Sarah Palin once told her husband she was heading to Costco but instead went to JCPenney to see Ivana Trump because she said Alaskans were 'so desperate' for 'glamour and culture'

• A news article from 1996, before Sarah Palin was in politics, quotes her as an Ivana Trump fan.
• Palin had lined up to meet Trump, who was in Alaska promoting her perfume line.

Long before she became a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, Sarah Palin was a big fan of his ex-wife.

In 1996, Palin was just one of many Alaskans who lined up to meet Ivana Trump, the former Czechoslovakian Olympic skier and businesswoman, according to an article published in the Anchorage Daily News at the time.

Palin, who was described as a commercial fisherman, drove from her home in Wasilla to Anchorage for what she told her husband was a trip to Costco. Instead, she went to JCPenney, where Trump was promoting her perfume line and meeting with fans.

''We want to see Ivana,'' Palin told the Anchorage Daily News, ''because we are so desperate in Alaska for any semblance of glamour and culture.''

The outlet reported Palin "admittedly" smelled like salmon for much of the summer and was just one of over 500 people who lined up to meet Trump.

Palin recounted the experience on Twitter Thursday after news broke that Ivana Trump had died at age 73.

"My condolences to the Trump family for the loss of the beautiful and gracious Ivana. She was the first Trump I met, back in 1996, when she came to Alaska. I remember standing in line in Anchorage at the J.C. Penney store to meet her during an event to promote her new perfume," Palin wrote, adding Ivana Trump was "always a class act" and that "her legacy will live on in her amazing children" and grandchildren.

—Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) July 14, 2022

Ivana Trump was the first wife of Donald Trump. The pair had three children together: Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric. The family announced in a statement on Thursday that Ivana Trump had passed. On Friday, the New York City medical examiner ruled her death an accident and said she died of blunt impact injuries to her torso.

After meeting Ivana Trump, Palin went on to become governor of Alaska, a vice presidential candidate, and a political supporter of Donald Trump. After stepping back from politics in 2009, she announced in April she was running for US Congress.

Donald Trump endorsed her within days.