KEY POINTS

  • Donald Jr. once threatened to kill Ivana Trump's ex-husband Rossano Rubicondi in 2008
  • Rubicondi had a "beef" with Ivana's children during his romantic relationship with their mom
  • Ivana Trump died on Thursday, at age 73, due to an alleged cardiac arrest

Donald Trump Jr. has always been protective of his late mother Ivana Trump, who passed away Thursday at the age of 73 due to an alleged cardiac arrest.

In 2008, the 44-year-old businessman harmlessly threatened to kill Ivana’s ex-husband Rossano Rubicondi during a speech at their wedding in Palm Beach.

"We are a construction company, and we have job sites, we lose people," he said humorously, according to the New York Daily News, “You better treat her right, because I have a .45 and a shovel."

What seemed like a joke at that time was a foreshadowing of Donald Jr. and Rubicondi’s relationship for the latter allegedly had a “beef” with Ivana’s children during their romance, according to Page Six. Rubicondi even went off on the Trump children in a furious rant, calling them “disgusting” and “stupid.”

When Page Six asked Rubicondi for a statement on the issue, the former tennis player said that he respected the former businesswoman and supermodel, but “in regards for the rest of the family, I am not [a] big a fan of it. They have been rude to me.”

“Again and again, I hear of them speaking in terms [that] I don’t appreciate it. I don’t care who is your father or mother, you do not talk to me like that,” he added.

There were rumors that the rift must have been due to money, but Rubicondi defensively said that “no one touched a dollar or dime” from the family. He even said his former partner’s kids were “all about the money,” didn’t have a heart and were “garbage.”

He also added, “Don Jr. is an idiot. He’s a jerk,” and instructed the source to write what he said in capital letters.

“They are nobody. They are disgusting. We are talking about kids who are so stupid, except Ivanka. They are a piece of scum. Before they say anything about me, I will wash their mouth out with soap! They are disgrace for human being," he angrily continued.

At the end of the interview, he spoke ill about his ex-wife, saying “Shame on her,” after news of their breakup got leaked to the Italian press.

Ivana and Rubicondi divorced in 2009, only a year after their wedding. But the pair reunited shortly after. They struggled with long distances for Rubicondi spent most of his time in Italy when he got cast on a reality TV show called “L’isola dei Famosi,” according to the New York Post.

At first, Ivana denied the divorce rumors, saying that they were only “separated." Since then, the ex-couple had an on-again, off-again relationship. But they officially called it quits in 2019.

When the New York Post asked for Donald Jr.’s statement regarding the split, he seemed unsurprised and said, “I was extremely skeptical [of the marriage]. And when I got to know him, I was not a fan of everything I saw.”

Rubicondo died in October 2021, at the age of 49, due to complications related to melanoma — a type of skin cancer.

donald trump jr
Donald Trump Jr., poses during a signing event for his new Book "Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us" at Barnes & Noble on 5th Avenue on November 5, 2019 in New York. ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images