When Donald Trump introduced Donald Trump Jr. to model Vanessa Trump (née Haydon), he did it twice at the same event because he’d forgotten that he’d already done it. Weeks passed before Donald Jr. and Vanessa crossed paths again at a party, and their love story began with the uttering of an ableist slur. “You’re ‘the one with the re***ded dad!'” Vanessa recalled saying, per The New York Times.
When the couple got engaged in 2004, the New York Post labeled Donald Jr. a “cheapskate” for popping the question in front of a jewelry store at a mall. A source told the outlet that Donald Jr. had gotten Vanessa’s engagement ring for free after agreeing to give the store some publicity by choosing it as the location of his proposal. Donald Trump later confirmed this rumor to be and revealed that he gave his son a stern scolding over the bad optics.
Donald Jr. was accused of being cheap again when he and Vanessa got divorced in 2018. “He gives her very little help and has been keeping her on a tight budget,” a source told Page Six. “She doesn’t live a lavish life and can very rarely pick up a check at dinner.” The insider claimed that Vanessa had even started borrowing money from her mom to pay her bills. However, a rep for Vanessa denied that money was the cause of the split.
