Rumors About Donald Trump's Kids They Can't Escape

Donald Trump just can't seem to stay out of the headlines, and his children are no different. All five Trump kids have had their lives scrutinized in great detail over the decades, as both the press and social media have repeatedly lit up on a wide range of topics. Everything from Ivanka Trump's inappropriate outfits and Tiffany Trump's incredibly expensive outfits to Eric Trump's head-turning transformation and Barron Trump's chill-inducing childhood have been analyzed and commented on.

What's more, the Trump siblings sure haven't helped themselves any by making some truly wild statements, like the time Eric Trump appeared to say that his dad would win his hush money trial because, "We're white" (he seemingly meant to say "right"). Then, there was the time in 2024 when Don Jr. posted a video to TikTok in which he asked his 17-year-old daughter Kai, "[Will] getting makeup make me look sexy like you?"

However, while many of the news stories surrounding the Trump children have been based in truth, there are also plenty of reports that are outright false, or, at the very least, haven't been proven as real. And yet, the Trump kids simply can't shake some of them. Here are the biggest, most persistent rumors about Donald Trump's kids that they can't escape.

In 2011, Donald Trump Jr. allegedly began an affair with Aubrey O'Day while she was competing on "The Celebrity Apprentice." Trump's eldest son was an advisor on the show, and, according to Page Six, he found solace in O'Day's arms as his relationship with then-wife Vanessa Trump waned. "He told her that his marriage was already in the process of dissolving," a source told the outlet. While O'Day initially kept mum on the matter, she later admitted to the affair, telling People in 2019, "We both thought we were each other's soulmates."

According to one insider who spoke with People, the affair with O'Day ended after Vanessa allegedly discovered incriminating text messages on her husbands' phone in 2012. Don Jr. and Vanessa ultimately stayed together and went on to have two more kids — Spencer in 2012 and Chloe in 2014 — before their eventual divorce. For his part, Don Jr. has never responded to O'Day's accounts of their reported fling, and he and Vanessa remained married until 2018.

Interestingly, while Don Jr. hasn't addressed the chatter, his dad seemingly did so while speaking with Variety's Ramin Setoodeh for his book, "Apprentice in Wonderland," in 2024. When Ramin asked about the infidelity rumors, which had failed to go away, Trump responded, "I had heard that, actually."

Eric Trump has raised millions for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital through the Eric Trump Foundation and its annual golf tournament. However, his charitable work was cast in an unsavory light in 2017 when Forbes uncovered that the foundation had made some shady moves over the years.

For one, Eric maintained that the one-day event was always held at the Trump National Golf Club Westchester because, as he told the outlet, "We get to use our assets 100% free of charge." Except that wasn't exactly true, as Forbes found that the Trump Organization had been paid at least $1.2 million for repeated use of the course. What's more, Eric claimed that almost all of the money raised went to St Jude's, but a review of documents revealed that over $500,000 was actually donated to other charities, including some directly connected to the Trump family.

The allegations were so damning that then-New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderma actually launched an investigation into the foundation. Amanda Miller, a spokesperson for the Eric Trump Foundation, told Politico that it was cooperating fully and highlighted, "During the past decade, the Eric Trump Foundation has raised over $16.3 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital." By 2019, the foundation had changed its name to Curetivity and altered its practices — for the better. As Forbes reported in a 2019 follow-up, money was no longer being donated to any other charities and 13 of 17 original directors had been let go.

Ivanka Trump plastic surgery rumors simply won't go away. In 2017, Dr. Norman Rowe told Life & Style that Trump's eldest daughter likely had a breast augmentation and "either a rhinoplasty or a tip-plasty done to define her nose and balance it to the rest of her features." Speculation continued from there and really ramped up in 2023 when Ivanka arrived at her father's $250 million fraud trial looking visibly different.

While she herself has never responded to the headlines, that hasn't stopped outlets from digging deeper. The Daily Mail asked cosmetic surgeons to compare images of Ivanka from 2020 with those from 2023, and Dr. Alexander Z. Rivkin suspected fillers were used to plump up her lips and cheeks, while hyaluronic acid filler smoothed out her forehead. What's more, Dr. Rivkin told the mag, "She seems to have added, whether with filler or implants, significant volume to her chin and jaw."

Meanwhile, Dr. Norman Rowe repeated his previous claims of a nose job and added, "Her lower face and neck show a much more defined jawline and shapely, longer neck. This can be due to a facelift." As for the hefty price tag she would have paid, Dr. Gary Motykie — who speculated she had a rhinoplasty and perhaps a chin implant — told the Daily Mail the various procedures would have set Ivanka back around $50,000.

Just like Don Jr., Tiffany Trump was plagued by rumors of a steamy love connection, except hers wasn't with a reality show contestant. Rather, Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig accused Tiffany of getting a little too close with a Secret Service agent. In her 2021 book, titled "Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service," Leonnig wrote (via The Guardian) how "[Tiffany] began spending an unusual amount of time alone with a Secret Service agent on her detail" while her dad was president. According to Leonnig, higher-ups actually "became concerned at how close Tiffany appeared to be getting to the tall, dark and handsome agent" and he was eventually assigned to someone else.

It's unclear when this alleged union would have happened and whether there was any overlap with the beginning of Tiffany's relationship with future husband Michael Boulos, whom she met in 2018. Either way, her spokesperson denied the claims outright. "This is nothing more than gossip," she told The Washington Post. "Tiffany's experience with the Secret Service was entirely professional." As for the Secret Service, they didn't go as far as to shut down the allegations, instead telling People, "[We are] aware of an upcoming book which rehashes past challenges the agency overcame and evolved from."

Ivanka Trump was just 8 years old when her parents separated in 1990 following Donald Trump's alleged affair with model Marla Maples. Trump and Maples eventually married in 1993 and had one daughter, Tiffany Trump, that same year. Given all that drama, it wouldn't be shocking if the half-sisters had a rocky relationship. However, Ivanka was adamant that wasn't the case, telling People in 2016, "I've been close to Tiffany her whole life, and I really love her."

Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen disagreed, and he painted a very different picture in his 2020 book, "Disloyal: A Memoir." According to Cohen, the older Trump siblings called Tiffany "the red-haired stepchild," and Ivanka was particularly cold and dismissive towards her younger sister. "The casual cruelty included Ivanka, who jealously guarded her position as Trump's favorite and surrogate, even at the expense of her vulnerable younger sister," Cohen wrote. If those claims were true, they were made all the more heartbreaking by the fact that a friend of Tiffany's told Vanity Fair in 2016 that she looked to her older sister for "politics advice, boy advice, and sisterly advice."

While we may never know the full story, the truth lies somewhere in the middle, according to one source who spoke with People in 2023. "They used to not get along but now they're bonded over their shared trauma of being the most hated kids in America," the insider said, noting their father's presidency made them closer than ever.

Melania Trump was none too pleased when, in 2016, social media lit up with users speculating if a then-10-year-old Barron Trump had autism. It all started when YouTube user James Hunter — who was himself diagnosed with autism at age 5 — posted a seven-minute video in which he argued that Barron didn't deserve to be made fun of for his seemingly awkward behavior because he was on the autism spectrum. The since-deleted clip soon gained major momentum as Rosie O'Donnell retweeted it, writing, per The Hollywood Reporter, "Barron Trump Autistic? If so — what an amazing opportunity to bring attention to the AUTISM epidemic."

While both Hunter and O'Donnell seemingly meant well, they shouldn't have been speculating about something that had no basis in fact and that his parents had never publicly discussed. Especially given the fact that it involved a young child. And so, Melania had no qualms about threatening to sue Hunter, who quickly took down the video and apologized. "It was incredibly irresponsible of me to diagnose Barron Trump using a selection of misleading videos," Hunter said in his apology, per The Hollywood Reporter.

As Melania's lawyer, Charles Harder, told the publication, "The video includes the hashtag 'StopTheBullying' but yet the video itself is bullying by making false statements and speculation about a 10-year-old boy." Ultimately, O'Donnell also issued an apology, tweeting, "I was insensitive in my RT – I am sorry for the pain I caused – it was not my intent."