Melania Trump Wasn't the Only Family Member Who Made a Rare Appearance Supporting Donald Trump
Melania Trump showed up to the final night of the Republican National Convention and quieted the critics who were wondering where she was all week. She didn’t make a speech, but she entered the building to the introduction, “Ladies and gentlemen, the next first lady of the United States.” It’s a title that she doesn’t seem to want, but she’s at least willing to put in a part-time appearance to support her husband.
The convention brought out family members infrequently seen on the campaign trail, including Tiffany Trump and her husband Michael Boulos, Ivanka Trump, and Jared Kushner, along with the rarely seen ex-wife of Donald Trump Jr., Vanessa Trump. She divorced Donald Jr. in 2018 after 13 years of marriage. They share five children, Kai, 17, Donald III, 15, Tristan, 12, Spencer, 11, and Chloe, 10. The kids have been largely out of the public eye until this week when Kai took to the stage to praise her grandfather.
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“He always encourages me to push myself to be the most successful person I can be,” Kai said of her “normal grandpa” to the delegates. “Obviously, he sets the bar pretty high, but who knows, maybe one day I’ll catch him.” It’s no surprise that Vanessa showed up to support her oldest daughter at an important national event, but she returned to watch her former father-in-law accept the nomination for the GOP on Thursday. While Vanessa has stayed outside the inner Trump circle, she was welcomed into the VIP box — but set far away from Donald Jr.’s fiancée, Kimberly Guilfoyle.
The rumors surrounding her former marriage to Donald Jr. didn’t surface until after she filed for divorce in 2018. That’s when the allegations came out about her ex-husband’s affair with Danity Kane singer and Celebrity Apprentice contestant Aubrey O’Day. “Things started up with Aubrey and Don Jr. toward the end of the taping,” a told Us Weekly about the 2011 rumored tryst. “When it started, they were very serious all of a sudden. He told her it was over with his wife, that they were separated, and he didn’t love her — all of that stuff … Aubrey fell for him hard. She thought they were going to be together for real.”
The fling reportedly lasted until March 2012 when Vanessa discovered romantic emails between O’Day and Donald Jr. The couple reconciled and went on to have their two youngest children. Their split had nothing to do with Donald Jr.’s alleged infidelities, though, the couple reportedly drifted apart after his focus on politics led them to different places in their lives. Now that they have the space of six years from their divorce, perhaps Vanessa is being brought back into the Trump family fold.
Before you go, click here to see every time Ivanka Trump has tried to distance herself from the Trump family:
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