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22 Quite Strange Details About Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner's Relationship

Photo credit: 73f2d35b-90d5-4a0a-a44f-39ec34ff95d9
Photo credit: 73f2d35b-90d5-4a0a-a44f-39ec34ff95d9

From ELLE UK

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have been together for a decade and have made three babies and lots of headlines together. What began as a buzzy socialite union has culminated in their transformation into the "de facto first couple" following Donald Trump's election victory. Ivanka and Jared are rich, famous, gorgeous, and they seem to really like each other, but their relationship hasn't been without its quirks. Here are a few of the awkward details that have surfaced about the couple since they became a thing.

1. They had a couple name when they went public: J-Vanka. The New York press took gleefully chronicled their relationship, which started at the height of the supercouple: There was Bennifer, Brangelina, and J-Vanka.

In the spring of 2007, questions of are-they-or-aren't-they first surfaced (J-Vanka insisted for a while that they were "buddies"). They were "caught making out" while at Bowlmor Lanes. They arrived at an art party separately but they weren't fooling anyone; "Jared and Ivanka never left each other's side" the whole night. They were spotted at a Maroon 5 concert, though he was on his Blackberry most of the time. Once the relationship was confirmed, the PDA was on: Ivanka greeted Jared with a kiss on the cheek and said, "Hi baby," when they attended a fashion show together. (He calls her Iva, by the way.)

2. Ivanka describes their first date as "the best deal we ever made!" They were introduced by a real estate developer who thought of it as a good networking opportunity for them, but they ended up falling for each other instead.

3. They broke up briefly in 2008 over religion. "One of the jokes I first started making when Jared and I first started dating is, I'm a New Yorker, I'm in real estate. I'm as close to Jewish, with an 'i-s-h' naturally as anyone can start off," Ivanka told New York. Jared's mom Seryl apparently had a hand in the breakup but it didn't last long. Ivanka agreed to convert to Judaism but even then, there were lots of tough tests from her future father-in-law, according to Esquire. (She passed.)

4. They're both workaholics. "I'm happy for him when he is in the office working late," Ivanka told New York. "I know how good that feels when you sit down and return e-mails." She told People in 2009 that "Jared and I both work long hours ... Jared is not intimidated by my work, he is incredibly busy too." At home, they sit together at the end of the day and work on their laptops side-by-side, Ivanka said on the Today show. "It's nice being able to do that together, next to each other."

5. When they got engaged, Ivanka learned how to cook. "I was a total incompetent in the kitchen. I probably would have Googled how to boil an egg at that point in my life," she told Wendy Williams. "There's something that feels very feminine to me about being able to do that for my husband. Just the ability to come home and be able to offer him that once a week and to be able to cook a dinner for us as a family." Ivanka told the Wall Street Journal in 2012 that the best gift Jared had ever given her was "an immersion blender" because she was "really into soups."

6. Ivanka told Forbes that Jared and her father "initially bonded over a combination of me and real estate." When Jared thought that his relationship with Ivanka was really going somewhere, he had lunch with his future father-in-law at the Trump Grill to discuss the couple's future, he told Forbes. Kushner said to Trump that "Ivanka and I are getting serious, and we're starting to go down that path." According to Kushner, Trump replied, "You'd better be serious on this."

7. Jared did not help with wedding planning. "He put so much time and effort into designing the most perfect ring for me!" she told Brides.com of her 5.22-carat ring. "I think he is now enjoying taking a backseat as I handle the rest." Ivanka took the process pretty seriously. She tweeted, "relax, it's just another party, just another party, just another party ... sigh," before her wedding.

8. Ivanka included a Trump golf course promotion along with her wedding invitations. According to the New York Post, it was a flier for "Donald's other golf properties," while the New York Times reported that "an insert offered guests a free round of golf at one of Mr. Trump's courses." Ivanka denied this, telling New York that the Post report of "the 'marketing flyer' included in the invitation" was an inaccuracy. "My wedding was a private, perfect occasion, the memories from which I will treasure for a lifetime."

9. "During the ceremony, the bride kept trying to take the groom's hand." This according to the report in the New York Post.

10. Donald Trump apparently gave a bad wedding toast. Esquire reports that "he floundered miserably. According to one guest, he 'gave the most pathetic, lame, embarrassing speech I've heard in a long time.'" Trump told People in 2009 that he simply told the couple, "Be happy and enjoy your life."

11. Their wedding song was kind of sad. It's ultimately hopeful, but the lyrics also include stuff about how the "heart gets torn." Later, the same plaintive song played as Ivanka was giving birth to their first child Arabella. "Jared and I made a playlist for the delivery of all the songs from our relationship. Arabella was actually born while my wedding song, 'This Year's Love' by David Gray, was playing. It was a coincidence, but it was cool!"

12. They gave flip-flops and "a book in Hebrew" as wedding favors. The flip-flops had "'Jared' and 'Ivanka' on the insoles and a tag reading, 'A Great Pair,'" according to the New York Times. The New York Post added that guest also received a book in Hebrew.

13. After their wedding, Jared's parents gifted them with a spa weekend while Donald Trump took them for a round of golf with Samuel L. Jackson and Anthony Anderson (at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, the course in New Jersey where J-Vanka got married, obviously).

14. Donald Trump said he didn't think Jared and Ivanka should do business together. "I don't think it is a good idea," Trump told Crain's. "When it works, it can be great, but when it doesn't, I think it would be really ugly." Ivanka really didn't like the article.

15. As a newlywed, Ivanka went on The View without wearing her wedding ring. She explained, "I was engaged for three months and then I've been married around eight days, so it's sitting on my bedside table. I forget about the hardware." Ivanka doesn't seem to wear her engagement ring much at all.

16. They made a cameo together on an episode of Gossip Girlin season four. "I have to confess I have a 'thing' for Chuck Bass myself," she said to People in 2009. She told InStyle that she watched the show religiously. "We had so much fun filming together but I am not sure if you could characterize our cameo as acting per se," she said. "And the fact the episode aired on our one year wedding anniversary ... was just the icing on the cake!"

17. Rosie O'Donnell saw the couple once by chance at Nobu in New York and was so moved by the experience she wrote a poem about it. A longtime foe and victim of Donald Trump, Rosie spotted Jared and Ivanka at a restaurant in October but didn't recognize them at first. Rosie wrote, "i watch them / stunned by her face / and his calming charm." Continuing to observe them, Rosie thinks, "oblivious to all seeing them / love works like this." She says out loud, "that is the most beautiful woman i have ever seen," before she's told it's Ivanka. Terrified of triggering an emotional catastrophe, Rosie hesitates but ultimately approaches the couple. "She smiled genuinely / her husband was warm and gracious." Rosie speaks to them for "4 minutes / max" and leaves.

18. They have weekly date nights and take turns planning them, except Jared usually involves his work somehow. In a Vogue profile, Ivanka said, "So, my husband's idea of a date night somehow always involves me looking at one of his development sites."

One of their non-work-related dates in March was to see Hamilton on Broadway. *Frisson.* Ivanka wrote on Instagram that she "was blown away. I had very high expectations and they were still surpassed! It's definitely a must-see!"

19. They look at their real estate properties during their off time. She told Harper's Bazaar, "I try really not to try to schedule anything on the weekends, though just because of what we're passionate about, Jared and I will go walk around neighborhoods and look at properties that he owns and that I own, but that's fun."

20. Jared talks about their relationship in business terms. "I would say she is definitely the CEO of our household, whereas I'm more on the board of directors," he told Vogue. "We both pick up slack for each other where it's needed, but she doesn't want to outsource mothering, so she's very involved."

21. They tried to be the "Follow Me" couple once.

22. Jared brought Ivanka a coffee on International Women's Day. According to the Daily Mail, Jared snuck off for an early workout March 9 before returning home with a coffee for his wife. Not a bad way to celebrate!

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