In the days since the news of Ivana Trump’s death in her Manhattan home broke, the medical examiner has officially determined that the 73-year-old first wife of former President Donald Trump and mother to his eldest 3 children, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka, and Eric Trump accidental, as a result of blunt impact injuries to her torso.
But now, one close friend of Ivana’s has spoken out to the New York Post and said that the Czech-American former model turned Manhattan socialite was so physically unwell with an ailing hip two weeks before her untimely death that she couldn’t even make it out of her house for a trip they had planned to the Hamptons.
Zach Erdem is the owner of the Southampton hot spot, 75 Main, a restaurant that Ivana reportedly considered a favorite and had planned to visit earlier this month. In the aftermath of her death, Erdem spoke with the publication and said “She was going to come two weeks ago, but she was feeling bad… She said she wasn’t feeling well.”
“She said she was having pain in her leg… She couldn’t get out of her house.”
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Ivana Trump, ex-President Donald Trump’s first wife with whom he shares his three eldest children, was found dead at the bottom of the staircase inside her Upper East Side Manhattan home at 12:40 p.m. Thursday.
Erdem told the New York Post that when he spoke to his close friend Ivana at the time of the planned trip to the Hamptons, he urged her to see a doctor for her severe ailment.
“She said, ‘No, I hate going to doctors. I get more sick going to doctors,'” the owner of the high-profile Hamptons eatery said.
Erdem told the publication he has known Ivana Trump for at least 15 years, hailing back to his time working as a busboy at one of the Manhattan socialite’s favorite Big Apple restaurants, Nello. He says he remembers the former model as a kind, generous, and very supportive “mentor” who was often flirtatious.
“We were always flirting with each other,” he said of his friendship with Ivana Trump.
Erdem said he had plans to visit with Ivana once she returned from her trip to St. Tropez in the South of France that she was supposed to leave for on Friday. He said that now, he will be attending her funeral instead.
“I cried,” Erdem said of learning about Ivana’s death last week.
“She called last week and said, ‘I can’t wait to see you.’ I loved the energy she had, she was always proud of me.”
Read the full report from the New York Post here.
Featured image via screen capture
