Ivanka Trump is usually known for her composure. Showing emotion in public is not typical for her. But during a 90-minute appearance on the “Diary of a CEO” podcast on Thursday, April 9, that composure repeatedly broke down. When the conversation turned to her mother, Ivana Trump, her eyes filled with tears. While speaking about her husband Jared Kushner’s cancer, her voice faltered. And when recalling the moment she saw her father, Donald Trump being shot on live television, the 44-year-old simply asked, “Can I get a tissue?” An assistant beside her handed one over as she wiped her eyes.
The most emotional moment came when Ivanka began speaking about her mother. Ivana Trump died in 2022 at the age of 73 after falling down the stairs in her Upper East Side home in New York. The death was sudden and unexpected. Ivanka said what hurts most is knowing that her three children — Arabella, Joseph and Theo — will never truly know their
grandmother. “My mom taught me to do whatever you do with intention,” she said before pausing again. Whispering, she added, “Sorry.” When podcast host Steven Bartlett showed her childhood photos, Ivanka struggled to look away. “I don’t want to cry anymore,” she said, though the tears continued. “She lived a good life. She was a very joyful
person.”
Amid these painful memories, one person still brings light to Ivanka’s life — her grandmother, Ivana’s mother Marie Zelníčková, whom the family lovingly calls “Babi.” She currently lives with Ivanka’s family in Florida. Ivanka said her grandmother cooked every meal herself and described her as incredibly loving. Listening to stories about her mother from her grandmother, she said, feels like a blessing, because it allows her children to know the memory of a grandmother they never had the chance to meet.
Another difficult chapter came up when Ivanka spoke about her husband, Jared Kushner. During Donald Trump’s first term in the White House, Kushner was secretly diagnosed with thyroid cancer and underwent surgery on his throat. Then, in 2022, after leaving the White House, he had a second thyroid surgery. Ivanka said that period was one of the hardest in her life. “We had left the White House, and life was uncertain. Jared’s cancer had returned, and then my mother died,” she explained. “That’s when I went to therapy.” It was a rare admission from someone who usually appears strong and controlled — that she, too, needed help.
The most dramatic memory she shared was from July, when Donald Trump was shot at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Ivanka said she was at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, sitting by the swimming pool with two of her children while the television was on. Suddenly, she saw everything unfold on the screen. “I basically watched it almost live — I
was horrified, terrified,” she said. But when she saw her father being escorted off the stage by Secret Service agents, she felt a sense of certainty. “I knew it wasn’t his time.” She also revealed that she has forgiven the gunman, Thomas Crooks. “Forgiveness is hard, but you have to do it,” she said.
Throughout the interview, Ivanka returned again and again to one central thought: nothing in life should be taken for granted. Losing her mother, witnessing an attack on her father, and watching her husband battle cancer twice have all taught her the value of every moment. Behind the power, wealth and influence of the Trump family, the interview revealed something more personal — the ordinary human grief that even the most prominent families cannot escape.
