'He Was Cruel': Donald Trump's Niece Recalls Inappropriate Childhood Encounters With Grandfather, Uncle

Mary Trump has recounted how her grandfather, Fred Trump Sr., repeatedly offered her $100 (£74.50) for her hair during visits to her grandparents' house, from childhood into her 20s. She described the exchanges in a Substack account that characterised his attention as 'creepy and objectifying.'

The clinical psychologist and outspoken critic of her uncle Donald Trump shared the recollections in 'Trump Family Horror', a series published in her Substack newsletter, 'The Good in Us'. She described brief conversations about school followed by an offer she consistently refused.

In a separate account, Mary Trump also alleged that Donald Trump would 'leer' while Fred Trump Sr. presented her with photographs she considered inappropriate during her childhood. The material available for this article does not include a response from Donald Trump.

Mary Trump Recalls Her Grandfather's Repeated Offer

Mary Trump described visiting her grandparents' house every weekend, sometimes twice. She remembered a familiar greeting consisting of a handshake, a quick kiss on the cheek and a couple of questions about her schoolwork.

'How's school? Fine. Getting A's? Yes. That was it,' she wrote. 'That was the sum total of our riveting, in depth, profound philosophical disquisitions about my life.'

She recalled having 'very long, very thick, and very blonde hair' as a child. Her grandfather, she wrote, was self-conscious about his receding hairline. She described his interest in her hair as a recurring feature of their encounters.

'He would take out that billfold of his that was this thick with a massive wad of hundred dollar bills, and he would take out a hundred dollar bill and ask me if he could buy my hair every single time I saw him until I was well into my 20s,' she wrote.

The money remained an offer, according to her account. Mary Trump recalled turning him down each time.

'I don't think it works that way, grandpa,' she recalled telling him. Another response was, 'Sorry, grandpa, I need to hang onto it.'

How Mary Trump Saw the Family Dynamic

Mary Trump characterised Fred Trump Sr. as someone who 'cared about two things, his business and money'. She wrote that he 'was cruel, and he loved humiliating people, especially those who were weaker and dependent upon him.'

She also attributed 'weird, weird obsessions' to her grandfather, including his repeated requests to buy her hair.

'He was obsessed with my hair. Does that sound eerily familiar? Yes. Well, it should,' she wrote, drawing a comparison with her uncle's preoccupation with his own hair.

Mary Trump considered whether the offers reflected the limited conversations she had with her grandfather. She suspected that 'my grandfather literally had nothing else to say to me,' and suggested that he may have regarded the exchange as 'a way we were bonding.'

Her own interpretation was different. She described the attention as 'creepy and objectifying.'

Mary Trump Reflects on Refusing the Money

In recalling the repeated offers, Mary Trump questioned what her grandfather could have expected to achieve by paying for her hair. She also described parting with money as difficult for him.

'Even if he was willing to part with $100 (£74.5), because trust me, that was not an easy thing for my grandfather to do,' she added. 'Unless there was some kind of surgery that could have, I don't know, grafted my hair onto his skull. This is getting creepier by the minute.'

Fred Trump Sr. died in 1999.

'It was pretty clear that the only worth I had to him was my hair, which, by the way, wasn't for sale,' she wrote. 'It turns out that the only thing he really wanted from me was one thing I couldn't give him.'