When Donald Trump Jr. Was Mad At His Father For Divorcing His Mom: "You're Not Quite a Man"

Donald Trump Jr. initially came to prominence as a staunch supporter of his father Donald Trump during his first presidential campaign. However, the relationship between the father and son was not as tight as the public might believe. After the former president's divorce from Ivana Trump—the mother of his oldest children Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric—the relationship between Donald and his son, Donald Jr., who was a preteen at the time, was tense.

Ivana and Donald tied the knot in 1977. They went on to have three children, Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric. Unfortunately, their relationship started to fall apart over ten years later, and it was covered in media outlets all over the globe. The tabloids in New York City ran stories on the high-stakes divorce for eleven consecutive days. For months, famous gossip writer Liz Smith covered the Trumps' divorce. According to Ivana's account in the book Raising Trump, she realized her marriage was destined for failure following a 1989 encounter with Marla Maples, who had an affair with Donald and subsequently wed him.

At the age of twelve, Donald Jr. was profoundly affected by this whole high-profile divorce. The news that his parents will never live together again and that his father had an affair caused Donald Jr. to stop communicating with him. Donald Jr. said in an interview with New York Magazine in 2004 that he held his father, who was involved with model Maples, responsible for the divorce.

He told the outlet, "Listen, it’s tough to be a 12-year-old. You’re not quite a man, but you think you are. You think you know everything. Being driven into school every day and you see the front page and it’s divorce! The BEST SEX I EVER HAD! And you don’t even know what that means. At that age, kids are naturally cruel. Your private life becomes very public, and I didn't have anything to do with it: My parents did." During the same interview he also said, "But when you're living with your mother, it's easy to be manipulated. You get a one-sided perspective."

As per GQ, Ivana also noted in her book that Donald Jr.'s rage served as an expression of his anguish and that he was really upset. Trump Jr. and his brother Eric were removed from New York society after their parents' divorce and sent to boarding school, the Hill School, in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Following this Donald Jr. shied away from his father and his 'Trump' moniker for quite some time.

A former classmate also informed the outlet, "Don's dad came to campus to give a speech, and he refused to go because he was mad at his dad over divorcing his mom." Another one of Donald Jr.'s acquaintances informed the publication that he had other methods of expressing his rage. The source revealed, "He had a reputation as the kind of guy who would get to drinking and start fights. He was a fall-down drunk." Donald Jr. and his father had a tumultuous relationship that took considerable time to mend. But now that Donald's running for president in 2024, he's been out campaigning with his dad and taking to Twitter to attack his father's detractors.