Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell have received some relationship advice from an unlikely source -- The Donald's ex-wife Ivana, who despite her ex-husband's denials, also considers The Apprentice star and The View co-host's recent feud to be a "marketing tool."
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"I was very diplomatic and at the end of the day, I said, 'You know, guys, just take the high road, it is so ridiculous,'" Ivana told AP Television News on Tuesday. "Donald and Rosie, they're getting fantastic ratings, they're getting publicity, they're really using it as a marketing tool, not because they are enemies, and I understand that only too well."
Trump has denied his slowly cooling feud with O'Donnell is a publicity stunt for The Apprentice: Los Angeles, the sixth season of his reality competition series on NBC -- but he hasn't been shy about claiming that The View is using his popularity to boost its own ratings.
The feud is well documented. It began last month when Trump announced Miss USA Tara Connor would keep her title, which was in jeopardy due to underage drinking. As part of her agreement with Trump, Connor entered an in-patient substance abuse rehabilitation center. O'Donnell said Trump, who is twice divorced (once from Ivana in 1991), had no right to be "the moral compass for 20-year-olds in America," sparking a string of nasty media exchanges between the pair.
View co-host Barbara Walters was eventually brought into the fray, which allegedly spilled over onto the talk show's set, sparking another exchange of nastiness...and still another. Just when it appeared everything was cooling down, Trump addressed the feud once again when he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last week.
"Not everybody has to be politically correct," he said. "I think that's why this so-called feud took on a life of its own, because it wasn't politically correct. In a way it's wonderful that she doesn't like me and I don't like her. There's nothing wrong with that."
Even if the feud was a publicity stunt for The Apprentice: Los Angeles, one could speculate that Ivana wouldn't care -- after all, two of her three children from her marriage to Trump, Ivanka and Donald Jr., are serving as advisors to their father on the series' sixth season.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio
