Donald Trump A Bad Father To His Kids? Ivana Says She Raised Donald Jr., Ivanka, And Eric Alone

Donald Trump's first wife Ivana Trump said she raised her kids without any help from The Donald, according to the New York Daily News. "I brought the children up singlehandedly," Trump told guests Wednesday at the Lifeline Benefit at Le Cirque in New York City Wednesday, an event to benefit pediatric cancer in Serbia.

Ivana is the first of Donald's three wives and the mother of Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Jr. The two were married from 1977 to 1991, when they split over Donald's infidelity with Marla Maples, who later became his second wife.

At the time the couple divorced, their children were 12, eight, and six. Ivana received custody of all three kids.

It's not the first time Ivana has commented on raising the kids alone. "Once the children were the age of 21 and out of the university, I said, 'Donald, this is the final product, now you deal with it,'" she told the New York Post in an April interview.

All three children have been active on the campaign trail and Ivana's comments clash with the image of Trump that his daughter Ivanka has projected.

"In the same office in Trump Tower where we now work together, I remember playing on the floor by my father's desk, constructing miniature buildings with Legos and erector sets," Ivana said in a speech introducing her father at the Republican National Convention in July.

Donald Jr., however, credits others for a major role in his childhood. "My father is a very hardworking guy, and that's his focus in life, so I got a lot of the paternal attention that a boy wants and needs from my grandfather," he told New York Magazine in 2004.

Trump and his first wife have a contentious history although she now endorses him for president. In the couple's divorce deposition, Ivana Trump contended that Donald Trump raped her while they were married.

Trump has two other children by his second and third wife. Tiffany Trump, 22, is his youngest daughter and the only child he had with Maples. Barron Trump, 10, is Trump's youngest son and his only child with his current wife, Melania Trump.

His oldest children have all played major roles in his campaign, giving speeches in important swing states and appearing at the RNC.