Jared Kushner revealed how Rupert Murdoch, Bono and Billy Joel helped him reunite with Ivanka Trump after he broke up with her while they were dating because she wasn’t Jewish.
He also reveals Donald Trump warned his daughter that Kushner was going to propose, even though he told his future father-in-law it was a surprise.
Kushner, 41, offers details about his private life with Ivanka Trump, 40, in his new memoir ‘Breaking History,’ a copy of which was obtained by DailyMail.com. It will be published on Tuesday and retails for $35.
Kushner and Ivanka started dating in 2005 but broke up in 2008. He noted he was falling in love with her but worried about their religious differences as he was Jewish and she was not.
And he reveals the surprising way the two got back together.
‘Several months later, our mutal 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.’
He recalls he was surprised to find Ivanka was also invited on the Mediterranean cruise.
Kushner describes their reunion taking place on that cruise, as Murdoch sought to purchase the Journal, like a scene out of a movie:
‘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.’
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump married at Trump Golf Club in Bedminister, N.J., on October 25, 2009 in a Jewish ceremony
In his forthcoming memoir Jared Kushner describes how Wendi Deng, then married to News Corp Chair Rupert Murdoch, helped bring him and Ivanka back together when they broke up
The story of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump’s reconciliation involves cameos from Bono, the lead singer for U2, and singer Billy Joel
Ivanka would convert to Judiasm and learned how to cook to ‘make our Friday nights together even more special,’ he writes.
The couple married at Trump Golf Club in Bedminister, N.J., on October 25, 2009 in a Jewish ceremony. They have three children.
Kushner also reveals that Donald Trump spoiled his planned surprised proposal to Ivanka.
He said he went to Trump Tower to ask for Ivanka’s hand and ‘mentioned that I planneed a surprise engagement.’
‘Later I learned that right after I left Trump picked up the intercom and alerted Ivanak that she should expect an imminent proposal.’
For the big event, Kushner took Ivanka to see Wicked on Broadway while his brother Josh scattered rose petals and lite candles at his apartment. He proposed outside of his apartment door.
Kushner’s 512-page book recalls his and Ivana’s courtship, life in the Trump White House and the fallout from the 2020 election when Trump tried to overturn Joe Biden‘s victory.
The couple, who served as advisers to President Trump during his four years in office, were often targets of criticism for either not doing enough to rein in the president’s more outrageous ideas or for the various issues they worked on: criminal justice reform, the covid pandemic, and immigration.
Much has been written already about Kushner’s book – including Kushner’s scare with cancer, his response to the January 6th insurrection on Capitol Hill, his work on the Abraham Accords in the Middle East and his relationship with Saudi Arabia.
He details the 2016 presidential campaign, saying he knew all along Trump would defeat Hillary Clinton, and how the two ended up in the Trump White House.
Kushner described how he and Ivanka were walking with their kids around Trump’s Bedminister golf club after the election, discussing whether or not to move to Washington D.C. and work for the Trump administration.
The two felt they could help Trump succeed without any hidden agenda and had a special understanding of how he worked, Kushner wrote, but knew going to Washington D.C. met giving up their businesses and being exposed to charges of ‘nepotism.’
He then describes how his publicist called him as they walked, telling him the New York Times was going to report Kushner was going to the White House to lead efforts on peace in the Middle East.
Kushner said he replied: ‘That’s bulls***. We haven’t made a decision yet. Who’s their source?’
‘Your father-in-law,’ was the reply.
He noted that was Trump’s way of offering him a job. The couple decided to accept. They spent inauguration night in the Lincoln bedroom of the White House.
He also noted when they told Trump of their decision to come to Washington D.C., the incoming president had a warning for them: ‘You’re too young, too skinny, too rich and too good looking. They’ll be gunning for you.’
Kushner was known for having a close relationship with his father-in-law and having walk-in privileges in the Oval Office. His critics said he inserted himself in any issue he could and had few results to show for his four years in Washington.
In the book, Kushner describes himself as having a ‘target on his back’ in the White House and said when he complained to Trump, the president told him: ‘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.’
But the memoir starts out in New York, where Kushner recalls his father’s arrest and jail time. It also details his start in the family real estate business.
Kushner writes that his and Ivanka’s first date actually started as a business meeting with they were each working for their fathers.
But, during their lunch, their conversation ‘soon turned to NASCAR, New Jersey diners, and other unlikely interests that we had in common.’
‘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.’
Ivanka Trump and Wendi Deng attend the men’s final of the 2016 US Open
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump served as advisers to President Donald Trump during his four years in the White House; above the couple at the White House in September 2020
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump walk with their children Arabella and Joseph at Joint Base Andrews after exiting Marine One in September 2020
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner attend the Cinema Society with Ivanka Trump Jewelry & Diane Von Furstenberg screening of ‘Snow Flower And The Secret Fan’ at the Tribeca Grand Hotel on July 13, 2011 in New York City
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.’