Donald Trump Slams Gossip Columnist Liz Smith Amid Divorce Drama: ‘You Should Be Ashamed of Yourself

Donald Trump’s tumultuous divorce from Ivana Trump in the 90s became a tabloid sensation, and the fallout extended beyond their personal lives into the media. Amid the public scandal, Trump took issue with gossip columnist Liz Smith, who had been covering the high-profile split.

According to The Washington Post, Trump sent an irate fax to Smith, attacking her for her portrayal of Ivana’s role in the divorce. “Dear Liz: Why don’t you stop saying that Ivana is fighting to protect herself and ‘her’ children? (1) The children are ‘our’ children and no one loves them more than I do; (2) The children are totally protected by me and do not need Ivana’s protection exclusively,” Trump wrote.

Trump went on to accuse Smith of going too far in her coverage, adding, “You have carried the episode too far and should be ashamed of yourself as a professional.” Smith, who was the first to break the story of the Trump-Ivana divorce, later expressed regret over the public backlash. “I can’t say I enjoyed that,” she admitted, referring to the front-page coverage of the divorce.

The New York Times reported, “The average reporter doesn’t want to be part of the story and it doesn’t work out well when he or she is. But I can’t get out of it.” Appearing on Live at Five on WNBC-TV, Smith sought an apology, saying, “I am sorry for that.” She also acknowledged that she never intended to expose the personal side of the divorce and admitted that her editors and producers pushed her to keep the story going, even though she wanted to drop it. “It’s like grasping at a nettle,” she explained.

Buffalo News reported, “I want to let this go. But I have my bosses, two sets, editors at the newspaper, and producers at the television station. They want this to go on.” Ivana Trump, meanwhile, hired private detective Clyde Wilson to gather evidence of her husband’s infidelity and document her own contributions to the Trump Corporation.

As The Daily Beast reported, Ivana later detailed the emotional toll of the affair in her memoir, Raising Trump. She recounted how she discovered the affair when Marla Maples, the woman who would eventually marry Trump, confronted her in 1989. “This young blonde woman approached me out of the blue and said ‘I’m Marla and I love your husband.

Do you?’” Ivana recalled. “I said ‘Get lost. I love my husband.’ It was unladylike but I was in shock.” Ivana also revealed how the affair affected their children, with Donald Jr. refusing to speak to his father for a year following their divorce.