Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Celebrities

Who are Jared Kushner’s parents? How Charles and Seryl Kushner went from being Donald Trump’s property rivals and shunning his daughter Ivanka, to getting pardoned by the former US president

STORYLeah Simpson
Charles, Jared and Seryl Kushner together in 2007. Photo: Getty Images
Charles, Jared and Seryl Kushner together in 2007. Photo: Getty Images
Donald Trump

  • Charles’ parents’ escape from the Nazis was immortalised by Daniel Craig in the film Defiance – could they have imagined Jared in the White House?
  • His conservative mum Seryl is rumoured to be the reason Ivanka Trump (and model Karlie Kloss, his brother Joshua’s wife) converted to Judaism

Ivanka Trump has said in the past she was scared to bring dates home to father Donald, but it seems the Kushners were just as protective of their son.

Because while Jared’s grandparents came from humble beginnings, they worked hard to make their own fortune in the 1950s and eventually left a real estate portfolio to their son (and Jared’s father) Charles. They could never have imagined their grandson would one day make it to America’s White House.

So what are Jared’s parents like?

Charles ‘Chanan’ Kushner

Advertisement
Charles Kushner’s impressive parents made a life for themselves in the US after fleeing Nazi Germany. Photo: @vichispeaks/Twitter
Charles Kushner’s impressive parents made a life for themselves in the US after fleeing Nazi Germany. Photo: @vichispeaks/Twitter

Charles Kushner is the son of Holocaust survivors who emigrated from the country now known as Belarus to the United States in 1949. The story of the group they were part of was even portrayed in the 2008 film Defiance starring Daniel Craig. Charles also has a Hebrew name (Chanan), after his mother’s brother who died in a concentration camp during the Holocaust.

Seryl Kushner

Ivanka Trump shakes the Lulav at the White House in 2018 with Rabbi Levi Shemtov. The former president’s daughter converted to Judaism after meeting Jared Kushner. Photo: @J_Insider/Twitter
Ivanka Trump shakes the Lulav at the White House in 2018 with Rabbi Levi Shemtov. The former president’s daughter converted to Judaism after meeting Jared Kushner. Photo: @J_Insider/Twitter
The couple brought up their children in an Orthodox Jewish community in Livingston, New Jersey. Seryl was against her sons marrying outside their faith, and may be the reason their eldest son Jared briefly split from Ivanka Trump in 2008 – at least according to author Vicky Ward in her book Kushner Inc. It’s also been reported that Charles and Seryl initially refused to meet Ivanka. Ivanka later converted to Judaism, as did supermodel Karlie Kloss, who wed their other son Joshua.

Building an empire

Charles and Seryl Kushner have had their share of ups and downs together. Photo: Getty Images
Charles and Seryl Kushner have had their share of ups and downs together. Photo: Getty Images