Culture

Melania Trump Calls Ivana ‘Attention Seeking And Self-Serving’ For Dubbing Herself ‘The First Lady’

The office of First Lady Melania Trump issued an official statement on Monday in response to comments made by Ivana Trump, Donald’s first wife, during a previous interview with Good Morning America. “Mrs. Trump has made the White House a home for Barron and the President,” it reads. “She loves living in Washington, D.C. and is honored by her role as First Lady of the United States. She plans to use her title and role to help children, not sell books. There is clearly no substance to this statement from an ex. Unfortunately only attention seeking and self-serving noise.”

https://twitter.com/BenjySarlin/status/917450380044390400

Specifically, per spokesperson Stephanie Grisham, Melania’s office took issue with Ivana’s claim that because she was “basically [the] first Trump wife,” she too was First Lady. During her appearance on GMA, the former Czechoslovakian model and star skier said, “I don’t want to cause any kind of jealousy or something like that, because I’m basically first Trump wife. Okay? I’m first lady.” Ivana also insisted she still talks to Donald regularly, but never calls him at the White House “because Melania is there.”

As for Melania’s statement’s insistence that she enjoys living in the White House and in Washington, that was also a response to Ivana’s previous comments. “I think for her to be in Washington must be terrible,” said the latter. “It’s better her than me. I would hate Washington. Would I straighten up the White House in 14 days? Absolutely. Can I give the speech for 45 minutes without teleprompter? Absolutely. Can I read a contract? Can I negotiate? Can I entertain? Absolutely. But I would not really like to be there. I like my freedom.”

To Melania’s credit, Ivana is trying to sell a new book, titled Raising Trump. Needless to say, reporters covering the story are both surprised and not by its very nature. As Huffington Post’s Igor Bobic put it on Twitter, “The president’s current and former wife are fighting is a thing you can’t write very often.” In a subsequent “correction,” he tweeted, “one of his former wives.”

(Via NBC News and People)

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