Trump family circle in and out of Washington.
- President Donald Trump's first wife said she thinks a second term for her ex-husband would be "unnecessary".
- She also said the Stormy Daniels scandal over Trump's lawyer making a hush payment for an alleged affair felt familiar, talked about her son Donald Trump Jr.'s impending divorce, and said her daughter Ivanka Trump should leave D.C.
"Maybe he should just go and play golf and enjoy his fortune," Ivana Trump said in a candid interview with Page Six about the prospect of her ex-husband running for re-election in 2020.
President Donald Trump's first wife discussed Trump family life in and out of the White House ahead of the May paperback release for her book, "Raising Trump", with The New York Post's gossip section on Saturday.
Ivana said she thinks Trump might miss his freedom and may have underestimated how much is involved in being president, making another term "unnecessary" for the soon-to-be 72-year-old.
Though he lacks political experience, she said "The Donald" (as she calls him) can hold his own through brokering friendships with tough leaders like Russian president Vladimir Putin, who she thinks "is the toughest guy in the world. Really."
"It's always better to be politically correct and be friendly," she continued. "But Donald's not going to take his crap, that's for sure."
The couple made tabloid headlines with her dramatic 1992 divorce after he cheated on her with then-26-year-old model Marla Maples.
Ivana said she sympathizes with first lady Melania Trump after lawyer Michael Cohen admitted he paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to silence her about an alleged 2006 affair with Trump.
"I feel bad for [Melania] because I know how bad I did feel. It hurts a lot," Ivana said.
Ivana wants her children to stay out of Washington politics
Her eldest son Donald Trump Jr. is currently going through a messy divorce of his own from his wife of five years, and cheating rumors with a former "Celebrity Apprentice" contestant surfaced in March. Ivana said she found the situation "distressing, because I've been there."
"I honestly don't know that many men who can keep their zippers up," she added.
Ivana also said her son's soon-t0-be-ex-wife Vanessa Trump will have trouble finding a new man.
"Donald Jr. is a good-looking guy. He is successful. He is not going to have a problem to find a girl," she said. "Maybe Vanessa might have a little problem because she has five kids ... who is going to date and marry the woman who has five children?"
Overall, Ivana said she prefers her role in the family to stay outside of Washington. She told The Post in September that she had turned down Trump's offer of an ambassadorship to the Czech Republic, but she apparently also wouldn't care for the role of first lady either.
"Honestly, I prefer that she's in [the White House rather than me]," she said of Melania. "I like to do what I want to do and like to go wherever I want to go with whomever I want to go."
Ivana said she hopes her daughter Ivanka Trump gets out of D.C. soon, too.
"I would prefer if she would [move back to] New York. Politics is a very dirty business," she said, adding that if her daughter would go back to running her fashion brand, "she would be her own boss."