Family of Donald Trump
The family of Donald Trump, the owner of The Trump Organization and 45th president of the United States, is a prominent American family active in real estate, entertainment, business, and politics. Trump's immediate family circle is the first family of the United States. They are part of the broader Trump family originating from Germany. Donald Trump's mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, came from the Hebridean Isle of Lewis, off the west coast of Scotland. Trump has five children from three wives, and ten grandchildren.
Immediate family
Wives
Ivana Trump
, the first wife of Donald Trump, was born on February 20, 1949, in Zlín, Czechoslovakia. She is a former fashion model and a businesswoman. They were married from 1977 until 1992.Ivana Trump took a major role in the Trump Organization. She became the vice president of interior design for the company, leading the signature design of Trump Tower. Afterwards, her then-husband appointed her to head up the Trump Castle Hotel and Casino as president. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1988.
Marla Maples
, the second wife of Donald Trump, was born on October 27, 1963, in Dalton, Georgia, making her Donald Trump's only wife who was an American citizen at the time of their marriage. She is an actress and television personality. They were married from 1993 to 1999.Melania Trump
, the third wife of Donald Trump, was born on April 26, 1970, in Novo Mesto, Yugoslavia. She had a lengthy modeling career and is the second foreign-born first lady of the United States. They were married in 2005.Children
Trump has five children from three marriages: Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric Trump with Ivana Trump; Tiffany Trump with Marla Maples; and Barron Trump with First Lady Melania Trump.Children with Ivana
Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric are Trump's three eldest children, from his first marriage with Ivana Trump.Prior to the election, each of the siblings held the title of executive vice president at the Trump Organization. During the campaign, they served as surrogates for their father on national news programs. Following Trump's election victory, all three were named to the presidential transition team.
Following the inauguration, Donald Jr. and Eric took charge of the family's real estate empire. Ivanka moved to Washington, D.C., with her husband Jared Kushner, who was appointed to a senior White House advisory position.
Tiffany Trump
Tiffany Ariana Trump is Donald Trump's only child with Marla Maples. In 2016, she participated little in her father's campaign because she was studying sociology and urban studies at the University of Pennsylvania, her father's alma mater. Shortly after graduating, she made a speech for her father at the Republican National Convention at age 22.Barron Trump
Barron William Trump is Donald Trump's youngest child and his only child with Melania Trump. He is of German and Scottish descent on his father's side and Slovenian descent on his mother's side. In May 2006, Barron Trump was baptized at the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida. He attended the Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School in Manhattan. In addition to English, Barron is fluent in Slovene. During his early childhood, Barron made several television appearances, including on The Apprentice and a May 16, 2006, episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show at only two months old. Barron did not immediately move into the White House when his father became president, but remained at Trump Tower with his mother until the end of the 2016–2017 school year. Melania and Barron moved to the White House on June 11, 2017. He now attends St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland.He appeared at a campaign rally in South Carolina, and was present for his father's RNC acceptance speech, presidential victory speech, and inauguration ceremony in January 2017, and some of the subsequent events.
Barron is noted to be a fan of soccer. He appeared in an Arsenal F.C. jersey and met D.C. United players at the White House Easter Egg Roll in April 2017. In September 2017, he was selected to join the U-12 team for D.C. United's Development Academy for the 2017–2018 season. As of February 2019, Barron plays with the Arlington Soccer Association.
Grandchildren
has ten grandchildren.Donald Trump Jr. and his former wife Vanessa have five children: daughters Kai Madison and Chloe Sophia, and sons Donald John III, Tristan Milos, and Spencer Frederick.
Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner have three children: daughter Arabella Rose, and sons Joseph Frederick and Theodore James.
Eric Trump and his wife Lara have a son, Eric "Luke", and a daughter, Carolina Dorothy.
Ancestry
Donald Trump's paternal ancestry is traceable to Bobenheim am Berg, a village in the Palatinate, Germany, in the 18th century. Johann Trump, born in Bobenheim in 1789, moved to the nearby village of Kallstadt where his grandson, Friedrich Trump, the grandfather of Donald Trump, was born in 1869. This German heritage was long concealed by Donald Trump's father, Fred Trump, who had grown up in a mainly German-speaking environment until he was ten years old; after World War II and until the 1980s, he told people he was of Swedish ancestry. Donald Trump repeated this version in The Art of the Deal but later said he is "proud" of his German heritage, and served as grand marshal of the 1999 German-American Steuben Parade in New York City.Parents
Fred Trump
Donald Trump's father, Fred Trump, born in New York, was a successful real estate developer in New York City. Using his inheritance, Fred Trump and his mother Elizabeth founded Elizabeth Trump & Son. Donald Trump later renamed it The Trump Organization and served as its chairman and president until assuming the office of U.S. president.Mary Anne MacLeod Trump
Born as Mary Anne MacLeod in Tong, a small village near Stornoway, in the Western Isles of Scotland, she was the daughter of fisherman Malcolm MacLeod and Mary MacLeod. At age 17, she immigrated to the United States and started working as a maid in New York. Mary and Donald Trump's father Fred Trump met in New York and married in 1936, settling together in Queens. Mary became a U.S. citizen in 1942. Donald Trump has said he "feels Scottish".Grandparents
Frederick Trump
In 1885, Donald Trump's grandfather, Friedrich Trump, emigrated from Kallstadt, Palatinate, to the United States at age 16. He anglicized his name to Frederick in 1892 when he became a U.S. citizen. During the Klondike Gold Rush, he amassed a fortune by opening a restaurant and hotel in Bennett and later Whitehorse, serving gold seekers on their way to the region; one biographer wrote that the business included a brothel, a portrayal Donald Trump has said was "totally false". Frederick Trump died in the first wave of the Spanish flu pandemic. After his death, his fortune was passed on to his wife and son.Frederick Trump was a second cousin of Henry J. Heinz, founder of H. J. Heinz Company, whose father also came from Kallstadt.
Elizabeth Christ Trump
Donald Trump's grandmother, Elizabeth Christ Trump, née Christ, was born in 1880 and died on June 6, 1966. Born Elisabeth Christ, she married Frederick Trump in 1902 and moved to the United States with him. Like her husband, she was a native of Kallstadt, born as the daughter of Philipp and Marie Christ. Philipp Christ was descended from Johannes Christ of Flörsheim, Hesse. Elizabeth Christ Trump was a descendant of organ builder Johann Michael Hartung through her paternal grandmother Sabina Christ.Siblings
Maryanne Trump Barry
is Donald Trump's eldest sister. She was a senior federal judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, became inactive in 2017 after her brother took office, and retired in 2019. According to Maryanne, there was once an incident where Donald played a game of catch with her son David, who was seven years old at the time; Donald "just had to beat" David, so Donald threw the ball "harder and harder" until "the ball hit David's head" with a "crack" sound.Fred Trump Jr.
Frederick Trump Jr. was Donald Trump's older brother. While attending Lehigh University, he joined a Jewish fraternity, Sigma Alpha Mu, even though he was not Jewish. After he graduated, he briefly worked with his father in the family business, but left to pursue his dream of being a pilot, which created tension between him and his father. He soon got a job as a pilot for Trans World Airlines. In 1962 he married Linda Clapp and had two children with her, Mary L. Trump and Fred Trump III, before they divorced. In September 1981, at the age of 42, he died from a heart attack as a result of his alcoholism. Donald Trump later said watching his brother descend into alcoholism motivated him to avoid alcohol and cigarettes.In 1999, just after Fred Sr.'s funeral, Fred III's son was born with cerebral palsy. The Trump family agreed to pay for the child's medical expenses. Fred Sr.'s will was revealed, which Donald Trump helped to write. The will mandated that Fred Jr., and by extension his children, Fred III and Mary, would be left out from receiving most of the inheritance, which amounted to over $20 million. Fred III and Mary filed a lawsuit, alleging that Fred Jr.'s siblings, including Donald, used "undue influence" on a dementia-addled Fred Sr. to cut them out of the inheritance. Donald Trump reacted by removing the medical benefits for Fred III's infant son; declaring: "I was angry because they sued." Donald later said that the lawsuit was settled "very amicably".
In an August 2019 interview with The Washington Post, Donald Trump opened up about his relationship with his late brother and expressed regret over how he treated Fred Jr. and his struggle with alcoholism. Trump said Fred's memory still shaped his life to that day, and had a huge impact on the trajectory of his own business career and life. In the interview Donald Trump said, "He was so handsome, and I saw what alcohol did to him even physically... and that had an impact on me, too."