The Truth About Robert Trump's Ex-Wife, Blaine Trump

President Donald Trump's younger brother, Robert, passed away on Saturday, August 15th, in New York. To announce his brother's passing, the president released a statement saying, "It is with heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight. He was not just my brother, he was my best friend. He will be greatly missed, but we will meet again. His memory will live on in my heart forever. Robert, I love you. Rest in peace." Jack O'Donnell, a former executive for the Trump Organization, said of Robert, "He was dignified, he was quiet, he listened, he was good to work with. He had zero sense of entitlement. Robert was very comfortable being Donald Trump's brother and not being like him." While the president thrives in the spotlight, Robert Trump preferred to stay in the background, but his life became tabloid fodder when his then-wife, Blaine Trump, filed for divorce in 2008 over the revelation that Robert was cheating on her with his secretary Ann Marie Pallan, whom he later married. Here's what you might not know about Robert Trump's ex-wife, Blaine, the woman he once described by saying, "I literally saw her across the room at a [fundraiser] and made a beeline to find out who she was." The New York Times described Martha Lindley Blaine Beard Trump as a typical Southern girl who grew up in South Carolina, Florida, and Alabama. She spent her teenage years in Japan, thanks to her dad who worked for IBM and had been relocated during the late 1960s. By her own admission, Blaine stuck out in Japan. She once told People magazine, "[I would] hear people say, 'Look at her eyes. They're round. Look at the color of that hair.' I used to pray I would wake up two inches shorter. And once I had my hair dyed black so I would fit in. I walked in the door, and my mother started crying." Blaine would go on to study at the University of Tokyo, drop out to marry a man named Peter Retchin, have a son in 1978, and then get divorced before she went on to meet Robert Trump and marry him in 1984. Robert ultimately adopted her son Christopher. The couple had no children together. For the 25 years that they were married, Blaine and Robert Trump were fixtures on the New York social scene. Trump and her husband seemed happy to keep a relatively low profile. She told the Times in 1987, "I try to keep that world separate and private. 'I sign everything 'Miss Blaine' or 'Blaine Beard,' my maiden name. I once signed a receipt 'Blaine Trump' and the man wanted me to send my husband to visit his bathroom fixture showroom." She was and is heavily involved in philanthropy, though, and according to People, fundraised for the American Ballet Theatre, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and God's Love We Deliver, an organization that delivers meals to those too sick to shop or cook for themselves. Blaine calls her work with God's Love one of her greatest achievements, telling Ocean Home in 2018, "I'm proud of the fact that, in a small way, I've helped thousands of people live with dignity, love and hope...Food is medicine and keeping people healthy through nutrition is a win-win! When I began working at God's Love, we were sending out 25 to 50 meals a day, and now we send out seven to eight thousand meals a day." Robert and Blaine Trump might have liked their privacy, but their divorce played out big in gossip headlines. The couple were said to have been unable to reach a settlement over Robert's $200 million fortune that would be satisfactory to both of them, and they ended up in divorce court as a result. The fault, Blaine's friend told the New York Post, lay with Robert, because: "Robert offered her a settlement and then, for reasons unknown, yanked it off the table. So now she's forced to go to court to get her fair share of the marital assets. They were married for over two decades. She helped build his business, and now he's balking at giving her anything." In 2007, New York Magazine quoted New York Social Diary's David Patrick Columbia, who said that Blaine was better socially connected than Robert. He said, "She'll be well fixed, so she'll be able to keep her apartment and her dinner parties." The pair's divorce was finalized in 2010, and Blaine Trump moved on. She is now in a relationship with entrepreneur Steve Simon. #BlaineTrump #RobertTrump #DonaldTrump