The country was under Soviet control, and life was simple for Ivana and her family.
Food was rationed, and families lined up to receive their share.
Even something as simple as an orange was only available around Christmas.
Citizens of Gottwaldov didn’t even have access to TV or radio.
“We were in our own world,” one resident said, according toNewsweek.
Escaping Czechoslovakia
Not surprisingly, many people in Czechoslovakia were not content with the Soviet regime.
Travel was difficult, as leaving the country was only allowed under special circumstances.
Fortunately, Ivana, encouraged by her father, had a prodigious talent for skiing.
As a competitive athlete, Ivana was one of the few people who were allowed to travel.
She was, however, a member of the junior national ski team.
“Ivana didn’t want to stay here,” her mother, Marie Zelnickova, toldNewsweek.
“She was always ambitious, and her father treated her like a boy.”
Still, simply traveling wasn’t enough.
Ivana wanted to live outside of Czechoslovakia’s borders.
This enabled her to move first to Canada in 1972, and then later to New York.
When she arrived in Canada, Ivanaworked as a ski instructorand continued to model.
In 1976, she met business mogul Donald Trump while in New York City for a fashion show.
Ivana was at a restaurant with her friends when Trump approached her.
“[There’s] this tall blond guy with blue eyes,” Ivana told theNew York Post.
“He said, ‘I’m Donald Trump and I see you’re looking for a table.
I can help you.’
The bad news is, this guy is going to be sitting with us.'”
The two began to date, and were married less than a year later.
She did all this while raising three ofTrump’s children: Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric.
Ivana told theNew York Postthat Trump’s faith in her proves how much respect he has for women.
“And it’s true, so I think Donald knew that I could achieve.”
“He gave me the chance,” she explained.
“I came [to America] and I was a poor person.
I was seven months pregnant and going up the steps, making sure everything was on the schedule.”
Divorcing Donald
In 1990, the Trumps split up after 13 years of marriage.
Ivana refused to back down.
And remember don’t get mad, get everything!"
A fashion icon
During her marriage to Trump, Ivana became a beloved public figure.
Their divorce only made Ivana’s star shine brighter.
“Ivanamania” was so pronounced that women spent thousands of dollars to copy her hairstyle.
Trump dismissed the public’s devotion to Ivana as mere sympathy.
“It’s a European tradition.
We always look up to the man.
But this is old times,” she told theLos Angeles Timesin 1992.
“Now what I believe is that I’m definitely equal.
Who needs it?”
Later, she turned to real estate development, though she achievedlittle success.
Among her failed real estate ventures wasIvana Las Vegas, announced in 2005.
She and Trump did what they could to shield Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric from the press.
“So they tried to mitigate the attention that that moment received.”
I made the decisions about their education, activities, travel, child care, and allowances.
When each one finished college, I said to my ex-husband, ‘Here is the finished product.
Now it’s your turn.'"
Asserting her independence
Ivana worked hard for her independence and was bent on keeping it.
She had a total offour marriages under her belt.
She split from her third husband,Riccardo Mazzucchelli, after just 20 months.
Her fourth marriage to Rossano Rubicondi was also short-lived (via theNew York Daily News).
With such a rocky love life, it would be understandable if she wanted to avoid romance altogether.
“If you are a married woman, you usually follow what the man wants to do.
I can do whatever what I want,” she told theNew York Post.
“I’m not getting married again.
But I like companions.
The most important for me is honesty, good humor not necessarily a millionaire.
I don’t need [money].”
Ivana also enjoyed dating menyounger than her.
“I prefer to be a baby sitter than a nursemaid,” she said.
“I don’t want to worry about bad knees and bad back.”
He wasn’t the only Trump to become a reality TV star, though.
Ivana also had her own reality TV show special in 2006 called “Ivana Young Man.”
“I’d have whipped the White House staff into shape in ten days,” she wrote.
In 2017, Ivana still claimed to hold some sway over her ex.
“I’m basically first Trump wife,” she toldABC News.
“I’m first lady.”
That same year, Ivana toldCBSthat she was also responsible forTrump’s Twitter presence.
“It’s a new way, a new technology.
Living the ‘perfect life’
Ivana Trump came a long way from her humble childhood in Czechoslovakia.
Ivana, however, turned Donald Trump down.
“I have a perfect life.”
During her final months, Ivana made an impression as her usual fashionable self.
Police said Ivana’s death appeared to be accidental (viaThe New York Times).
