Former US president Donald Trump paid respects to his first wife, Ivana Trump, joining their three children on Wednesday at a funeral Mass for the 1980s style idol and businesswoman who helped him to build an empire.
“A very sad day, but at the same time a celebration of a wonderful and beautiful life,” Mr Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, before heading to the funeral. “This will not be easy.”
Mr Trump attended the service with his current wife, Melania.
Donald and Ivana Trump’s three children — Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric — and their families followed her gold-coloured coffin into St Vincent Ferrer Roman Catholic Church on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Tiffany Trump, the daughter of the former president and his second wife, Marla Maples, also attended the service.
Family friends including Jeanine Pirro, co-host of Fox News' The Five, and Charles Kushner, a real estate developer and the father of Ivanka Trump’s husband, Jared Kushner.
Fashion designer Dennis Basso, a longtime friend of Ivana’s, was also among the mourners.
Mr Trump’s family announced on Thursday that Ivana, 73, had died at her Manhattan home.
Authorities said the death was an accident, with blunt impact injuries to her torso as the cause.
“We all want to remember Ivana as the vibrant, sociable person she was,” long-time friend R Couri Hay said before the service.
Ivana and Donald Trump met in the 1970s and were married from 1977 to 1992.
In the 1980s, they were a power couple, and she became well known in her own right, instantly recognisable with her blond hair and her glamorous look.
Ivana also took part in her husband’s businesses, managing one of his Atlantic City casinos and picking out some of the design elements in New York City’s Trump Tower.
Their very public divorce was ugly, but in recent years they were friendly. Ivana was an enthusiastic supporter of Mr Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and said they spoke on a regular basis.
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Ivana Trump speaks at an event in the Oak Room at the Plaza Hotel, New York, in June 2018. AP -
Ivana Trump, first wife of former US president Donald Trump, died on July 14. AFP -
Donald and Ivana Trump at the US Open in New York in September 1997. AP -
Former US president Donald Trump announces the death of his former wife, Ivana. Screengrab / Truth Social -
Donald and Ivana Trump at a party in 1982. Getty -
Ivana Trump at a charity event in Cipriani Wall Street, New York, in October 2017. AP -
Businesswoman Ivana Trump enters the stage during the 17th Life Ball in Vienna, in May 2009. Reuters -
Ivana Trump at the 17th Life Ball in Vienna in May 2009. AFP -
Ivana Trump at Fashion Week in New York, in September 2007. AP -
Ivana Trump smiles at her birthday party at a club during the 59th Cannes Film Festival on May 24, 2006. Reuters -
Ivana Trump and her daughter Ivanka at a Red Cross Ball in Monaco in 2001. AFP -
Ivana Trump at Cannes Film Festival on the French Riviera in May 2000. AFP
