Jared Kushner reveals how he reconciled with Ivanka Trump on cruise after split in memoir 'Breaking History'
LIVINGSTON, NEW JERSEY: Jared Kushner, 41, released his memoir 'Breaking History' Tuesday, August 23, wherein he detailed his private life with Ivanka Trump, 40. The book retails for $35. Kushner revealed in his memoir how Rupert Murdoch, Bono, and Billy Joel assisted him in reconciling with Ivanka Trump after he broke up with her because she was not Jewish.
Kushner and Ivanka began dating in 2005 but ended their relationship in 2008. The couple later got married in 2009. He also revealed in the book that Donald Trump informed his daughter that Kushner was planning to propose, despite telling his future father-in-law that it would be a surprise.
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Kushner reveals the surprising way the two reconciled. ''Several months later, our mutual friend Wendi Murdoch invited me for a week away with her and her husband Rupert Murdoch - the owner of News Corp, then the parent company of Fox News and the Wall Street Journal - on their boat", an excerpt from the memoir read. Kushner recalls being surprised to learn that Ivanka had also been invited on the Mediterranean cruise and describes their reunion on that cruise.
''On that Sunday, we were having lunch at Bono's house in the town of Eze on the French Riviera, when Rupert stepped out to take a call. He came back and whispered in my ear, 'They blinked, they agreed to our terms, we have The Wall Street Journal.' After lunch, Billy Joel, who had also been with us on the boat, played the piano while Bono sang with the Irish singer-songwriter, Bob Geldof.''
He writes that Ivanka would convert to Judaism and learn to cook to ''make our Friday nights together even more special.'' On October 25, 2009, the couple married in a Jewish ceremony at Trump Golf Club in Bedminister, New Jersey. They have three children. Kushner also reveals that Donald Trump leaked information about his planned surprise proposal to Ivanka. He revealed that he went to Trump to ask for Ivanka's hand for marriage and mentioned that he "planned a surprise engagement.''
''Later I learned that right after I left Trump picked up the intercom and alerted Ivanka that she should expect an imminent proposal.'' Kushner took Ivanka to see Wicked on Broadway for the occasion, while his brother Josh decorated his apartment. He proposed to her outside his apartment door. Kushner's 512-page book recounts his and Ivana's courtship, life in the Trump White House, and the fallout from Trump's attempt to overturn Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election.
During President Trump's four years in office, the couple was frequently rebuked for either not doing enough to resist in the president's more outrageous ideas or for the various issues they worked on, including criminal justice reform, the opioid epidemic, and immigration.
Kushner discusses the 2016 presidential campaign, claiming that he predicted Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton all along, and how the two ended up in the Trump White House. He also described how he and Ivanka were walking around Trump's Bedminister golf club with their children after the election, debating whether to relocate to Washington, DC, and work for the Trump administration.
Kushner wrote that the two felt they could help Trump succeed without any political motive and had a special understanding of how he worked, but that going to Washington DC meant giving up their businesses and being accused of 'nepotism.' The couple chose to take the offer. They spent inauguration night in the White House's Lincoln bedroom.
Kushner was well-known for his close relationship with his father-in-law and for having walk-in access to the Oval Office. In the book, Kushner describes himself as having a "target on his back" in the White House and claims that when he complained to Trump, he was told, "Jared, this is the White House. If you want to work here you have to figure out how to get people not to leak on you''.
The memoir begins in New York, where Kushner recalls his father's arrest and imprisonment. It also describes his beginnings in the family real estate business. Kushner writes that his and Ivanka's first date began as a business meeting because they were both working for their fathers at the time. ''Ivanka was not what I expected,'' he wrote. ''In addition to being arrestingly beautiful, which I knew before we met, she was warm, funny, and brilliant. She has a big heart and a tremendous zest for exploring new things.''
He finishes his memoir by noting how their four years together in the Trump White House ''brought Ivanka and me closer together.'' 'While many speculated about her motivations, she never had any political ambitions,'' he writes of Ivanka. ''There's no way I could have survived my four years in Washington without Ivanka, my best friend, and partner.''