How Donald Trump’s Career Hindered His Sister Maryanne From Pursuing Real Estate as a Career
Maryanne Trump Barry and her brother, Donald Trump, experienced highs and lows in their relationship.
Barry, who was discovered deceased in her house on November 13 at 86, was a former judge nominated by then-President Bill Clinton to the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, per PEOPLE. Trump, heartbroken at his sister's loss, took to social media to pay tribute to her. "Her life was largely problem-free, PERFECT until I made it difficult for her when I decided to run for President," he wrote on Truth Social on November 14.
Trump is right, the two experienced a lot of turmoil during his presidency, but the roots of this may have started years ago as they were growing up.
The siblings had quite distinct personalities and attitudes, in their personal lives as well as towards their professions. These conflicting personalities contributed to Barry's decision to enter the legal field as she was discouraged from entering the family's real estate company. She also thought Donald would be very competitive, and she didn't want that. "I knew better even as a child than to even attempt to compete with Donald," she told New York Magazine in 2002. "I wouldn't have been able to win."
Maryanne Trump Barry decided to enter the legal field rather than continue the family real estate company, and Donald Trump was happy about it. "We're both lucky she didn't want to. We'd have been butting heads," he said. Barry also said that, although she had attempted to work for the family firm when she was younger, she felt that her skills had been wasted on "women's work," like decorating properties. "I worked for my father for several summers, but I was doing women’s work, decorating lobbies. I didn’t go back to law school until my son David was in sixth grade," she shared.
However, Donald made even her legal career difficult. Barry's career abruptly ended in 2019, partly due to her sibling. Following the revelation of a scandal involving the Trump family's involvement in tax fraud to boost their inheritance, Barry was implicated in the plot. To protect herself from more legal scrutiny, Barry was forced to resign.
Towards the end, it was reported that the duo's relationship soured to the point she badmouthed him to Mary Trump, Donald's niece, and those tapes went public. "It's the phoniness of it all. It's the phoniness and this cruelty. Donald is cruel," Barry said in the 2018 leaked audio.
Barry was appalled by some of the things Trump said and did in the years after, as well as by the way he handled people and conducted business, according to some insiders PEOPLE talked to. “She thought he was born without empathy for others, and was a ruthless and selfish businessman without character,” the source continues. “She didn’t trust much of anything he did in business or politically.”
