Ivana Trump gave Michael Jackson an "open invitation" for playdates with her three children.
The model and socialite - whose body was found at her New York City home on Thursday (14.07.22) after a fall down the stairs - revealed late pop star Jackson was a "good friend of our whole family" and often visited her and then-husband Donald Trump as well as their kids Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka.
Writing in her 2017 memoir 'Raising Trump', she revealed: "The only person who had an open invitation to come to the triplex for playdates whenever he wanted was Michael Jackson."
She went on to explain Jackson had a home in Trump Tower in Manhattan - where he lived for around 10 months in 1994 - and used to visit the family's apartment to "hang out" with the kids.
Ivana added: "The King of Pop lived in Trump Tower and was a good friend of our whole family,” she explained, adding, “He’d stop by and chat with Donald and me for twenty minutes, and then he’d go up to the kids’ floor to hang out with them for hours and hours."
She explained the 'Thriller' star used to love playing video games with the youngsters, adding: "They’d watch MTV, play Mario Brothers or Tetris, and build Trump Tower in Legos. Michael was a thirty-year-old kid. He could relate to Ivanka and the boys better than to us."
Donald, Jr also spoke about Jackson's visits to the Trump home in a 2019 appearance on Fox News, saying: "Michael Jackson used to come up and he was our neighbour at Trump Tower. So I was playing 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' with Michael Jackson! You know, this is in the early 90s - maybe even in the late 80s. Peak Michael."
He also revealed his dad Donald once gave away one of his video games to the singer, adding: "We’re playing Nintendo and Michael really likes the game. So my dad walks in and says, ‘Well, why don’t you take the game, Michael?' I’m pretty sure Michael could’ve called Nintendo and said, ‘I want one of those'. It wouldn’t have been a big deal, but he just took it."
Jackson died in 2009 aged 50 after suffering a drug overdose.
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