Ivana Trump, the ex-wife of former President Donald Trump, has died at age 73, the family told ABC News.
The former president said she died at her home in New York City.
Ivana Trump was Donald Trump’s first wife. They had three children together: Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric Trump.
“Our mother was an incredible woman — a force in business, a world-class athlete, a radiant beauty, and caring mother and friend,” the Trump family said in a statement.
Ivana Trump was a survivor. She fled from communism and embraced this country. She taught her children about grit and toughness, compassion and determination,” the family said. “She will be dearly missed by her mother, her three children and ten grandchildren.”
As Eric Trump walked out of his mother’s apartment building Thursday afternoon, he told reporters, “It’s been a very sad day.”
Manhattan paramedics, responding to a call for cardiac arrest, found a 73-year-old woman in the Upper East Side apartment where Ivana Trump lived just after 12:30 p.m. Thursday, according to the FDNY. She was pronounced dead at the scene, the NYPD said.
Ivana Trump was found unconscious and unresponsive at the bottom of a set of stairs in her apartment, according to police sources. The police are investigating whether she fell and, if so, whether the fall contributed in any way to her death, the sources said. A medical examiner will determine her cause of death, police said.
In a statement on his platform Truth Social, the former president remembered Ivana as a “wonderful, beautiful, and amazing woman, who led a great and inspirational life.”
“Her pride and joy were her three children, Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric,” he wrote. “She was so proud of them, as we were all so proud of her.”
Ivanka Trump remembered her mother as “brilliant, charming, passionate and wickedly funny.”
“She lived life to the fullest — never forgoing an opportunity to laugh and dance,” Ivanka Trump said on Twitter while sharing a childhood photo of herself with her mother. “I will miss her forever and will keep her memory alive in our hearts always.”
Ivana Trump, born Ivana Marie Zelníčková, grew up under communist rule in the former Czechoslovakia. She left in the 1970s and married Donald Trump in 1977.
She worked for years in Trump’s business empire as a senior executive. She was appointed CEO of Trump’s Castle, one of his hotel casinos in Atlantic City, and helped design interiors for the Grand Hyatt Hotel and Trump Tower. She also authored multiple bestselling books and created her own clothing line.
CULLED: ABC News