President Donald Trump

President Donald Trump opened up about his mother on Friday, saying she believed he could do no wrong, adding ‘which is maybe why I ended up the way I ended up.’

Ahead of Mother’s Day on Sunday, Trump paid tribute to his mother, Mary Anne Trump, who was born in Scotland, emigrated to the U.S. at 17, married Fred Trump in 1936, raised five children, and died in 2000.

‘I had a great mom. I love my mom and she loved me,’ Trump told the hosts of ‘Fox & Friends’ during a nearly hour-long interview, adding ‘which is I must tell you, is probably not easy to do but she was so good to me. I couldn’t do any wrong, which is a big problem, which is maybe why I ended up the way I ended up.’

Donald Trump had fond memories of his mom Mary Anne Trump ahead of Mother's Day; he's seen here with his dad Fred and mom Mary Anne in New York in 1992
Donald Trump had fond memories of his mom Mary Anne Trump ahead of Mother’s Day; he’s seen here with his dad Fred and mom Mary Anne in New York in 1992
President Trump with his mother in 1977; Mary Anne Trump died in 2000 before he became president but after he was a celebrity businessman
President Trump with his mother in 1977; Mary Anne Trump died in 2000 before he became president but after he was a celebrity businessman

Mary Anne Trump was slight of build but had an elaborate hairstyle, described as a ‘dynamic orange swirl.’ President Trump said in the past he got ‘my sense of showmanship from my mother.’

Trump’s father Fred died a year before his mother. Both missed out on seeing Trump elected to the White House but did live to see him become a celebrity businessman.

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The president, in a rare of introspection, talked about the qualities his parents had an instilled in himself. 

‘My mother was somebody that gave me a lot of confidence and she believed in me,’ Trump, 73, noted. ‘My father was the same. I mean, he was a strong guy but he was a good man, very good human being, very good person. And he always had confidence in me so. And in our family.’

Trump, who has been divorced twice and is the father of five children via three wives, also said he was at an advantage for having grown up in a two-parent household.

‘I had really, really good parents and it’s such an advantage in life. You know, you see so much with the single families and the children growing up without a mother or father or whatever it may be. It’s a very tough situation for people – a very very tough situation,’ he noted.

‘If you’re lucky – and there’s a lot of luck involved – if you’re lucky enough to have one great parent or ideally two great parents, what a tremendous advantage it is in life. It’s just a tremendous thing,’ he said.