As the sun rises over the Atlantic Ocean, a statuesque blonde emerges from the waves, wraps herself in a towel and sits on a palm-fringed Miami beach.
This, friends say, is how Ivanka Trump now begins most of her mornings.
Four years after abandoning Washington, DC, for Florida, the First Daughter, a ubiquitous presence in her father’s first administration, has no seat at the table this time round. Which rather begs the question: what does she do all day?
Well, if the 43-year-old’s well-supplied Instagram feed is to be believed, she fills her time with exercise, meditation and reading, spliced with a dash of envy-inducing international travel and glittering galas.
She prepares breakfast for her and husband Jared Kushner‘s three children – Arabella, 14, Joseph, 10 and Theodore, 9. She drops them at the school bus before heading to the gym, or to play tennis or pickleball, or to surf in the sea – a new, Florida-found passion.
She spends time with her 98-year-old maternal grandmother, Marie Zelnickova, known as Babi, who, along with her carer, lives in Ivanka and Jared’s sprawling $24 million property on Indian Creek Island.
Dubbed the Billionaires’ Bunker, it’s an ultra-exclusive, low-tax, 300-acre private island with its own 13-man police force to look after just 40 or so homes.
And it’s there, nestled next to neighbors including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his new wife Lauren Sanchez, that Ivanka whiles away the hours listening to podcasts – and, of course, curating those sun-soaked Instagram posts.
If the 43-year-old is to be taken at her word, Ivanka fills her time with exercise, meditation and reading – with a dash of envy-inducing travel and glittering galas on the side
Four years after abandoning Washington, DC, for Florida, the First Daughter, a ubiquitous presence in her father’s first administration, has no seat at the table this time round
She now spends time with her 98-year-old maternal grandmother, Marie Zelnickova, known as Babi, who, along with her carer, lives in Ivanka and Jared’s sprawling $24 million property on Indian Creek Island
Every morning, she prepares breakfast for her three children. She drops them at the school bus before heading to the gym or to play tennis or pickleball, or to surf in the sea
All of which, for a working-age woman who once operated at the center of the universe, as a senior advisor to a president of the United States, has left some friends now quietly asking: Isn’t it all just a little bit boring?
According to one impeccably placed source: ‘Ivanka said she wanted to move to Florida to spend time with her family, but the children are all at school and Jared’s often away.’
Jared, 44, who founded private equity firm Affinity Partners after also stepping back from his role in Trump’s first White House, spends a lot of time in the Middle East, where much of his clientele are based, our source claimed.
Which seemingly leaves Ivanka to invest herself in nothing more weighty than maintaining her flawless appearance.
A pursuit which, according to those who know her and her husband best, is very much in keeping with the couple’s character.
‘Now they’re no longer big players in Washington, they have all the time in the world to cultivate their good looks. They’ve always been especially vain,’ a Trump family friend told the Daily Mail.
In glossy social media posts, Ivanka – who once decried the fishbowl of Washington as a ‘a very dark, negative business’ – now flaunts her clothes-horse figure, draped in everything from gym gear to bedazzled couture.
To some, this much-shared life of leisure comes across – like Ivanka – as more than a little rich.
As our source noted: ‘You can’t have it both ways. She spent the first administration complaining about all the media attention and now it seems she can’t get enough of it.’
By her own account, Ivanka is a new convert to the controversial supplement creatine, commonly used by bodybuilders to enhance muscle growth and which Ivanka adds liberally to her fruit-packed morning shakes.
Weightlifting, she says, has been ‘life-changing’ and given her a whole new, highly toned, physique.
Her daughter Arabella apparently encouraged her to take up jiu-jitsu and now the whole family train at the Valente Brothers studio in north Miami Beach – run by none other that Gisele Bündchen’s younger boyfriend Joaquim Valente, with whom the model has a new son.
In April, the Kushners vacationed in Costa Rica – where Gisele has a home – and Ivanka was seen strolling the beach with the Brazilian supermodel and her own sister-in-law Karlie Kloss.
Kloss, an American model, is married to Jared’s entrepreneur brother, Joshua.
At the time, a source told the Daily Mail that the three women have formed quite the girl squad.
The friendship came as a surprise to many, the source explained, because: ‘Both Karlie and Gisele – who have been friends for years – have revealed that they are not Trump supporters.
‘Karlie has been very vocal about her political beliefs. Gisele revealed to her fans on social media that she does not support Trump.’
Ivanka 2.0 can evidently set political differences aside.
‘Now they’re no longer big players in Washington, they have all the time in the world to cultivate their good looks. They’ve always been especially vain,’ a Trump family friend said
In glossy social media posts, Ivanka now flaunts her clothes-horse figure, draped in everything from gym gear to bedazzled couture
Financially, things have never been better. Since setting up his firm in 2021, Jared has personally raked in at least $112 million in fees.
Not that the daughter of billionaire Donald Trump was ever badly off.
Yet for all this, Ivanka is at pains to stress the ‘normalcy’ of her life, proudly telling husband-and-wife podcast hosts Lauryn Evarts and Michael Bosstick earlier this year that she has no live-in help.
Indeed, when she and Jared jetted off to Venice in June for the Bezos-Sanchez wedding, the children were in tow.
The multi-day Italian event – at which Ivanka rubbed shoulders with A-listers including Leonardo DiCaprio, Oprah and Bill Gates – was a reminder of her New York socialite and fashion-maven past.
In 2016, she gave it all up for life at the White House, trading red-carpet events and Fifth Avenue cocktail parties for state dinners and schmoozing with world leaders.
Now, and despite fevered speculation that she may be tempted back to her 79-year-old father’s second administration, Ivanka seems intent on rebuilding that old life.
Yes, on rare occasions she has been in the nation’s capital – such as at her Trump’s second inauguration in January. But glamorous recent appearances in Venice or at Kim Kardashian’s birthday send a clear message.
She is done with the ugliness of politics.
Yet for all this, Ivanka is at pains to stress the ‘normalcy’ of her life, recently revealing that she has no live-in help. Indeed, when she and Jared jetted off to Venice in June for the Bezos-Sanchez wedding, the children were in tow
In 2016, she gave up life as New York socialite for the White House, trading red-carpet events and Fifth Avenue cocktail parties for state dinners and schmoozing with world leaders
Now, and despite fevered speculation that she may be tempted back to her 79-year-old Trump’s second administration, Ivanka seems intent on rebuilding that old life
Yes, on rare occasions she has been in the nation’s capital. But glamorous recent appearances in Venice or at Kim Kardashian’s birthday send a clear message. She is done with the ugliness of politics
And why shouldn’t she be?
As our insider put it: ‘Daddy’s rich, Jared’s rich, Jared’s daddy is rich!’
It comes in rather stark contrast to her similarly wealthy stepmother Melania, 55.
Coincidentally or otherwise, and with her stepdaughter out of the proverbial frame, the First Lady appears to have finally found her voice in the second Trump administration. As was demonstrated with her recent letter to Russia’s President Putin, she is exerting more power than ever.
Melania reportedly battled Ivanka for control of the East Wing during the first term, after Ivanka allegedly wanted to rename the ‘Office of the First Lady’ after the ‘First Family’ instead. Melania won.
Now, Ivanka has seemingly traded battles over political territory for the volunteer work befitting a time-rich Florida housewife.
Last Thanksgiving, she was praised for doing her bit at a local soup kitchen and, in 2023, for co-founding her ‘profit-for-purpose’ company Planet Harvest which supports small farmers and aims to ‘reimagine the food supply chain through private-sector innovation.’
Melania reportedly battled Ivanka for control of the East Wing during the first term, after Ivanka allegedly wanted to rename the ‘Office of the First Lady’ after the ‘First Family’ instead
Now, Ivanka has happily traded wars over political territory for the volunteer work befitting a time-rich Florida housewife
Last Thanksgiving, she was praised for doing her bit at a local soup kitchen and, in 2023, for co-founding her ‘profit-for-purpose’ company Planet Harvest which supports small farmers
Meanwhile, her husband found his way back to the White House this week.
Jared no longer holds any official position, but his enduring place at the center of Trump’s fold was in no doubt as he helped facilitate a meeting on Wednesday between the president, ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Israeli official Ron Dermer and senior administration aides to map out a post-war plan for Gaza.
His visit came as something of a surprise to one of Trump’s closest allies.
‘The thing nobody ever talks about is how much Trump complains about Jared,’ the insider said. ‘No one has ever made more money out of Donald Trump than Jared Kushner.’
Ivanka’s father, of course, remains rambunctious as ever.
But for now, Ivanka insists she is happy to remain on the sidelines, telling that same podcast interview earlier this year: ‘I love policy and impact. I hate politics… I’m much happier. I really think about living life in alignment with my core values and priorities.
‘And I guess I’m at an age and a point in my life where I have the wisdom to realize that that’s the way to be happy, as opposed to living for anyone else.’
Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.
