Ivana Trump was laid to rest on Wednesday at a historic Manhattan church. Her funeral was nothing shy of the glamorous send-off you would expect being a Trump, complete with extravagant rose arrangements and a blown-up copy of her Vanity Fair magazine cover.
Roughly 100 mourners gathered inside St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church on the Upper East Side to bid farewell to the businesswoman and first wife of former President Donald Trump who died last week at 73.
Two large gold-framed images of Ivana were placed next to her casket, including her 1992 Vanity Fair cover with the words “Ivana Be A Star” emblazoned across it.
The century-old cathedral was also adorned with hundreds of red roses and candles for the opulent service, and of course, Ivana’s casket was made of Gold, fit for the 1980’s pop icon queen that she was.
The invitation-only funeral had been billed as a “Celebration of Life” — and the invite featured a photo of Ivana hitting the slopes.
The former president arrived separately alongside security personnel. No cameras are allowed inside the church during the service.
Donald Trump and his three eldest children he shared with Ivana — Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric — were all in attendance.
Despite rumors, the former president’s wife Melania, their son Barron and Trump’s other daughter Tiffany were also among the mourners.
The funeral service began at around 1:30 pm and lasted roughly 1 and a half hours, ending at approximately 3 pm. Former President Donald Trump was seen exiting the church as the casket was brought out and loaded into the hearse.
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According to the NY Post, Ivana, who died after a fall in her home, was remembered as “a force of nature” and “the embodiment of the American dream.”
Designer Dennis Basso also attended the service. He and Ivana Trump were longtime friends and collaborators. Ivana was a frequent customer of Basso’s furs – though often with a ‘friends and family discount’, according to The New York Times.
“We couldn’t have made the shoulders bigger or fuller,” Mr. Basso told The Times of the ensembles his design team created with her. “She always wanted to show her waist. She would call and say: ‘I love that. Can I have it in purple?’ ‘I love that. Can I have that in green?’ One year, around Christmastime, she called and said: ‘I’m in Aspen. I want a red sheared mink ski suit.’ Not being a great skier, I said, ‘But when you fall, it’s going to get wet.'”
“She said, ‘Dahling. I don’t fall,'” Basso quipped.
Former gossip columnist and a longtime friend of Ivana R. Couri Hay attended the service and spoke with Insider.
“Ivana would want a big, glamorous celebration of her life,” longtime friend Hay said at the service. “Today she’s right where she belongs. In the spotlight and in heaven.”
The church was filled with a thousand of Ivana’s favorite red roses, and was “drenched in tears,” throughout the two-hour mass, Hay told Insider.
Donald Trump and Ivana were married for 15 years between 1977 and 1992.
Originally from what was then Czechoslovakia, Ivana Trump was a notable socialite who became the subject of intense public interest alongside Donald Trump during the 1980s and 1990s. After the pair separated, she went on to launch a line of beauty products, jewelry, and clothing.
