News broke out on Thursday afternoon that great woman of value, Ivana Marie Trump, has passed on.
A news that shocked many of her fans around the world including the author of this article, Sani Michael Omakoji of #ourWorldGist who also happens to be her fans.
Let us read what Sani Michael Omakoji, has to say about Ivana Marie Trump:
” Late Ivana Marie Trump, was one of those women of value that I have too much regard for not because she was from a well to do family but on a simple reason that despite her silver and spoon background, she was a woker-holic, humble, noiseless, calm, and polite woman.
I have been so devastated since yesterday that I heard the news because I never expected her demise so soon.
While extending my heartfelt condolences to the immediate family and the entire peoples of United States, I particularly condole with one of her daughters, Mrs Ivanka Trump, an extraordinary intelligent woman, who also happens to be my friend on Facebook.
In this article, I, Sani Michael Omakoji, the author, shall highlight, the birth, education, marriage, career, business adventure, media appearances and Ivana’s death.
Early life and education:
Ivana Zelníčková was born on February 20, 1949, in the Moravian city of Zlín (known between 1949 and 1990 as Gottwaldov), Czechoslovakia, the daughter of Miloš Zelníček (1927–1990) and Marie Zelníčková (née Francová; born c. 1926).
Fact finding revealed that Ivana’s Father was an electrical engineer and her mother worked as a telephone operator.
We told that Ivana’s father encouraged Ivana’s skiing talent, a practice she began at age four.
After the father helped to develop her skills as a skier, she joined the junior national ski team, which offered her opportunities to travel beyond the Soviet-era communist boundaries of what was then the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.
Fast-forward to her advanced education, Ivana, an obedient lady, attended Charles University in Prague and earned a master’s degree in physical education in 1972.
In 1970, Trump appeared on Czechoslovak Television in the children’s television series Pan Tau.
Accounts differ as to Trump’s history of skiing competitively.
It was reported that she was selected as an alternate on the Czechoslovak ski team during the 1972 Winter Olympics, specializing in downhill and slalom.
Ivana’s Immigration To Canada & Her Marriage Life:
As documented by Wikipedia, ” in 1971, Zelníčková married Alfred Winklmayr, an Austrian ski instructor and her platonic friend, in order to obtain Austrian citizenship.
The marriage granted her the freedom to leave Communist Czechoslovakia without defection so she could retain the right to return to visit her parents.
As Ivana Winklmayr, she received her Austrian passport in March 1972.
The following year, she obtained an absentee divorce from Alfred Winklmayr in Los Angeles, California, where he had moved to teach skiing.
Zelníčková was romantically involved with the lyricist and playwright George (Jiři) Staidl who was killed in a car accident in 1973.
After Staidl’s death, Zelníčková moved to Canada where she lived with George (Jiři) Syrovatka whom she had dated since 1967; Syrovatka had defected to Canada in 1971 and owned a ski boutique in Montreal.
Zelníčková worked as a ski instructor while living in Canada.
She lived in Montreal for two years where she continued to improve her English via night courses at McGill University.
Working as a model, Zelníčková told the Montreal Gazette in 1975 that she considered modeling to be a job, rather than a career.
Her modeling clients included Eaton’s department store and the designer Auckie Sanft, along with promotional work for the 1976 Summer Olympics that were being hosted in Montreal.
Ivana and Donald Trump in receiving line of state dinner for King Fahd of Saudi Arabia in 1985, with U.S. president Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan
Ivana was in New York City with a group of models in 1976 when she met Donald Trump.
On April 7, 1977, the couple married at Marble Collegiate Church in a wedding officiated by Norman Vincent Peale.
They became tabloid figures in New York society during the 1980s and worked together on several large projects, including the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, the renovation of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City, and the construction of the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey”.
During the marriage with President Donald Trump, Ivana and Donald had three children to include: Donald Jr. (born December 31, 1977), Ivana Marie (born October 30, 1981), and Eric (born January 6, 1984).
Donald Jr. learned to speak fluent Czech (with the help of his maternal grandfather), while Ivanka Trump, gained only a basic understanding of her mother’s native tongue, and Eric was not exposed to the language since, by the time of his birth, his grandparents were comfortable using English.
A reviewer of the 2018 Netflix documentary miniseries on Donald, Trump: An American Dream, described Ivana as a “charismatic workaholic, a career woman, an equal”, and a life partner deliberately chosen by Trump to “work beside him and challenge him.”
The Trumps’ troubled marriage became the subject of public interest over the Christmas holiday in 1989 when—on vacation in Aspen, Colorado— they were observed fighting after Ivana encountered Donald’s mistress Marla Maples.
The Chicago Tribune reported that by February 1990, Donald had locked Ivana out of her office at the Plaza Hotel, and a legal battle ensued over the legitimacy of the four prenuptial agreements the pair had successively negotiated over the years.
The Trumps’ divorce proceedings received worldwide publicity.
Front-page coverage appeared in New York tabloid newspapers for eleven days in a row, and the story was the subject of Liz Smith’s entire news coverage for three months.
Eventually, the uncontested divorce was granted in December 1990 on the grounds of cruel and inhumane treatment by Donald and divorce was finalized in 1992.
Ivana’s Eventful Career:
During her marriage to Donald, Ivana took on major roles in The Trump Organization, working as a senior executive for seven years, including executive vice president for interior design.
She led the interior design of Trump Tower with its signature pink marble.
Ivana was appointed CEO and president of the Trump Castle Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City and later became the manager of the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan.
Ivana’s Business ventures:
Soon after the divorce, Trump developed lines of clothing, fashion jewelry and beauty products that have been sold through television shopping channels, including the Home Shopping Network and QVC London.
In 1995, she presided over the House of Ivana, a fashion and fragrance company with a showroom located on Park Avenue in New York.
In 1998, she pursued business interests in Croatia (a vacation destination her parents frequently visited), which included the purchase of 33% of the Nation’s second largest daily newspaper.
The Ivana-branded Bentley Bay development in Miami, Florida, filed for bankruptcy in 2004.
The following year, she was involved in several proposed condominium projects, including the never-built Ivana Las Vegas.
In 2010, she sued Finnish fashion company Ivana Helsinki, accusing it of selling women’s clothing that incorporated her name without permission.
Ivana’s Writing Adventure:
Ivana Trump published several books, including For Love Alone (1992), Free to Love (1993) and a self-help book called The Best Is Yet to Come: Coping with Divorce and Enjoying Life Again (1995).
Ivana Trump wrote an advice column about love and life for Globe, titled Ask Ivana, from June 1995 through January 2010.
In February 1999, Ivana Trump launched her own lifestyle magazine titled Ivana’s Living in Style.
She contributed an advice column for Divorce Magazine in 2001.
Ivana Trump released an autobiography, Raising Trump, in 2017.
It covered her own upbringing and the early years of raising her children with Donald.
Ivana’s Media appearances:
Ivana and Donald made several appearances together on TV programs including The Oprah Winfrey Show in April 1988, followed by the BBC’s Wogan in May 1988.
After her divorce from Donald, Ivana was interviewed by Barbara Walters for ABC’s 20/20.
In 1991, Donald cut off her alimony payments after the interview and announced his intention to sue Ivana for monetary damages.
She returned to The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1992 after her divorce from Donald and stated “I will not let men dominate me anymore.”
Ivana Trump had a cameo role in the Hollywood film The First Wives Club (1996) with the line, “Ladies, you have to be strong and independent; And remember: don’t get mad, get everything.”
She was the host of a reality TV special titled Ivana Young Man, which aired on Oxygen Network in 2006.
In the reality dating program, she helped a wealthy, middle-aged woman find a younger partner.
In 2010, Ivana Trump appeared in the UK version of Celebrity Big Brother.
Ivana’s Personal life:
Trump married four times. Her first marriage, to Alfred Winklmayr, was for the goal of securing Austrian nationality, according to a biographer.
She was married to Donald Trump from 1977 to 1992, and they had three children and she became a naturalized United States citizen in 1988.
Ivana Trump married Italian entrepreneur and international businessman Riccardo Mazzucchelli in November 1995 but divorced in 1997.
That same year, she filed a $15 million breach of contract suit against Mazzucchelli for violating the confidentiality clause in their prenuptial agreement, while Mazzucchelli sued Ivana and Donald in a British court for libel.
The suit was later settled under undisclosed terms.
In the summer of 1997, she began dating Italian aristocrat Count Roffredo Gaetani dell’Aquila d’Aragona Lovatelli.
The relationship continued until his death in 2005.
Donald Trump dated Italian actor and model Rossano Rubicondi for six years before they married on April 12, 2008.
The marriage to Rubicondi, 36, was the fourth for Ivana, then 59.
The couple’s $3 million wedding for 400 guests was hosted by ex-husband Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago with daughter Ivanka as her maid of honour.
The wedding was officiated by Trump’s ex-sister-in-law Judge Maryanne Trump Barry.
Although Ivana and Rubicondi divorced less than a year later, their on-again, off-again relationship continued until 2019, when Ivana announced they had once again “called it quits”.
Rubicondi died on October 29, 2021, at the age of 49.
Ivana Trump had ten grandchildren.
Ivana’s Death:
On July 14, 2022, Ivana Trump died at her home in New York after being found unconscious and unresponsive at the bottom of a staircase.
Her death was announced by ex-husband, Donald Trump, on the Truth Social app, posting:
“I am very saddened to inform all of those that loved her, of which there are many, that Ivana Trump has passed away at her home in New York City. She was a wonderful, beautiful and amazing woman, who led a great and inspirational life. Her pride and joy were her three children, Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric. She was so proud of them, as we were all so proud of her. Rest in peace, Ivana!”
Her daughter, Ivanka Trump also writes on her official Facebook:
“Heartbroken by the passing of my mother. Mom was brilliant, charming, passionate and wickedly funny. She modeled strength, tenacity and determination in her every action. She lived life to the fullest — never forgoing an opportunity to laugh and dance.
I will miss her forever and will keep her memory alive in our hearts always”.
From all of us at #OurWorldGist, this wishing President Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump and the entire family the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss.
Compiled By,
Sani Michael Omakoji
