Trump may choose daughter Ivanka over wife Melania, close friend claims

• Melania Trump's ex-friend hinted at Ivanka likely usurping "Melania and all the traditions of the White House" in book she authored
• Donald Trump's marriage with Melania Trump may likely be left in tatters over her long-standing "feud" with Ivanka
• Claims that "if Donald had to choose between anyone, it would be Ivanka"

Former US president Donald Trump may choose his daughter, Ivanka Trump, over wife Melania Trump, a close friend of the former first lady told an international publication.

Citing comments made by Melania Trump's former friend, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, in an interview with the publication, Metro UK reported that the real estate mogul's marriage to her may likely be left in tatters over her long-standing "feud" with Ivanka Trump.

Read more: Melania Trump's stepdaughter may finally address 'feud' with former first lady

"One of the reasons why I wrote in the way that I wrote it… was to highlight the way that Ivanka would usurp Melania and all the traditions of the White House and didn’t care about any rules and didn’t care about anyone else," Wolkoff told She Knows.

The ex-aide — who organised the huge, $107-million inauguration of Trump into the White House back in 2017 — has in the past written a book about her friendship with Melania Trump.

Long thought of as the Republican politician's favorite child, Ivanka Trump is "Donald in a suit", Wolkoff claimed. "She is Donald’s one ace in the hole. And if Donald had to choose between anyone, it would be Ivanka."

Read more: Is the relationship between Melania and Ivanka Trump really 'in ruins'?

The wife of the TV personality-turned politician has not been spotted in public since Trump left the White House on January 20, with some former staffers claiming a divorce between the couple was imminent.

According to Metro UK, the tense relationship between Melania and Ivanka is due to numerous factors, including the former first lady plotting to make sure that her stepdaughter could not be seen by TV cameras while sitting down at the 2017 inauguration.

Related: Ivanka Trump ditches her Republican dad to attend Biden’s inauguration

Trump had also appointed Ivanka as his senior adviser during his time in the White House, a move that his wife allegedly saw as invading her territory.

He also repeatedly lauded his eldest daughter’s abilities and beauty, going as far as to say during an old interview that if she wasn't "my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her".