The extraordinary private life of Ivana Trump: Photos show her with Donald and her children 

The world remembers her for the legacy she left as a model, world-class athlete and powerful businesswoman. But to her children, Ivana Trump was a caring mother and friend who was devoted to her family.

Troves of photos discovered by a South Florida collector back in 2014 show the beauty loved up with her ex-husband, Donald Trump, vacationing with her children and posing with homemade birthday cakes.

Ivana, 73, passed away Thursday in her home in New York City‘s Upper East Side after suffering cardiac arrest. She is survived by her three children – Donald Jr, Eric and Ivanka – and ten grandchildren.

The intimate family pictures mainly span the decades of the 1970s through the 1990s – before Ivana and Donald split.

The pile features candid shots, polaroids and agency pictures from the likes of society shooter Mary Hilliard to Ron Galella, dubbed the ‘Paparazzo Extraordinaire’ and the bane of favorite subject Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ existence.

But more so, the photos show detail moments shared by the high-profile family behind closed doors.

Photographs captured at Ivana and Donald’s 1977 wedding show the model as a beautiful and radiant bride donning a rather simple white gown. 

She is pictured alongside her dashing groom as the pair exchanged vows at the altar of the Marble Collegiate Church in New York City.

Dancing at the reception that followed are shots of the groom’s folks Fred Sr., and Mary and the bride’s parents, Milos Zeinicek and Marie Francova.

Their love seemed to radiate throughout the early stages of their relationship. The couple was seen cozied up together at dinners, posing for photos on rooftops with champagne in hand and embracing each other in their luxurious home.

Photographs also detail the couple’s most intimate moments, when they became parents of three.

Ivana and Donald are pictured holding their infant children, seemingly smitten.

Birthday parties were snapped and notable in the fact that they did not seem like over the top affairs, but simply happy celebrations with no imported circuses or other extravagant entertainment.

In several photos Ivana is pictured alongside homemade cakes as the family celebrated together.

Pictures taken on vacations show the family soaked up the sun as Ivana wore a stunning blue, sequined bathing suit. On one trip – presumably to Disney World – Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric met cartoon character Donald Duck. They are pictured on the trip with their mother.

The trove of photos also documented the children’s lives growing up, including childhood bath time and how they dressed up to celebrate Halloween.

Ivana was born in Czechoslovakia in 1946 to an electrical engineer father, Miloš Zelníček and telephone operator mother, Marie, however she relocated to Canada in the mid-1970s, before moving to the US, where she took up residence in New York City.

The then-teen used her impressive talents as a skier in order to plan her escape from behind the Iron Curtain.

Before her marriage to Donald, Ivana was wed to an Austrian ski instructor, Alfred Winklmayr – a friend with whom she tied the knot in order to gain an Austrian passport, which enabled her to leave her communist home country and move to Canada.

She divorced Winklmayr shortly after she was granted an Austrian passport – and she then went on to enjoy a romance with a ski boutique owner in Montreal while also working as a ski instructor. 

However after just a couple of years of living in Canada, Ivana relocated to Manhattan to pursue her work as a model.

It was here that she met Trump, whom she wed in 1977, having first met him at an event that she attended with a group of fellow models.

Ivana wed Trump in a private ceremony held at Marble Collegiate Church in New York City – and they went on to have three children together: Donald Jr., born in 1977, Ivanka, born in 1981, and Eric, born in 1984.

The couple were married for 13 years before splitting in 1990 after Trump had an affair with Marla Maples, who went on to become his second wife. Ivana was awarded a hefty $14 million as part of her divorce settlement with her former husband, which was made official in 1992 – just months before Trump wed Maples.

She fought ferociously for her kids during her divorce from Donald, and wrote in her memoir that it was she who raised them – not their dad who ‘provided’ for them but had no interest until they ‘could talk business with him’. 

She also took credit for the kids’ success and their mild manners.

Ivana was said to have been left furious over her then-husband’s illicit relationship with Maples, whom she repeatedly bashed in the years following her split from Trump.

Following her split from Trump, Ivana began a romance with Italian businessman Riccardo Mazzucchelli, whom she wed in 1995, however the marriage was short-lived and the pair divorced just two years later.

She then went on to date and marry Italian actor Rossano Rubicondi, who passed away in October 2021 following a battle with cancer.

Rubicondi had liver cancer and suffered a lung aneurysm in the bathtub, his parents said in an interview with an Italian talk show.

Ivana and Rubicondi dated for six years before they tied the knot in 2008 during a lavish $3 million ceremony at Mar-A-Lago, the Palm Beach estate owned by none other than her second ex-husband.

She was 59 at the time, while he was 36.

The wedding was set to the theme of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Nights Dream and 400 guests attended, including the ex-President.

Ivana’s relationship with Rubicondi went through several ups and downs over the years, with the former couple splitting just a few months after their marriage in 2008 and then again in 2009.

They split for a third time in 2011, before reuniting in 2019, when they appeared on Italy’s version of Dancing With the Stars, before breaking up again just a few months later.

But Ivana and Rubicondi remained close and were often pictured together in New York up until just a few months before he passed away.

Ivana maintained a good relationship with Trump over the years, even speaking out to wish him a Happy Birthday in 2021, when she revealed that she had spoken with her ex-husband and joked to him that he shouldn’t ‘worry about his age’.

However the socialite and former downhill skier was never one to hold back when speaking about her ex-spouse.

In November 2020, following the presidential election – which Trump lost to Joe Biden – she discussed his refusal to accept the result, saying that he was ‘not a good loser’ and that he was likely going to ‘fight and fight and fight’ against conceding the race.

‘He’s not a good loser,’ she told People of Trump. ‘He doesn’t like to lose, so he’s going to fight and fight and fight.’

Ivana went on to urge the former President to accept defeat, saying: ‘He has to go and declare that he lost. I just want this whole thing to be over with, one way or the other. I really don’t care.’

She was also incredibly outspoken about her feelings towards Trump’s currently wife Melania, sensationally stating in 2017 that she was the true ‘first lady’ because she was the then-President’s first wife.

Ivana added that she had a ‘direct line’ to Trump at the White House, and spoke to him once every two weeks, but that she was always reluctant to call him because ‘Melania was there’.

In the last years of her life, Ivana – who was once a regular on the New York social scene – had shied away from glitzy public events, instead maintaining a much more low-key lifestyle.

She was spotted on occasions stepping out in the Upper East Side neighborhood where her townhouse was located, either on shopping trips, or for meals that she often enjoyed with Rubicondi, before he passed away.

In recent months, she has been accompanied by an unnamed female aide, who was frequently seen by her side whenever the socialite was pictured out in public.

She died Thursday of a suspected cardiac arrest at the age of 73 after being found ‘unconscious and unresponsive’ in her New York City townhouse.

It was reported that the socialite was found at the bottom of a set of stairs in her Manhattan home, however an official cause of death has yet to be confirmed.

News of Ivana’s death was shared by ex-husband via a post on his Truth Social account on Thursday afternoon.

 ‘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,’ Donald wrote.

‘She was a wonderful, beautiful, and amazing woman, who led a great and inspirational life,’ he continued. ‘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!’

Ivana’s son Eric confirmed the news of Ivana’s death to DailyMail.com, saying in a statement issued on behalf of the family: ‘Our mother was an incredible woman – a force in business, a world-class athlete, a radiant beauty, and caring mother and friend.

‘Ivana Trump was a survivor. She fled from communism and embraced this country. She taught her children about grit and toughness, compassion and determination.

‘She will be dearly missed by her mother, her three children and ten grandchildren.’

Eric also took to Instagram to post a tribute to his late mother, sharing several images of the socialite and her children over the years, including photos of Ivana with her children when they were younger.