Donald Trump Jr.'s Heartbreaking Reaction To His Father Divorcing Ivana

Among the many things that distinguished Donald Trump from virtually every other commander-in-chief was his status as only the second POTUS to have been divorced (Ronald Reagan was the first), and the only one with two failed marriages under his belt when he took office. By the time the controversial politician was elected in 2016, Donald had been through two very public splits, from Ivana Trump and Marla Maples, before marrying First Lady Melania Trump. 

The 1990 divorce of Donald and Ivana Trump was tabloid fodder for weeks primarily because of the circumstances behind it. Donald had begun an affair with Maples, and it reportedly led to a heated confrontation between the two women in a restaurant in Aspen. The resulting settlement battle made for more lurid headlines. It also devastated the couple's eldest child, Donald Trump Jr. According to inside sources who spoke to Vanity Fair in 1990, then 12-year-old Don Jr. reacted by lashing out at his father. 

"How can you say you love us? You don't love us! You don't even love yourself. You just love your money," he reportedly raged. It's not known how, or even whether, the senior Trump tried to reassure his son, but whatever efforts Donald made weren't enough; in a 2004 interview with New York magazine, Don Jr. revealed that he was so angry at his father over the divorce that he refused to speak to him for a year. 

Understandably, it wasn't easy for Donald Trump Jr. to adjust to his parents' divorce, especially because all the gory details were making headlines worldwide. Ivanka and Eric Trump, too, acknowledged to New York how difficult it was to deal with the constant press attention. Eric recalled how his friends used to show him newspaper articles about the messy split, while Ivanka was often flooded by photographers and gawkers wanting to get her reaction. "In retrospect, I can look back and say, 'How was it possible that we didn't have to go to intense therapy for the next eight years?" she wondered. 

Their mom, Ivana Trump, claimed in an interview that her daughter used to come to her crying, "Mommy, does this mean I'm not going to be Ivanka Trump anymore?" (via Vanity Fair). Time, not to mention years apart from their parents at boarding school and college, eased the Trump kids' hurt feelings. It also gave them a new perspective on what happened.

In a 2016 interview with People, Ivanka insisted that her parents had shielded her and her brothers from media coverage of the divorce as much as possible. She also credited them with presenting a united front: "Really the way in which they helped us the most was by being supportive with one another, not disparaging the other in front of us [...] and communicating that there was still tremendous affection between them and that there would always be great love for us."

Donald Trump Jr. similarly got over his initial anger over his parents' divorce, telling New York, "Listen, it's tough to be a 12-year-old. You're not quite a man, but you think you are. You think you know everything. Being driven into school every day and you see the front page and it's divorce [...] Your private life becomes very public, and I didn't have anything to do with it: My parents did." Don Jr. added that he was also heavily influenced by his mother, Ivana Trump, so the youngster naturally saw his father in a more negative light. 

Some children of divorce side with one parent over the other for personal reasons. Take reality star Kate Gosselin; two of her eight children opted to live with her ex, Jon Gosselin. Donald Trump's oldest three kids, on the other hand, had no such issues. Despite not having their father at home, Don Jr., Ivana, and Eric Trump all remained close to him, and all followed the real estate tycoon into the family business. 

Yet they also remained equally close to their mother, Ivana Trump, whose unexpected death at 73 in July 2022 was shattering. As Don Jr. wrote on Instagram: "Mom, we will miss you terribly. [...] From your sense of humor to your sense of adventure, I am who I am today because of you." Ivanka mourned, "Heartbroken by the passing of my mother. [...] I will miss her forever and will keep her memory alive in our hearts always."