The real estate heiress and fashion entrepreneur is embarking on her latest incarnation as a first-time mother.
By Elisa Lipsky-Karasz
Ivanka Trump is known for her storied pedigree, an impressive brain, and the Jessica Rabbit curves on her statuesque frame. Now there's another voluptuous swell added to those already dramatic contours: a baby bump. This July 14 marks the expected launch of her latest project, her first child with her husband, Jared Kushner. It's a girl, which means the Trump tradition of driven, glossy-haired beauties can continue--and that the newest Apprentice will join the fold.
"My dad was joking the other day how he's going to have a new favorite little girl," says Trump, who's the Donald's right-hand woman as an executive vice president of development and acquisition at the family company and a host on his latest NBC reality show, The Celebrity Apprentice. "He's over the moon, he's so excited." No one should expect him to be changing diapers on the boardroom table, however, especially since he famously eschews that duty. "He'll be wonderful, but not as a classic, hands-on, 'Let me take the child for the weekend' type," says Trump, laughing. "He won't be that kind of grandfather."
Her father is equally complimentary. "Ivanka will be an amazing mother," he boasts. "She's totally brilliant. She's got great beauty, but it's really highlighted by the fact that she is a very smart person. It's a combination you don't see very often. [I hope] my granddaughter will be as much like Ivanka as possible."
Trump, 29, and Kushner, 30, married in 2009 amidst enough fanfare to rank as one of America's own royal weddings. A starry guest list of heavy hitters and glitterati, including Barbara Walters, Rudy Giuliani, and then future New York governor Andrew Cuomo, watched the pair exchange vows at the Trump National Golf Club in Kushner's home state of New Jersey. The groom had already made his first multimillion-dollar real estate deal while still an undergrad at Harvard and subsequently purchased the New York Observer newspaper. Meanwhile, Trump earned herself street cred in the real estate business and held her own in her Dolce & Gabbana power suits against the likes of corporate raider Carl Icahn.
Despite having to find a balance in their own relationship yin and yang--as the child of the publicity-loving, brash Trump, Ivanka Trump is poised and comfortable in the public eye, while Kushner avoids the press--the young couple have already cut a wide swath through New York society, from polo matches and benefit galas to hosting dinners at home with Rupert and Wendi Murdoch. ("I make enough for 10 people," laughs Trump of her newfound passion for cooking.) But that's not to say they don't like to chill out and eat pizza on a Saturday night; it's just that they'll do it with someone like former New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein. "I'll go to dinner with Ivanka and Jared, and it will be Hugh Jackman and [his wife] Deborra-Lee Furness and them," says longtime friend Flo Fulton. "They are so ahead of their time."
As with the rest of Trump and Kushner's perfectly plotted lives, their latest development was well thought out. "We both said we wanted to wait one year and just enjoy being newlyweds. So we waited pretty much exactly that," Trump says, smiling down at her discreet belly, which is contained in a jaunty striped top and J Brand maternity jeans. "Jared is ecstatic," she says. "She'll be a daddy's girl. I have a feeling they are going to gang up on me."
Trump says she has had a remarkably easy pregnancy: no morning sickness, no complications, and no cravings other than a hankering for double-toasted salt bagels with cream cheese. "I do have a bit of first-time-mom syndrome," she admits, chuckling over the piles of books on pregnancy, mothering, and early-childhood development she's assigned herself. "I'm already on what I should be doing when she is three and when I should introduce new languages," including French and Mandarin Chinese.
"She's an impressive young woman," says Wendi Murdoch, who first met Trump when they were neighbors in a Trump-owned tower and considers her a role model for her two daughters, Grace and Chloe. "Before I met her, I had only heard of her parents. But she is so great. We talk about everything, from business to art to international affairs."
It's that poise that brings to mind other daughters who have grown up in the public eye: Chelsea Clinton or Barbara Bush. It will serve Trump well should her father go through with his well-publicized intention to run for the presidency. "I think he's exactly what we need," she says staunchly. "He's the best equipped to deal with the most important issues this nation has, which is ultimately that we're suffering under a massive burden of debt. We need a very acute financial mind to get us out of this mire.
"America is the largest corporation on the planet. You wouldn't hire a novice to run a similarly sized company in the private markets," Trump continues. "My father has created more jobs through his private businesses than certainly any of the candidates. Mitt Romney has executive experience, but it's a different type. He didn't run entrepreneurial businesses."
Trump defends her dad from his detractors, who include Bush strategist Karl Rove. "My father represents a very interesting challenge to the Republican party," she says. "I think this is taking people by surprise. [But] I think that's why he's so welcomed by the American voters, because they want somebody who says what they are thinking." And she gives the thumbs-down to President Obama, whom she says she did not vote for. "Of course [once he was elected] I wanted him to succeed, but he's proven to be a very ineffective leader. He has just not risen to the occasion. He doesn't have business experience or a business mind."
Donald Trump thinks his daughter would be "a huge asset" if he prevails. "There's never been anybody like Ivanka in the White House. I think she'd be an amazing addition," he says, although he declines to speculate if she'd have an official position. "That's so far in the future," he demurs.
Read more: Ivanka Trump Interview – Quotes from Ivanka Trump - Harper's BAZAAR
Posting source: http://www.harpersbazaar.com/magazine/feature-articles/ivanka-trump-interview
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