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From rich kid to first daughter: The life of Ivanka Trump

From rich kid to first daughter: The life of Ivanka Trump

Rebecca Harrington,Grace Panetta

Ivanka Trump, 38.Jemal Countess / Getty Images

Ivanka Trump, President Donald Trump's eldest daughter, has lived her life in the public eye.
The 39-year-old has been a business executive, runway model, socialite, doting mother, and key advisor in her father's administration.
Here's a closer look at her life, career, and time in the White House.

Ivanka Trump has lived her life in the public eye.

Born to then real-estate mogul Donald Trump and model Ivana Trump, his first wife, she is now the president's oldest (and suspected favorite) daughter.

The 39-year-old has been a business executive, runway model, socialite, doting mother, and now key advisor in her father's White House.

Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner are both senior advisers in the West Wing — although they don't take a salary — and they hold significant influence over Trump's policy initiatives.

Here's a look back at her life, career, and time in the West Wing.

Ivana Trump was born in Manhattan on October 30, 1981. "Ivanka" is actually a nickname for her real name, which is the same as her mother's.

Ivana Trump, ex-wife of real estate developer Donald Trump, is shown with her children Ivanka, left, and Eric as Ricardo Mazuchelli looks on in October 1993. AP

Sources: Business Insider, Ivanka Trump

She is the middle child of Donald's first wife, Ivana, who was born in Czechoslovakia.

The funeral of Ivana Trump's father Milos Zelnicek in Zlin, Czechoslovakia in 1990. From left: Trump's children, Eric, 6, Ivanka, 8 and Donald, 12, Ivana and Donald Trump. AP

Her mother and father divorced in 1992 after a very public breakup when he cheated with Marla Maples, who would become his second wife. Ivanka was 11 years old.

Ivana & Ivanka Trump in 1994. John Barrett/PHOTOlink/MediaPunch /IPX via AP

Ivanka has said while she loves Maples and her half-sister Tiffany, she could never really forgive Maples for breaking up her parents' marriage. At the time, tabloid journalists accosted her, shouting, "Is it true that Marla said that your father was the best sex she'd ever had?"

Marla Maples and Trump with their family at the US Tennis Open championships in New York on September 7, 1994.. Ivanka is sitting on her father's lap, and her half-sister Tiffany Trump is to her right. Mike Segar/Reuters

Source: GQ

She attended the exclusive all-girls Chapin School in Manhattan — of which Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is an alumna — and then shipped off to boarding school at Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut — where John F. Kennedy went.

Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka peek over the crowd as they take in a tennis match during the US Open in New York on September 7, 1994. Roh Frehm/AP

Source: Politico

Taking after her mother, Ivanka started modeling as a teen.

Ivanka on the cover of "Seventeen" in May 1997, when she was 15. Seventeen Magazine/Hearst Corporation

She studied at Georgetown and the University of Pennsylvania (her father's alma mater), where she graduated in 2004 with a degree in economics.

Donald Trump, left, his daughter Ivanka, center, and ex-wife Ivana watch the men's semifinal match from their box at the US Open in New York on Sept. 6, 1997. AP Photo/Richard Drew

Ivanka's memoir said she graduated summa cum laude, but HuffPost reported in 2016 that she actually graduated cum laude.

Ivanka met Jared Kushner, from a fellow real-estate mogul family who also grew up in the public eye, in 2005. The pair began dating on and off shortly after that.

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, owner of the New York Observer, attend a fashion show on September 9, 2007 in New York City. Rob Loud/Getty Images

An inch shy of 6 feet, she's walked the runways for Versace. Ivanka told Harper's Bazaar in 2007 that 60-year-old bankers "have nothing on a group of catty 16-year-old female models without parental supervision."

Ivanka Trump walks the runway at Johnnie Walker's 'Dressed To Kilt 2007' fashion show at Capitale on April 2, 2007 in New York City. Peter Kramer/Getty Images

Source: Harper's Bazaar

But her true passion has always been the family business. She tagged along to board meetings and negotiations her whole life, but started officially working for her father in 2005 after graduating college.

A billboard in New York City in 2007. RtMcbride / MediaPunch/IPX

Source: Trump Organization

Ivanka appeared on her father's hit TV show, "The Apprentice," joining the cast as a boardroom judge from its sixth season to its final episode with the Trumps at the helm in 2015.

From left, first "Celebrity Apprentice" winner Piers Morgan, Donald Trump, and Ivanka Trump in 2007. NBC

Source: IMDB

Ivanka apparently inherited her father's dealmaking skills. She was the lead negotiator on the Trump National Doral Miami, a $1 billion property that she scooped up for $150 million.

Donald and Ivanka Trump place their hands in concrete during festivities for the 92-story Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago on Sept. 24, 2008. Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

From rich kid to first daughter: The life of Ivanka Trump

Rebecca Harrington,Grace Panetta

Ivana Trump was born in Manhattan on October 30, 1981. "Ivanka" is actually a nickname for her real name, which is the same as her mother's.

She is the middle child of Donald's first wife, Ivana, who was born in Czechoslovakia.

Her mother and father divorced in 1992 after a very public breakup when he cheated with Marla Maples, who would become his second wife. Ivanka was 11 years old.

Ivanka has said while she loves Maples and her half-sister Tiffany, she could never really forgive Maples for breaking up her parents' marriage. At the time, tabloid journalists accosted her, shouting, "Is it true that Marla said that your father was the best sex she'd ever had?"

She attended the exclusive all-girls Chapin School in Manhattan — of which Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is an alumna — and then shipped off to boarding school at Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut — where John F. Kennedy went.

Taking after her mother, Ivanka started modeling as a teen.

She studied at Georgetown and the University of Pennsylvania (her father's alma mater), where she graduated in 2004 with a degree in economics.

Ivanka met Jared Kushner, from a fellow real-estate mogul family who also grew up in the public eye, in 2005. The pair began dating on and off shortly after that.

An inch shy of 6 feet, she's walked the runways for Versace. Ivanka told Harper's Bazaar in 2007 that 60-year-old bankers "have nothing on a group of catty 16-year-old female models without parental supervision."

But her true passion has always been the family business. She tagged along to board meetings and negotiations her whole life, but started officially working for her father in 2005 after graduating college.

Ivanka appeared on her father's hit TV show, "The Apprentice," joining the cast as a boardroom judge from its sixth season to its final episode with the Trumps at the helm in 2015.

Ivanka apparently inherited her father's dealmaking skills. She was the lead negotiator on the Trump National Doral Miami, a $1 billion property that she scooped up for $150 million.

In 2009, she published, "The Trump Card," an inspirational how-to get ahead in business book based on her experiences. It was a New York Times bestseller. Her second book, "Women Who Work," came out in May 2017.

Ivanka married Kushner on October 25, 2009. She converted to Orthodox Judaism for him, and the couple keep kosher and observe the Sabbath, shutting off their electronics to spend time with family.

In addition to helping run the Trump Organization, Ivanka launched a jewelry collection in 2007, and created her own fashion and lifestyle brand, The Ivanka Trump Collection, shortly thereafter.

Ivanka is an early riser, usually beginning work by 6:30 a.m. People describe her as friendly, polished, eloquent, capable, and even a bit intimidating. She admits she has "a big ego," like her father.

Previously an avid Manhattan socialite, she lent her name recognition to various charitable causes, including the New York City Police Foundation and Cookies for Kids' Cancer, shown here.

Her and her brothers Eric and Donald Jr. — all Trump's kids from his first wife — held the title of executive vice presidents of development and acquisition at the Trump Organization, with offices side-by-side-by-side in Trump Tower.

She has always been extremely close with her father. When Ivanka was little, he used to brag to high-powered executives about how smart she was. And he never ignores her phone calls.

Receiving numerous accolades for her business acumen over the years, the World Economic Forum named Ivanka a Young Global Leader, and she was 33rd on Fortune magazine's '40 Under 40' list in 2014.

On March 27, 2016, Ivanka and Jared welcomed baby Theo, their third child after Arabella and Joseph.

"The most important job any woman can have is being a mother, and it shouldn't mean taking a pay cut," she controversially proclaimed in a political ad for her father.

After her father clinched the party's presidential nomination, Ivanka delivered a keynote address at the Republican National Convention, highlighting her father's record of supporting women and minorities within his company.

She was her father's constant foil on the campaign trail. After a lewd 2005 tape of Trump making crude sexual remarks about women, Ivanka said his comments were "clearly inappropriate and offensive," and that she was glad he apologized for them.

Her support for her father has never wavered. "Thank you, America, for the trust that you placed in my father," Ivanka said on election night after he won. "He will never let you down!"

And she is clearly her father's favorite child. "Daddy’s little girl!" he's called her.

After the election, Ivanka and Jared moved to D.C., and both relinquished control of their many business ventures. She stepped down from her fashion line and the Trump Organization, leaving the company in her brothers' hands.

But her father's many critics have jeopardized Ivanka's brands. Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Gilt, and Burlington all dropped her fashion line in early 2017 following customer protests and weak sales.

By July 2018, Ivanka announced she was shutting down her fashion company. "I do not know when or if I will ever return to the business, but I do know that my focus for the foreseeable future will be the work I am doing here in Washington," she said in a statement.

One of her father's closest confidantes, Ivanka has sat in on many of his meetings with business and world leaders — just like she did as a kid.

But sometimes critics think she's gone too far, like when she briefly took her dad's seat at the G20 Summit in Germany in July 2018.

She has represented the US on multiple occasions, including attending the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.

She and Jared also opened the new US embassy in Israel that her father moved to Jerusalem. That day, 40,000 Palestinians protested the opening at the Gaza border. At least 58 Palestinians died and more than 2,700 were wounded, many from Israeli forces.

Protesting Trump's controversial "zero tolerance" immigration policy and family separations at the US border, celebrities called on the first daughter in a "Dear Ivanka" campaign that went viral.

After Trump ended the family separations, Ivanka later said they were a "low point" in her time in the White House. "I am very vehemently against family separation and the separation of parents and children," she said in August 2018.

Ivanka has made supporting women, children, and families her key issues, pushing for a child tax credit and paid family leave.

She has broken with her father two notable times since he took office — once when she defended the press, saying she didn't think the media, or the "fake news" as her dad likes to say, were the "enemy of the people."

Ivanka also denounced disgraced former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore before her father withdrew his endorsement, saying "There's a special place in hell for people who prey on children."

Trump even floated the idea of making her his new US ambassador to the UN, saying she "would be dynamite," but said he could "already hear the chants of nepotism!"

Ivanka found herself in hot water when the Washington Post reported in November 2018 that she conducted government business using a private email account, in violation of federal records rules.

Many saw Ivanka's use of a private email to be hypocritical, after her father called for his former Democratic presidential opponent Hillary Clinton to be "locked up" over her use of a non-government email while serving as secretary of state.

A spokesperson for Ivanka's ethics counsel told the Post that Ivanka was unaware that using a private email for government business violated records rules, and emphasized that she never discussed classified information on her private email.

Ivanka again raised eyebrows at the 2019 G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, when she took on the role of a diplomat, attending official meetings alongside her father, and even delivered an official readout from Trump's meetings with the leaders of Japan and India.

In a cringeworthy moment that went viral, Ivanka also unsuccessfully tried to get involved in a conversation with French president Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Teresa May, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, and IMF leader Christine Lagarde.

The moment was mocked online, with Twitter users editing Ivanka's photo into other historical scenes, and multiple members of Congress calling out her presence at the summit as evidence of nepotism in the administration.

On her 39th birthday, an interview with RealClearPolitics was published revealing Ivanka was anti-abortion. "Parenthood affected me in a profound way in terms of how I think about these things," she told reporter Philip Wegmann. "I am pro-life, and unapologetically so."

Ivanka's trusted voice is likely to shape her father's presidency for years to come. She's lived her whole life in the spotlight — why stop now?

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