Ivanka Trump opens up on impact of famous parents in emotional podcast admission
Ivanka Trump has opened up about her childhood during a recent appearance on Steven Bartlett’s The Diary of a CEO podcast.
The episode, titled 'Ivanka Trump: I Learned What Most People Never Do at 9 Years Old!', was released on YouTube last week (9 April) and has since clocked up over 1.1 million views.
During the segment, she shared: "Being the child of famous parents and living such a privileged life, I had this guard and that guard served me really well for a long time.
"Like I didn't have any friends, despite the really tumultuous life that I've had, ups and downs, who really disappointed me."
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The 44-year-old former Trump advisor added that some of her 'close, close friends' had 'changed' due to her 'circumstances or what was happening around me'.
Ivanka continued: "The only way to have connection, which is so fundamental to the human experience, is to build it and that requires trust. So I have to trust people.
"Now I have a good radar. I'm not foolish. I think I'm a very good reader of people, and I think it's one of my strengths."
Taking to X on Friday (10 April), Ivanka shared with fans in an update: "This conversation meant a lot to me."
Ivanka, who tied the knot with real estate mogul Jared Kushner, with whom she shares three children, explained that she and Steven opened up 'about some of life’s more defining moments: loss, growth, and the perspective that comes from navigating both'.
"We talked about creativity, love, boundaries, building, parenting and what matters most in this next chapter," she concluded. "Grateful to share it."
Elsewhere in the podcast, Ivanka discussed the 'tremendous sort of pressure' she felt over the years.
"I can see within you that you have a real desire to be like open and transparent, but if I was in your shoes, I'd be thinking, 'Everyone's trying to trip me up, everyone's trying to make a headline on me and my life, they wanna drive a wedge between me and my father'," Steven said.
Ivanka then replied: "I think one of the things I've learned under moments in my life of tremendous sort of pressure and scrutiny is to find the signal in the noise, and that's probably the thing that has been most helpful to me."
She added: "If you know what you stand for, then it really is just noise."
Trump has five children across three marriages.
His first marriage to Ivana Trump, which began in 1977 and ended in 1992, produced Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump.
He then married Marla Maples in 1993, shortly after the birth of their daughter Tiffany Trump; that marriage ended in 1999.
His third marriage, to Melania Trump in 2005, brought his youngest son, Barron Trump, born in 2006.
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, US News
Rhiannon Ingle