Donald Trump’s eldest daughter Ivanka was one of the many faces proud to be stood alongside her father as he was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States earlier this week. However, the move was a remarkable U-turn for the businesswoman – who remained surprisingly silent during her father’s election campaign.

First daughter Ivanka, 43, did not shy away from the spotlight at Trump’s inauguration. Commanding attention in an emerald green two-piece, the former socialite smiled gleefully as she stood alongside her family. Her pride rippled onto social media, too, with Ivanka sharing heartfelt posts ahead of her father’s big day. Admitting she was ’filled with gratitude,’ Ivanka posted a carousel of photographs, writing, ‘I am proud of his unwavering strength and resilience, and am excited to celebrate this historic milestone alongside him once more.’ 

However, Ivanka’s sudden emergence into the spotlight comes as somewhat of a 180 – having chosen to remain rather low-key in the lead up to her father’s election win.

When Trump ran for presidency last year, going on to win the race to the White House in November, many had expected to see the Republican candidate’s family members rally around in full force. Having previously worked with many of his children in his previous administration, a Trump presidency often involves bringing in those closest to him.

But one person who was noticeably absent from the campaign trail was Ivanka – a significant shift from the woman we saw in 2016, who fast became her father’s right-hand woman.

Front and centre to her father’s previous campaigning, Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, 44, were made senior advisors to Trump when he took over the White House in 2017. The mum of three – who shares Arabella, 13, Joseph, 10, and Theodore, eight, with Jared – served as part of her father’s administration up until he left the White House. From then on, Ivanka seemed to attempt to return to a sense of normality – that is, a normality which included testifying in her father’s business fraud trial in 2023.  

When Trump announced that he would run for presidency in 2024, many of his former confidantes rallied around the MAGA spokesman. However, Ivanka made it clear at the time that she had no plans to play a pivotal role in her father’s legacy – saying she would only support him ‘outside the political arena.’

Opening up about her decision to step back, Ivanka told Fox News, ‘I love my father very much, [but] this time around, I am choosing to prioritise my young children and the private life we are creating as a family. I do not plan to be involved in politics.’

‘While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena. I am grateful to have had the honour of serving the American people and will always be proud of many of our administration’s accomplishments,’ she added.

Appearing on the Lex Fridman Podcast, Ivanka further explained her decision to move out of politics – citing her young family as her main priority. ‘It was a decision rooted in my being a parent,’ she explained, ‘really thinking about what they need from me now. Politics is a rough, rough business, and I think it’s one that you also can’t dabble in. You have to either be all in or all out.’ 

‘I know the cost they would pay for me being all in, emotionally, in terms of my absence at such a formative point in their life, and I’m not willing to make them bear that cost.’

Earlier this month, Ivanka once again emphasised her choice to steer clear of Washington DC. Talking on the Him & Her Show, Ivanka explained that the only role she now had to fill was to show up as a ‘daughter.’ 

‘I love policy and impact. I hate politics.’ she explained. ‘Unfortunately, the two are not separate. There is a darkness to that world that I don’t really welcome into mine.’ 

‘To some degree, I’m at the centre of the storm because my father is about to be president, but it’s a very dark, negative business. And some people love the gladiator aspect of it – the fight. That was never me.’

Within the Trump family, some have spoken of the very ‘roughness’ that Ivanka talks of. When asked about Ivanka’s planned absence this time around, Lara Trump – who has been married to Donald’s son Eric since 2014 – described the toll it took on her sister-in-law. ‘Jared and Ivanka were very, very much involved during the first term, and it was really tough on them,’ she recalled. ‘Every time we saw them, that was the constant – it was tough on them. It was tough on their family.’

With her own admission of politics being a ‘rough’ business, some reports have suggested that heavy public criticism was an encouraging factor in the former socialite’s choice to quit politics. Indeed, Ivanka now rubs shoulders with plenty of Hollywood’s top players – having partied at Kim Kardashian’s 43rd birthday last year, alongside the likes of Hailey Bieber and Lauren Sanchez, fiancée to businessman Jeff Bezos. 

Although Ivanka isn’t beside her father in a professional capacity, Trump is said to still have a close bond with his eldest daughter – often enjoying golf getaways together.

However, despite her insistence that politics was behind her, Trump’s inauguration may hint at another path. Front and centre, Ivanka has in some ways been pulled back into her father’s orbit – and the allure may be too much to resist. Some sources have suggested that a return to politics isn’t entirely off the cards for Ivanka, although it may well be in a different capacity to before. 

Speaking to the New York Times, an insider said, ‘I can’t see Ivanka doing anything that would take her away from Florida and her family. But perhaps Donald would deputise her on a foreign trip, she could travel with him occasionally, or she could work on a special project.’

Although, any involvement certainly won’t be on a ‘day-to-day’ basis. ‘Ivanka will enjoy the pomp and pageantry,’ they reveal, ‘but she is concerned with what the “taste makers” think. It suits her to say that she no longer works with her father full time after January 6, and after his indictments and convictions.’