Czechoslovakian-American businesswoman, news figure and socialite. A former world-class skier, she earned a Master’s degree from the University of Prague. She became a fashion model and the wife of multi-tycoon “the Donald,” for 13 years until they divorced in 1991 to the tune of a big bucks million settlement. In her First Wives Club film cameo, she cheerfully urged, “Don’t get mad. Get everything.”
The only child of an engineer and a telephone operator, raised in the factory town of Zlin, Ivana skied competitively as a kid and was a member of the national ski team. After graduating from Charles University in Prague with a master’s in physical education, she married Austrian skier Alfred Winklmayr to get a western passport. They separated two years later when she moved to Montreal, where she modeled. She met Donald Trump in 1976 while on a shoot in New York City and married him nine months later, on 7 April 1977. They were the glamour couple of their day in the ’80s.
Glamorous, with a Slavic accent, she kept a daily fitness program with her personal trainer and became more beautiful each year with the subtle addition of a bit of cosmetic surgery here and there. After an unflattering photo appeared in May 1989, Ivana went into a low-profile period. When she reappeared, her bust line was perkier and her face lines erased. Although she never admitted the renovation, her photo shoots showed a blonder, slimmer, prettier image. She was the epitome of high fashion unhampered by any fear of going over the top.
In their 13-year marriage, she and Trump had three children, Donald, Jr., born in 1977, Ivanka, 1981 and Eric, 1984. According to accounts, she was doing a good job with her kids, showing them the tough-love of discipline and care.
As well as their $3.7 million home, Ivana was given a settlement of $25 million. “She can’t even do her nails for that,” scoffed a friend. As this represented a mere 1.5% of Donald’s estate, Ivana quickly made it known that she wanted more, asking for the Plaza and $150 million. In the meantime, she put her own canny business sense to work, turning out a couple of books and developing a multimillion-dollar House of Ivana fashion and cosmetics line that she peddled on shopping networks in several countries.
After she published an autobiographical novel, For Love Alone, she was sued on 30 July 1992 by Trump for $25 million for breaking confidences about their life together. Their divorce was finalized in 1992. In 1993, she put out another novel, Free to Love. She wrote an advice-to-the-lovelorn column in a tabloid, The Globe.
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 met Riccardo Mazzucchelli, 47, through a mutual friend in 1991. He proposed to her in 1992 but she told him she wasn’t ready yet. He proposed again in late 1994 and she accepted on 27 September 1994. Her engagement ring was a flawless oval Burmese sapphire flanked by heart-shaped diamonds. They married on 29 November l995 at 7:30 P.M. EST in Manhattan, New York.
The union fizzled after 20 months. She brought a lawsuit against Riccardo in July 1997 for violating a prenuptial agreement by blabbing to a tabloid about their marital problems and separation. The lawsuit sought $15 million in compensation for damages to her reputation and business ventures. They divorced the same year.
In May 1999, she launched a magazine, Ivana’s Living in Style for the woman who has no interest in making her own curtains or creating a new casserole. She herself had three personal trainers, six homes and a 105 ft yacht. If she was over-the-top with jewelry or wardrobe, American still loved her for her chutzpah, her tongue in cheek enjoyment of her own money and glamour.
In April 2008, aged 59, she married Rossano Rubicondi, aged 36. A few months later, on 1 December 2008, she announced that she had filed for a legal separation a few months earlier. Although Ivana and Rubicondi divorced after less than a year of marriage, their on-again, off-again relationship continued until 2019, when Ivana announced they had once again “called it quits”. Rubicondi died on 29 October 2021 at the age of 49.
Ivana Trump released an autobiography, Raising Trump, in 2017. It covered her own upbringing and the early years of raising her children with Donald. She had ten grandchildren. In the late 2010s, she reportedly split her time between New York City, Miami, and Saint-Tropez. Ivana Trump died on 14 July 2022 at age 73 in her Manhattan home in New York City after being found unconscious and unresponsive at the bottom of a staircase.
Link to Wikipedia biography