The Theories Behind Donald Jr. And Vanessa Trump's Divorce
Another high-profile couple hit the rocks this month, and this time, it's the US President's oldest son, Donald Jr., and his soon-to-be ex-wife, Vanessa.
Neither of them has spoken up about the divorce, except for providing an official joint statement that reads, "After 12 years of marriage, we have decided to go our separate ways. We will always have tremendous respect for each other and our families. We have five beautiful children together and they remain our top priority. We ask for your privacy during this time."
The couple's decision was finalized this week when it was discovered that Vanessa, who is a mother of five, filed for uncontested proceedings in the Manhattan Supreme Court and hired Atty. David Feureisen, a criminal defense lawyer, to represent her. Vanessa's emphasis on an uncontested divorce reveals that she won't be fighting over custody of her children or the division of their assets.
Their divorce comes as a surprise for the most part, as the couple has been married for 12 years and is known to prioritize family and time together as man and wife. For the past years, Don Jr. has filled his Instagram and Twitter feeds with photos of his kids on holiday or of special occasions spent with his wife, just as any proud family man does. On the other hand, Vanessa has happily re-tweeted or responded to these sweet posts on social media, painting the image of a picture-perfect marriage.
So what was the stone that tipped the scales?
READ: Other famous pairs that split up this year are Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid, Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux, and Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez
Theory #1: The price of politics
Even with her best efforts to stay away from political controversy, Vanessa quickly learned that being married to one of the US President's children will always come with a price.
While she hasn't been directly involved in any White House scandals, she did, however, had to bear a burden when headlines about her husband's supposed collaboration with the Russians during the 2016 US presidential elections broke late in 2017.
Don Jr. was accused of meeting with a Russian lawyer who promised to deliver damaging information about his father's Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump Sr. has since denied the allegations and has even claimed that the meeting was for personal reasons, specifically, to discuss the potential of Vanessa and Don Jr. adopting Russian children.
The President's words were unable to calm his critics or extinguish investigations on the meeting. For months now, a thorough inquiry into what had transpired has been underway, with multiple congressional probes, interviews, and corroborations being considered.
It seems that Don Jr.'s plans of declining a role in the White House (as opposed to his sister, Ivanka, and brother, Eric) and concentrating on his position as The Trump Organization's EVP of Development & Acquisitions to avoid political drama have also not been enough.
On the same day Vanessa filed for divorce, special counsel Robert Mueller subpoenaed The Trump Organization for the issue of Don Jr.'s involvement with Russia. Many suspect that Vanessa feared her wealth and personal assets would be jeopardized if her husband was indicted, and filing a divorce would be a safeguard to this.
The theory is further supported by the fact that Vanessa hired a criminal defense attorney. How she had chosen someone specializing in this field of law shows that there may be further complications relating to her husband's criminal investigation that have yet to be made known to the public.
To add to it all, just last month, Vanesa became a political target when she received a letter containing a mysterious white powder, a move thought to be related to the scandals surrounding her family. She was hospitalized for precaution, and was later deemed unharmed and the substance found to be non-hazardous.
Theory #2: Marital strain
On the other side of the coin are people who believe that Vanessa and Don Jr.'s divorce is simply a result of a strained marriage. They became unhappy and unfulfilled with each other, and that was that.
Before Vanessa married Don Jr. in 2005, she was a model and an actress. The 40-year-old willingly gave up life in the limelight to become a full-time mom and wife (she's chosen not have a nanny) to care for her family. Meanwhile, Don Jr. remained an active proponent in his father's many business ventures and is constantly away from home.
It didn't help that racy tweets written by Don Jr. from 2011 have just resurfaced, showing that he had aggressively flirted with model Melissa Stetten as a married man. Vanessa has not revealed if she had known about this exchange and has not commented on the issue.
Surprised his marriage didn’t work out since he was sending me DMs a month after his wife gave birth. (I tweeted a joke about pulling a muscle changing a tampon and he replied asking if I smelled bacon? Cool joke) pic.twitter.com/JbuwC1wghf
— Melissa Stetten (@MelissaStetten) March 16, 2018
I deleted my tweets a while ago in this exchange but just found this one pic.twitter.com/VXJ6lL9Ena
— Melissa Stetten (@MelissaStetten) March 16, 2018
His dad is president why hasn’t he deleted these tweets? #bacon pic.twitter.com/ERfjValU9D
— Melissa Stetten (@MelissaStetten) March 16, 2018
Overall, despite the many photos posted online to document their happy family life, some have cited that Don Jr. and Vanessa have been living separate lives for some time now. Recent events may have simply pulled the trigger for them, leading the couple to make their separation official.
Photos from @donaldtrumpjr
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