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Ivana Trump Says Vanessa May Have Trouble Dating Because She Has Kids ... & It Gets Worse

by Lani Seelinger
Grant Lamos IV/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images / Cindy Ord/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Donald Trump's first wife, Ivana Trump, has made sure that the world remembers who she is several times during her ex-husband's administration so far. Now she's done it again, with a wide-ranging interview she gave to the the New York Post's Page Six. Among the many things she discussed in that interview was her eldest son's divorce — and Ivana Trump's comments about Vanessa and Don Jr. are evidence that she's applying a touch of a double standard to her son and daughter-in-law.

“Donald Jr. is a good-looking guy. He is successful. He is not going to have a problem to find a girl,” Ivana said, after saying that the news made her "very sad." She didn't seem so optimistic about Vanessa's prospects, however.

“Maybe Vanessa might have a little problem because she has five kids ... who is going to date and marry the woman who has five children? Especially since she is young and she might want to have more," Ivana opined to Page Six.

Vanessa is still young — she's 40, which is exactly the same age as Don Jr. And Ivana seems to have forgotten that Vanessa didn't have those kids alone — they are also Don Jr.'s kids.

Don Jr. has also made it clear on his Twitter feed that he's deeply involved in the lives of his children, although it's impossible to say from his public front alone whether he actually does play a major role in taking care of them.

"The Smurf!!! Having some fun with Chloe this morning," he wrote on April 12 along with an adorable picture of the aforementioned Chloe, adding the hashtags #daddysgirl, #daddydaughtertime, and #kids. This caused far less of an uproar than his Halloween 2017 tweet involving Chloe, in which he posted a very sad looking picture of his three year-old daughter and her candy along with the following caption: "I’m going to take half of Chloe’s candy tonight & give it to some kid who sat at home. It’s never to early to teach her about socialism."

While many attacked the tweet for its failure to understand the principles behind socialism or to promote the kind practice that is sharing, it did at least reveal that Don Jr. was present when Chloe went trick or treating. In his mother's mind, though, evidently this sort of behavior does not constitute the same sort of baggage that Vanessa will have when she re-enters the dating sphere.

It's natural, of course, that a mother would be biased in favor of her son, rather than the woman who filed the divorce papers to leave her son (even if the split was reportedly amicable). Ivana also seems to have fully forgiven Don Jr. for the rumors of an action of his that, in part, caused the split: his alleged affair with Aubrey O'Day, which he has not commented on.

"“It’s always distressing, because I’ve been there. But who am I to judge and who knows what was the situation at that moment?" Ivana said, referring to her own experience with cheating. “It’s a long time ago now, so I think Vanessa knew it all along and maybe she just couldn’t get over the hurt to forgive him. But I honestly don’t know that many men who can keep their zippers up.”

She was evidently able to empathize with her former daughter-in-law on that point — and she evidently believes the allegations that her son cheated on his wife — but her empathy didn't extend in other directions. Ivana, after all, left her marriage to Donald Trump after 15 years together at age 43 — and with three children. She has since been married twice. Perhaps Vanessa will be so lucky, despite her youth and her children.