NAMES IN THE NEWS : Leona: ‘Ivana Modeled After Me’
Convicted hotel queen Leona Helmsley believes that Donald J. Trump modeled his estranged wife, Ivana, after her and says she wouldn’t believe the billionaire real estate tycoon even “if his tongue were notarized.”
In an interview scheduled to be published in the Daily News on Sunday, the president of Helmsley Hotels said Trump is “obsessed with me.”
“He modeled his wife after me. Really,” she was quoted as saying, noting that Trump had made his wife president of New York’s Plaza Hotel.
“When Ivana first came into my bedroom years ago, she called Scalamandre Silks the next day and told them she wanted everything exactly the way I had it.”
Helmsley, who is appealing her federal tax fraud conviction, observed that Trump’s hate for her is reflected in an interview in the March Playboy magazine in which he described Helmsley as “a vicious, horrible woman who systematically destroyed the Helmsley name.”
“Then why does he model his wife after me?” Helmsley asked. “I wouldn’t believe Trump if his tongue was notarized.”
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