Ivana Trump's Quotes About Melania Are Giving Me Mixed Signals & I'm So Confused

President Donald Trump has had a pretty storied past in terms of his previous marriages. He is currently married to his third wife, first lady Melania Trump, but that's not to say that he has no contact with his exes. Trump's first wife, Ivana, has been pretty vocal about her thoughts and opinions on both the president and the first lady since Trump took office, and these Ivana Trump quotes about Melania proves that her relationship with the first lady is just as contentious as you might imagine it would be.

The first Mrs. Trump definitely hasn't been shy around the press in terms of expressing her opinion, specifically when it comes to how she feels about Melania. On more than one occasion she's told the media that she sympathizes with the first lady, but manages to do so in pretty shady ways. Most recently in April 2018, Ivana said in an interview with the New York Post that she feels bad for Melania because she has to deal with her husband's alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels. Trump and the White House repeatedly denied the allegations, but that hasn't made the rumors go away. “I feel bad for [Melania] because I know how bad I did feel. It hurts a lot,” said Ivana.

But in that same interview she shaded Melania by implying that she has more dignity than her, because when she herself discovered that Trump was cheating on her with his second wife Marla Maples, she left him immediately. Ivana said,

I divorced Donald immediately [after I discovered the Maples affair] because I told myself, ‘Am I going to live with the person [who] is going to say, ‘I’m going to go and play golf’ [leaving me to] think, ‘Is he really going to go and play golf?’ I cannot do it. I have pride and I have dignity and stuff like that, but so many women, around the world, they live with the men knowing that they are cheating and stuff like that. Everybody handles their situation their own way.

Oh, the shade. If I were Melania and I read this quote in the press I'd definitely be upset. Ivana is sort of implying that Melania is weaker than her because she was able to leave Trump after his affair with Maples, but Melania isn't showing signs that she'll divorce Trump over his alleged affair with Daniels.

Despite this semi-offensive quote from Ivana, she insists that she has no issues with the first lady. In her book Raising Trump, which was published in Oct. 2017, Ivana writes,

I have no problems with her at all. Why should I? She didn't break up my marriage.

Leave it to Ivana Trump to deny you're shading one person by shading another instead.

Let's acknowledge, though, that these two are in completely different positions in terms of their status during their marriages to Trump. Ivana became a celebrity of sorts and a socialite when she married Trump, as did Melania. But Melania is now also the first lady of the United States, which is a completely different ballgame in terms of what her life looks like. Ivana acknowledged this difference in Melania's life as compared to hers in the Post interview, and even seemed to sympathize with her. Ivana said,

She cannot go shopping, she cannot go out to the theater, she cannot go to restaurants because she has Secret Service and 15 cars in front and 15 in back. So she’s sort of a little bit stuck in the White House — and Donald is busy from morning to night and he’s a workaholic — so I’m not sure how much you really can do.

And clearly Ivana doesn't want to be in Melania's shoes by any means. In another excerpt from Raising Trump, Ivana said that she "wouldn't want to be in Melania's Louboutins right now," and that she's glad she isn't involved with Washington D.C. at all. She even suggested that the president herself might call on her for advice — and that she'd prefer to get that call in her home. Ivana wrote,

What do people do for fun at the White House? Throw bowling balls in the basement with security guards watching your every move? Forget it. I'd rather be a secret adviser to Donald from the comfort of my town house, should he call.

It's definitely possible for a former wife and current wife to be friends, but that doesn't seem like it's the case between Melania and Ivana. They must have a lot in common, as both have married the same man and had to endure cheating allegations. But might they ever be friends down the line? Let's just say I doubt it.