A few romantic gestures following a warm introduction at a New York City restaurant in 1976 was enough for Ivana Trump to agree to be Donald Trump’s first wife by 1977. Donald had himself a catch — Ivana was stunning, educated, and willing to dive into business alongside him while building their family. 

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The Czechoslovakian native was a naturally beautiful model and skier, but her looks were not enough to keep her husband from taking interest in another gorgeous, younger, blonde — Marla Maples — around the time they welcomed their third child. Once Donald’s affair with Maples became public, it was alleged that Ivana, who was likely feeling dethroned, underwent plastic surgery to enhance her features and win Donald over. But this tactic was not enough, and by 1992, Ivana and Donald Trump’s troubled marriage was over. 

Following the divorce, Ivana sat as a guest on the Irish talk show, “Kenny Live,” to promote her novel, “For Love Alone.” However, host Pat Kenny could not help but address the star’s appearance. “You did a bit of nipping and tucking and various things,” Kenny said at one point in the interview. But the author quickly shut down the claims saying, “No, I have not done that kind of thing.” Though she denied ever having had plastic surgery, she said she saw nothing wrong with a little fix-up at the doctor’s office. “If [there is] something which you don’t like on yourself, if it really bothers you, improve on it,” she said.

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Ivana Trump constantly denied plastic surgery rumors, but some scenes in the 2024 biographical drama about Donald Trump’s early life as a businessman, “The Apprentice,” suggest otherwise. One scene set in the late 80s shows Ivana attempting to make a move on her husband, but he denied her advances, saying that her plastic surgery was off-putting. This scene was set when Donald’s affair with his mistress, and later wife, Marla Maples, had already begun. In another scene, set in 1989, Donald is seen undergoing scalp reduction surgery with celebrity plastic surgeon, Dr. Steven Hoefflin. This moment was loosely based on details from Ivana’s 1990 divorce deposition where she claimed her then-husband had done some cosmetic work.

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Dr. Hoefflin was not named in the deposition, but in 1997, Ivana was among the celebrities who defended the surgeon following allegations of inappropriate conduct from some of his patients, suggesting that she had professional ties to him. Even further, in the 1993 novel “Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump,” Ivana claims that Donald told her “Your f—ing doctor has ruined me,” after the scalp surgery, further proving she was tied to a plastic surgeon at some point. 

Though Maples was the supposed inspiration behind Ivana’s cosmetic enhancements, she never publicly commented on the matter. She never forgave Maples for the affair, and in 2022, Ivana sadly passed away, never confirming the truth about her plastic surgery. 

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