Ivana Trump dies at 73

The first wife of former President Donald Trump died Thursday at her home in New York City. Ivana was born in Gottwaldov, Czechoslovakia, a year after the communists took over the country. She was a ski racer, businesswoman, and mother of three. “She was a wonderful, beautiful, and amazing woman, who led a great and inspirational life,” Trump posted on Truth Social, his own social media platform.

What was Trump’s relationship with Ivana? Trump was Ivana’s second husband. They married in 1977 and made a power couple of themselves in 1980s New York before a public and messy divorce. Although Trump left Ivana for his second wife, Marla Maples, the two were on good terms in the years before Ivana’s death. Ivana told the New York Post in 2016 that she functioned as a sort of adviser for the then–presidential candidate.

Dig Deeper: Read WORLD’s Andree Seu Peterson’s essay on how we are often reminded of our own mortality.