College senior Tiffany Trump appears on 20/20 with father and siblings

 

Tycoon, hair stylist, show stopper: Presidential candidate Donald Trump has staked multiple new claims to fame since launching his presidential campaign. Now he hopes to cast himself in another role: family man.

Trump and his family recently sat down with ABC News’ Barbara Walters for a televised interview on the prime time news program “20/20.” The hour-long broadcast aired Friday evening and included a seven-minute segment with Trump’s four adult children, Wharton graduates Donald Jr. and Ivanka, Ericand notably, second daughter Tiffany.

Tiffany Trump, a current College senior, is arguably the least-known of the four. The only child of her father’s short-lived second marriage, Tiffany left New York when she was 5 after her parents divorced. While The Donald’s children with first wife Ivana grew up directly in their father’s ever-soaring shadow, Tiffany lived a considerably quieter life in Los Angeles with her mother, former actress Marla Maples.

Unlike her older half-siblings, Tiffany has never starred on “The Apprentice,” her father’s reality TV show, nor is she anywhere as active in the New York social scene. In fact, Friday’s interview was the first time many had seen the younger Trump daughter take as prominent a place in the spotlight as Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric Trump.

Nevertheless, the interview revealed that Donald maintains a relationship with his younger daughter. Despite popular belief, Tiffany has more in common with her Trump half-siblings than many people think. She is close to her father, and like her half-siblings, is proud to carry his name.

“I’m so happy to be Tiffany Trump,” she said on the program. “I’m so happy to be in the family that I’m in, with my siblings and my father.”

Walters herself noticed a level of genuine affection that all four Trump siblings shared for each other and for their father.

During the interview, Tiffany reaffirmed Donald, Jr. and Ivanka’s statements that their father readily made time for them during their childhoods. All of the siblings believe that they got important elements of their own personalities from being around and watching their father. Tiffany remembered times when her father took her to grab candy bars while she played in his office.

“He is much more devoted and spends more time with them, even though it’s limited, than you could imagine,” Walters said Friday morning on “The View.”

When Walters asked if their father’s controversial remarks made them cringe, all four children unequivocally answered no, explaining that his speaking style is just a part of who he is as a person.

“He’s true to himself, and he speaks in a way that the average person can understand,” Tiffany Trump said. “I think that’s refreshing for everyone.”

The rest of the the interview included the elder Trumps’ experiences in the family business and the work ethic that Donald Trump instilled in them from childhood. Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric are all executive vice presidents at the Trump Organization, and have taken increasingly active roles in running the company in recent months.

As for Tiffany’s future, she has been accompanying her father on his presidential campaign and has increasingly established herself as a serious fixture in the New York social network. Eventually, she plans to go to law school. Some predict that she will follow in the footsteps of her philanthropist/socialite half-sister Ivanka.

The Donald has already publicly bragged about his younger daughter’s potential, citing her A-average and successful time at Penn.

“People try to portray her as a party girl,” society journalist Carson Griffith wrote in the September issue of DuJour magazine. “But from what I saw that weekend, she was a very studious girl who seemed serious about her future.”

Correction: A previous version of this article misidentified Donald Trump's first wife. Her first name is Ivana. The DP regrets the error. 

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