The Truth About Mary Trump

She was a certified professional life coach and chief executive officer of a New York-based company she started in 2012 called The Trump Coaching Group (via Forbes). She has an undergraduate and master's degree in English Literature from Tufts and Columbia, then went on to obtain a master's degree and a PhD in clinical psychology at Adelphi University. She might have a famous last name, and a famous family, but no one knew much about Mary Trump until August 2020 when she published that book. 

In Too Much and Never Enough, Trump admits to being the source behind the first tax document dump that was reported by The New York Times in 2018, she dishes on her famous family, and delves into the personality of her uncle (aka the sitting President of the United States). The book had the Trumps so worried that Robert Trump had tried to stop its publication, first by citing an NDA Mary had signed to get her inheritance, and then another motion to try and stop the book from being published (via The Guardian). Mary's publisher, Simon and Schuster, was eventually released from the restraining order to publish and distribute the book, because they said they didn't know about the NDA (via The Guardian).

Mary Lea Trump is the daughter of Donald Trump's eldest brother, Fred Jr., who passed away from a heart attack caused by complications related to his alcohol addiction. Fred Jr. had been expected to take over the business from his father, but he had wanted to become an airline pilot instead. Former Trump executive Jack O'Donnell told The Washington Post in 2019 that Fred Jr.'s death scarred the whole family. "It always felt like it was a dark family secret, and a subject [about] which he did not want to talk," O'Donnell said. "There is generally a lot of shame around addiction, which is sad. I think the entire Trump family suffers a great deal of shame and unresolved trauma over Fred Jr.'s death." Mary and her brother Fred III were just teens when their father passed away.

Mary L. Trump doesn't hide the fact that she is a lesbian, but she admits she never shared that fact with members of her family. In an interview with Advocate, she says, "I never shared any of this with my family. So being gay is something that kind of happened over time, and then it took much longer for me to be comfortable with the concept. Even though homophobia wasn't really explicit in my family, growing up, no one talked about homosexuality one way or another. My family was so anti-everything, anything that was different from them. So, I just assumed they were antigay, and that was something they would not tolerate."

When asked how she felt when her uncle proclaimed that gays loved him, she said, "I think gay people make him uncomfortable with male homosexuality. He's like guys with no self-awareness. And trans people make him uncomfortable because he's uncomfortable with anyone that's different. And that includes differently-abled, different color of skin, and different beliefs."

Mary Trump has made no secret of the bad blood between her and her uncle, and like the president, she takes to Twitter to share her thoughts about Donald Trump. On November 9, 2016, and just days after the election she tweeted, "This is one of the worst nights of my life. What is wrong with this country? I fear the American experiment has failed." At the time, her post drew just under 600 likes. Just days ago on September 26, she shared a touching family photo with herself, her father Fred Jr., her mother, and brother with the simple caption, "I'm so sorry, Dad," which drew more than 56,000 likes.

Donald Trump told The Washington Post that he has regrets over his brother's death — but that didn't mean he and his siblings were willing to give Mary and her younger brother Fred III what they felt they were entitled to. The New York Daily News reported that in 2000, Mary and Fred filed a legal objection to their grandfather's will, saying that the document should be invalidated because he had been suffering from dementia when he signed the document, and that they were entitled to between $5 to $15 million of his estate as Fred Sr'.s grandchildren. In retaliation, the Trump siblings (Maryanne, Donald, and Robert) cut Fred III off from Trump company medical benefits that he needed for for his baby William, who was suffering from infantile spasms.

At the time, Mary said, "Given this family, it would be utterly naive to say it has nothing to do with money. But for both me and my brother, it has much more to do with that our father [Fred Jr.] be recognized," she said. "He existed, he lived, he was their oldest son. And William is my father's grandson. He is as much a part of that family as anybody else. He desperately needs extra care. My aunt and uncles should be ashamed of themselves. I'm sure they are not."

Mary and Fred III are now suing the president; his sister Maryanne Trump Barry, who is a former federal judge; and the estate of Robert Trump for fraud (via CNN).