The former US president described his ex-wife as a “wonderful, beautiful and amazing woman”.
Image source, Getty ImagesIvana Trump, Donald Trump’s first wife and the mother of three of his children, has died aged 73.
“She was a wonderful, beautiful, and amazing woman, who led a great and inspirational life,” Mr Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social.
Ms Trump, who was born in the Czech Republic, married the former president in 1977. They divorced 15 years later in 1992.
They had three children together – Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric Trump.
The pair were notable public figures in New York in the 1980s and 1990s, and their split was the subject of intense public interest.
After their separation, Ms Trump went on to launch her own lines of beauty products, clothing and jewellery.
She also described raising the three Trump children in her 2017 memoir Raising Trump.
She wrote then that her relationship with Mr Trump had improved since their divorce, and said she spoke to him about once a week.
In a statement, the Trump family lauded her as “a force in business, a world-class athlete, a radiant beauty, and caring mother and friend”.
“She fled from communism and embraced this country,” the statement added. “She taught her children about grit and toughness, compassion and determination.”
Mr Trump was her second husband. Her first, Alfred Winklmayr, was an Austrian ski instructor and friend who she reportedly married in order to obtain Austrian citizenship.
That marriage allowed her to leave her communist home country without defecting.
A long-time skier, Ms Trump is said to have skied competitively in the Czech Republic.
But claims that she was an alternate on the 1972 Winter Olympics team were refuted in 1989 by a local Olympic official.
While living in Canada in the 1970s, she worked as a ski instructor and model.
Shortly after her move to New York City in 1976, she met Mr Trump while with a group of models. They were married the following year and quickly became a tabloid fixture.