The Truth About Donald Trump’s Relationship With His Daughter Tiffany 》

Who do you think of when you hear the phrase “Donald Trump’s daughter?”

Most people think of Ivanka Trump. From her prominent position in the Trump Organization, her self-branded fashion line, and her work in the White House, Ivanka has managed to become a household name.

However, Trump has another daughter, Tiffany, from his marriage to Marla Maples. And the truth about Donald’s relationship with Tiffany is enough to break your heart!

Absentee dad

As we noted above, Tiffany’s mother is Donald Trump’s second wife Marla Maples. She and Donald divorced in 1999, when Tiffany was only five years old. And the fallout from that divorce effectively kept her from Donald Trump for most of her life.

That’s because Marla settled down in California after the divorce, and her hope was to keep the paparazzi from prying into Tiffany’s life. But Donald Trump’s business and his whole life were on the East Coast. This meant Tiffany had little contact with her father.

How little is “little?” In a 2016 interview with People, Marla admitted, “I would bring her into New York a couple times a year and let her go see her dad in the office.” Compared to the other Trump kids who saw Donald every day, Tiffany was a virtual stranger.

Donald plays favorites

It would be one thing if Tiffany simply didn’t get as much facetime with Donald Trump as Ivanka does. However, Donald went out of his way to tell the world that Ivanka is his favorite.

In a 2004 interview with New York Magazine, the interviewer asked if Trump ever played favorites among his children. Without hesitation, Donald said “Come on! Daddy’s little girl” in reference to Ivanka.

Trump suddenly turned thoughtful and said “You know I have another daughter, with Marla, named Tiffany? She’s just a beautiful great kid also. But it’s very separate.” It was a good attempt at a save, but it shows that even Donald Trump doesn’t immediately think of Tiffany when he thinks about his children.

Black sheep of the family

It would be one thing if Tiffany simply had to play second fiddle to Ivanka. Considering that Ivanka is the professed favorite child, Trump’s other kids have to live in her shadow as well.

However, it’s clear that the other children were treated better than Tiffany. And in a cruel twist, we know this because of Ivanka Trump.

In Ivanka’s book The Trump Card, she wrote about Tiffany’s relationship with their father. As Vanity Fair reports, Ivanka wrote, “All she wanted, really, was a way to enjoy some of the privileges her friends got to enjoy, in the same way she would have enjoyed them if she’d lived under our father’s roof.”

Eventually, Ivanka says, “I went to our father and suggested he think about surprising Tiffany with a credit card for Christmas, with a small monthly allowance on it. Sure enough, he did just that. Tiffany was thrilled and relieved. And so appreciative.”

It’s meant to be a sweet story that casts Ivanka as a model sibling. But it also shows that Tiffany only got a portion of what Trump’s other children received only after he heard the request from his favorite child.

Daddy’s pride has its limits

As near as anyone can tell, Tiffany Trump mostly just wants her father to be proud of her. But when that does happen, Donald is quick to remind her that he still favors the other children more.

This came up during an extremely awkward appearance on Fox and Friends on Election Day 2016. As the NY Daily News reports, Trump had this to say about his kids. “I’m very proud of my children. I mean, I’m just looking at them right now, as an example for your show,” he said. “But I’m very proud, because Don and Eric and Ivanka and — you know, to a lesser extent ’cause she just got out of school, out of college — but, uh, Tiffany, who has also been so terrific.”

It’s notable this happened shortly after Tiffany Trump hit the campaign trail to help out her dad. But when it comes to being proud, Trump just didn’t care as much about her as the other children.

Periods of communications silence

Thanks to the magic of technology, distance doesn’t mean that Donald Trump and Tiffany Trump can’t regularly talk to each other. Sadly, it does not look like that’s the case.

Insiders familiar with her relationship to Donald said that things got even chillier between them after the 2016 election. According to People, insiders claimed, “Since the inauguration, Tiffany and her father have sometimes gone for months without speaking and she went a very long time without seeing him.”

And when they do see each other, it’s not always a great time. “The last time she was at a family function with him, it was awkward for her and she didn’t feel totally welcome.”

Sibling rivalry

Ivanka Trump’s book makes it seem like she is close to Tiffany and interested in making her feel happy and welcome. But according to Donald Trump’s old interviews with Howard Stern, that may not be the case.

According to Newsweek, Donald shared a weird exchange with Stern about Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. trying to cut Tiffany out of her inheritance. Stern asked if junior and Ivanka were going to “bump off” Tiffany. Trump demures by talking about how great Tiffany is before later admitting “it does cut up the pie as you keep producing.”

These old tapes with Stern also revealed plain conversations about what Tiffany would get if she didn’t actually lose her inheritance. One of these things was Trump Online University, which is now completely defunct. And the very fact that he presented this as what Tiffany would get if she maintained her inheritance shows that he considered her losing that inheritance to be very possible.

Living with regret

Through all of this, Tiffany Trump has maintained a surprisingly stiff upper lip. We mostly know how she feels through people like Marla Maples. And to hear Tiffany’s mother tell it, her daughter is living with constant regret.

In an interview with The New York Times, Marla described Tiffany in a sad way. “She’d like to get to know her father better and spend time with him like his other children did: by going to his office and watching him work.”

That interview was in 2016. And as of this writing, all signs point to Donald and Tiffany Trump being just as distant as ever before.