Ivana Trump, First Wife Of Former President, Dies At 73

NEW YORK CITY — Ivana Trump, the New York City socialite and first wife Donald Trump, died Thursday, her family announced.

Ivana Trump was 73.

Donald Trump confirmed her death on his Truth Social platform. She died in her New York City home, he wrote.

"She was a wonderful, beautiful, and amazing woman, who led a great and inspirational life," Donald Trump wrote. "Her pride and joy were her three children, Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric. She was so proud of them, as we were all so proud of her. Rest In Peace, Ivana!"

The three children Ivana had with Trump released a statement of their own.

"Our mother was an incredible woman — a force in business, a world-class athlete, a radiant beauty, and caring mother and friend. Ivana Trump was a survivor," they wrote.

“She fled from communism and embraced this country,” their statement continued. “She taught her children about grit and toughness, compassion and determination. She will be dearly missed by her mother, her three children and ten grandchildren.”

Ivana Trump was found dead inside her Upper East Side apartment on East 64th Street about 12:40 p.m., police told Patch. Paramedics had responded to a call for a cardiac arrest in the apartment, ABC first reported.

Donald and Ivana Trump stood atop New York City's social and media worlds in the 1980s and 1990s, a pairing of a publicity-loving businessman and a stylish Czech model.

But their marriage fell apart in epic tabloid fashion after Donald Trump met his next wife, Marla Maples. A messy divorce ensued in public, with sensational headlines in the New York Post and the New York Daily News.

And dark accusations circled around the split, notably when Ivana Trump accused him of rape in a sworn statement in the early 1990s. She later walked it back, saying that she didn’t mean it literally, but rather to impart that she felt violated.

Ivana Trump later poked fun at her high-profile divorce, and former husband, during an appearance in 1996's "The First Wives Club."

"Don't get mad — get everything," she said in the film.

Ivana Trump said in recent years that she had been on good terms with her ex-husband, writing in a 2017 book that they spoke about once a week.

Former mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has perpetuated and trumpeted Donald Trump's unfounded accusations about the 2020 election, praised Ivana Trump's contribution to the city and world."

"Ivana Trump was a truly talented, creative and beautiful person," he tweeted. "She contributed greatly particularly to New York. Remarkably, with all the massive distractions, she and President Donald J. Trump gave the world exceptionally good, balanced and decent children and grandchildren."

She was born Ivana Zelnickova in 1949 in the former Czechoslovakia. She married Trump, her second husband, in 1977.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.