Courtesy of Kim Kardashian/Instagram
Kim Kardashian Reveals Ivanka Trump Friendship in Birthday Tribute: ‘The Sweetest Soul’
After Kim Kardashian shocked fans by having Ivanka Trump as one of the select A-list guests at her 43rd birthday party, the Skims founder is wishing the former first daughter a Happy Birthday as her pal turned 42 on Monday, October 30.
Kim shared several Instagram Stories showing the ladies together. The first showed the women each cuddling their eldest daughters on their lap, with Ivanka holding Arabella Kushner, 12, while Kim cozied up with North West, 10. On the snapshot the Skims founder wrote, “Happy Birthday to the most thoughtful sweetest soul @ivankatrump.”
The entrepreneur hinted the pair would be reuniting soon, continuing, “Can’t wait to celebrate you asap!” while adding, “Our babies are so small here,” with an upset emoji face.
When Kim shared a series of Instagram photos from her exclusive birthday bash on October 22, fans were curious why Ivanka was in the presence of the reality star’s family members and other well-known celebrity friends. “Kimberly….why is Ivanka there????” one follower asked in the comments, while another was more incensed, writing “Really Ivanka? The hypocrisy and disgust!” One person quipped, “Kim, so we’re just going to *casually* slip in Ivanka? We have been ROOTING for you in AHS: Delicate, so this was NOT the move,” as numerous others simply commented, “Not Ivanka.”
Others were more accepting. “The best thing Kim did is post IVANKA … because it shows how important it is to have conversations with people with different opinions,” one fan wrote, while another added, “Ivanka … she looks stunning as always. The amount of hate for Ivanka in this picture is the problem in this world.”
While Kim and Ivanka’s friendship took many fans by surprise, they’ve been pals for a long time. “Kim and Ivanka have been friends for years and have hung out on a number of occasions,” a source told Us Weekly in October 2023. “They initially bonded nearly a decade ago at the Met Gala over motherhood and being new moms. But they continued to connect numerous times over the years.”
Kim additionally leaned on Ivanka during her push for prison reform, which resulted in a White House meeting with the former designer‘s dad, then-President Donald Trump. Her husband, Jared Kushner, wrote in his 2022 memoir, Breaking History, that Kim had reached out to Ivanka to help advocate for granting Alice Johnson clemency, as the Mississippi grandmother was serving a life sentence for a drug offense after being convicted in 1996.
In May 2018, Kim met with Trump, 77, in the Oval Office to plea her case for Alice’s freedom. The following month, the president commuted her sentence.
