REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks with his son Donald Trump Jr. during a news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., January 11, 2017.
- President Donald Trump resisted naming Donald Trump Jr. after himself in case he turned out to be "a loser," according to a GQ profile of Donald Jr.
- The article describes a childhood in which Donald Jr. struggled for his father's attention and approval.
President Donald Trump apparently resisted naming his first-born son, Donald Trump Jr., after himself in case Don Jr. ended up being "a loser," according to a recent profile of the eldest son published in GQ Magazine.
"According to his first wife, Ivana, Donald Trump was never keen on bequeathing his name to anybody," Julia Ioffe wrote in GQ. "It was Ivana who wanted to call their newborn Donald junior. 'You can't do that!' Trump is quoted as saying in Ivana's memoir, 'Raising Trump.' 'What if he's a loser?'"
The GQ article tells the story of a sometimes-dysfunctional childhood in which Don Jr. struggled with not only growing up in the shadow of a larger-than-life father, but winning over his approval.
As the oldest son of Donald and Ivana Trump, Don Jr. was more exposed to the family problems than his younger siblings Ivanka and Eric.
Not only did he have a front-row seat to his parents' acrimonious and very public divorce at the age of 12, but the article reports that Trump used him as a negotiating tool in his split with Ivana, causing Don Jr. to not speak to his father for a year.
He took refuge from his often chaotic home life in summer visits with his grandfather from his mother's side in the former Czechoslovakia, where he discovered a life-long passion for hunting and fishing. He even spent an entire year living in the woods in Aspen, Colorado after college before joining the Trump Organization.
"Poor Don. He really got the brunt of everything," Ivana wrote in "Raising Trump." "No wonder Don likes to go in the woods and escape from everything."