The determination that Ivana Trump died of injuries sustained in a fall led one close friend to reveal her fear that Ivana Trump would fall down the stairs of her Manhattan apartment.
The New York City Medical Examiner’s Office found that Ivana Trump, 73, died of “blunt impact injuries” to her torso. Her death was officially ruled an accident, according to the New York Post.
The outlet reported that Ivana Trump was found at the bottom of the stairs with a spilled cup of coffee next to her.
Friend Nikki Haskell said she worried about the first wife of former President Donald Trump having such an accident.
“That has always been my fear,” Haskell told Extra.
“She had one of those really beautiful staircases that was impossible to walk down. Narrow in the inside and wider as it got out. I was always afraid that she would fall.
“I don’t know what happened, but it’s not hard for me to believe that that’s what happened. They were treacherous stairs,” she said.
New York Medical Examiner has determined Ivana Trump died of blunt force injuries suffered from an accidental fall. Household staff discovered her body near the bottom of the winding staircase in her seven story Manhattan townhouse. pic.twitter.com/gICPsrOhhz
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) July 16, 2022
Gossip columnist Rob Shuter also called the staircase “treacherous.”
“[The apartment] wasn’t as renovated, as up to speed as what you might think,” Shuter said on NewsNation. “Those stairs were always very dangerous. The carpet on those stairs [was] a little bit worn, too.”
Haskell said Ivana Trump had ventured out less in recent years for fear of catching COVID-19.
“She became very reclusive,” she said. “She was really afraid of getting the virus, much more so than anybody that I know. She didn’t want to go anywhere, she didn’t want to travel. … She took it very, very seriously. She was afraid of getting sick.”
“She stayed in New York during that whole time. She never left at all, and she was by herself so I’m sure it was much more trying than I can even imagine.”
Paolo Alavian, the owner of a restaurant not far from Ivana Trump’s townhouse, said he saw her the evening before she died, according to another Post report.
He said a personal health aide accompanied Ivana Trump on a walk.
“I bumped into her outside,” Alavian said. “I said, ‘Señora, how are you? Good?’ She said, ‘I just went for my walk,’ and we chat couple of minutes.”
“You could feel a little bit of tiredness but … she never complained about anything, never mentioned anything,’’ he said.
