Ivana Trump, Donald Trump’s first wife, died of “severe blunt trauma to the torso,” the New York City medical examiner announced Friday.
The 73-year-old was found dead Thursday afternoon under the stairs of his Manhattan home. Her death was treated as an “accident,” the NYC Chief Medical Officer’s Office said in a statement.
The revelation came after a close friend said the Trumps were unable to walk and struggled to leave the house in the weeks before her death.
Zach Erdem, who declined an interview but confirmed previous comments for New York Post, Trump said Trump has a hip problem that limits her ability to walk. He added that the former model “felt bad” the last time he spoke to her two weeks ago.
“She said she was having pain in her leg,” he told the newspaper. “She can’t get out of her house.”
Erdem owns and operates a popular restaurant in Southampton, 75 Main, which Trump and other big names — such as Joe and Jill Biden—Favorite on trips to the Hamptons.
When Erdem begged Trump to see a doctor, he said the former model replied, “No, I hate going to the doctor. I go to the doctor more often.”
The 42-year-old restaurant owner said Trump had planned a trip to his restaurant two weeks ago but couldn’t get out of her home. She then told Erdem, whom she first met nearly 15 years ago when he was still a bard boy at a Manhattan restaurant, that she would visit him after a trip to St. Tropez in France, is scheduled to start on Friday.
“Last week, she called and said, ‘I can’t wait to see you,'” he told the newspaper.
Trump was discovered and about the night before she was found dead. The Daily mail said she had dined at “my favorite Italian restaurant,” Altesi’s — located just a few blocks from her home — and was “in good spirits,” said the owner.
While her demeanor was refreshing, Aistsi’s owner Paola Alavian said the Czech-American looked “maybe a little tired” and ordered a “very, very little food”.
Alavian could not be reached for comment on Friday, but a separate family source told Daily mail that Trump’s health “has been declining for a while.”
Officers say Trump went into cardiac arrest before falling down the stairs in her four-story townhouse on the Upper East Side. An employee discovered her body when she arrived at work and called 911.
Trump leaves behind three children – Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric – all with Donald while married to the former president from 1977 to 1992. She also has 10 nieces.
In a statement to The Daily Beast on Thursday, the Trump family called Ivana “an incredible woman – a prowess in business, a world-class athlete, a radiant beauty, a the mother and the person you care about”.
