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'LOST HER SPARK'
Ivana Trump’s friend noticed ‘something was wrong’ in year before her death and says she never got over Donald cheating
A FRIEND of Ivana Trump felt "something was wrong" and she had "lost her spark" in the year before her death, while claiming she never got over her ex-husband Donald cheating on her.
The 73-year-old was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in her New York home at around 12.40pm on Thursday after someone called 911 to report a person suffering from cardiac arrest.
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James Edstrom, who worked as a New York society photographer and snapped Ivana and her family "hundreds" of times in the eighties and nineties, has paid tribute to the socialite.
He claims some of his famous snaps used to sell to outlets for upwards of $50,000 before the industry changed with the internet.
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James says he became close with Ivana and would still see her in swanky restaurants over the years and caught up with her on many occasions with mutual friends.
"She was a legend in this city, she really was," he exclusively told The Sun. "We loved her. We all loved her.
"And when we were called to wherever she was gonna be, we were there because we adored this woman."
James said Ivana was "always sweet" and "always excited."
"She always had a gimmick to make the story go. You just can't be photographed every single day doing nothing."
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Still, her death comes as a shock to the celebrated photographer and many others who knew her.
"I wasn't expecting her death, it broke my heart and all the photographers I'm talking to online, their hearts are broken," he said.
"She was a wonderful, wonderful woman, we gave her what she wanted, which was media attention, published everywhere. And she gave us what we wanted - access.
James recalled the socialite's busy schedule, saying that she'd often be spotted at three or four events on any given evening back in the day.
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"She was all over the place, and sometimes she wore two outfits in the same night.
"You'd be at a restaurant and she'd be there, then there would be a bar, then you'd go over to Stringfellow's [the strip club] an hour later. There's Ivana her again."
James said that he usually bypassed Ivana's publicist to talk to her directly, saying: "I got along with her really, really well."
'THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG'
He says he last saw her about a year ago in New York at Philippe Chow and they talked about a possible upcoming project.
"I told her I wanted to do a fashion book and I wanted to use a photo that I took years ago," James recalled.
"When her and Donald were divorcing, she threw a party at the Plaza Hotel and she arrived in an old green antique restored checkered cab.
"I said to her, 'Ivana, you know, I was thinking of doing a fashion book about the eighties. I was thinking of you using that photo for the cover.'
"She looked at me, she said, 'Wow, that would really, really be great.'
"But there was something wrong, you know, she didn't have that spark.
"There was not that zest for life that she always had. It was like it was gone. I worried she might have early on-set Alzheimer's or something."
MESSY DIVORCE
Ivana and Donald famously divorced in 1992 following news of his affair with Marla Maples.
Trump was still married to Ivana when he decided to go on a date with Maples in 1989.
Ivana learned of the affair when Marla, then 26, showed up at the Trump family’s 1989 Christmas vacation in Aspen, Colorado, and confronted her, claiming she was in love with the future President.
While a divorce was granted in December 1990 on the grounds of alleged "cruel and inhumane treatment" by Trump, a settlement wouldn't be reached until 1992.
Remembering the night he photographed her at her divorce party, James said he walked down the block from the Plaza and bumped into Donald heading to the hotel.
"I said, 'Oh, Donald, how about a quick shot?' And his bodyguard tried to stop it. Donald I could never stand. But it was the only night he was ever nice to me," James said.
"He said to his bodyguard, 'No, no, let him get a few good shots.' I took a couple quick shots and I said, 'Where are you going Donald?' And he's going to The Plaza.
"I said, 'Oh, you just announced your divorce and you are going to your wife's party?' He said, 'You know it!'
"So of course I turned around as I knew there would be a media mad house once he arrived there. They had just announced his affair, his divorce, everything else.
"I thought, oh my God, this is the way Donald's mind works. He knew how to make the media s**t in their pants, excuse the expression. He just cared about publicity."
'A VERY CLASSY LADY'
"He crashed Ivana's party and caused a frenzy," James continued.
"And she was livid. Oh my God. When I went back there, she turned to me and she says, 'I just can't believe he did this.'
"But she remained calm throughout, because that's who she was, she was a very classy lady."
He recalled when Ivana was allowed to stay at the family's The Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach with their children after the divorce agreement, while Donald was back in New York.
"You know, and I went down to Mar-a-Lago, so this is a strange thing. I arrived at the place early, and I go into the foyer," James said.
"Security were taking down every single photo of Donald Trump in the building. Every single photo. And they were putting up all the photos of Ivana and the kids.
"Everything was very, very well-controlled. I mean, when you were in the Trump's apartment in Trump Tower, there was no sense of home in that place. And it was gold everywhere. Even the bathroom faucets."
'I DON'T KNOW IF SHE EVER GOT OVER HIM CHEATING'
On the topic of Ivana's younger partners after Donald, James admitted: "I thought that she was very foolish."
The boyfriends James referred to include her fourth husband, Rossano Rubicondi, who was 23 years her junior.
Rubicondi courted Ivana for six years before they tied the knot in April 2008 when he was 36 and she was 59.
While they divorced only a year later, their romance continued to kindle until 2019, when Ivana finally announced they "called it quits."
Rubicondi tragically passed away at the age of 49 in October 2021.
"I thought those guys, she didn't even know that well and she married them right away," James said.
"But I think part of the reason for that is she wanted to get as far away from Donald as she could.
"I don't know if she ever got over him cheating with Marla Maples. I liked her too, but she was no Ivana. I don't know if she was more hurt or mad. What he did is just unforgivable."
Asked why he thinks she never returned to her maiden name after the divorce, he joked: "I mean, who's gonna know Ivana Smith [her maiden name was actually Zelnícková]. Trump was a powerful name, it always was."
'SHE ATE WELL'
"We were hearing things around New York when Donald got elected, that she was telling people that she was really the first lady," James laughed.
"But don't get me started on The Donald."
Talking about Ivana's health, he said: "She never smoked. And most of the time when she had champagne, it was only just to walk around with or toast an occasion, I never really noticed her drinking a lot.
"We would see her at restaurants years after and during Trump's presidency. She always had a big plate of food in front of her. She ate well. Usually some kind of fish dish, and a salad."
James isn't the only one to comment on Ivana's love of fine-dining at high class eateries.
'IVANA LOVED THE KIDS'
The Trump matriarch was spotted just hours before her death at Altesi Ristorante, located just steps from her Upper East Side home.
She was a frequent visitor to the Italian eatery and appeared in good spirits, despite only eating a "very, very small amount of food," owner Paola Alavian told The Sun.
Meanwhile, James recalled how much Ivana cherished her kids, Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric.
"Ivana loved the kids, but it's a shame because Donald was never around the kids, especially when they were little," he said.
"The only time we saw Donald around the kids was when he needed the attention. Like one time he called us out to a Kmart in New Jersey to photograph him and the kids and Ivana.
"Why did he call us? Because he knew rich Donald Trump shopping at Kmart would go all over the world. And plus we suspect Kmart paid him.
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"But he never had anything to do with the kids. Very rarely was he with them, it was Ivana who raised them.
"They were good kids when they were young. And then he got ahold of them when they grew up and he destroyed them."
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