Wendi Deng attends Trump's pre-inauguration dinner with Ivanka - but where is her toyboy model lover? 

  • Wendi Deng attended the candlelight dinner at Union Station on Thursday night
  • She posed with her good friend Ivanka Trump inside the star-studded event
  • Deng, 48, went without her 21-year-old Ukrainian model boyfriend for the night
  • Deng and Ivanka have been 'good friends' for years and regularly sing one another's praises in interviews 

By Jennifer Smith For Dailymail.com

Published: 01:10 EST, 20 January 2017 | Updated: 01:44 EST, 20 January 2017

Wendi Deng joined her good friend Ivanka Trump at a pre-inauguration dinner before her father's swearing in in Washington D.C. on Friday. 

Deng, the former wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, posed with Trump's 35-year-old daughter at the event at Union Station. 

She was among a handful of donors, celebrities and American business titans to have been invited to the event, Trump's last engagement before taking office on Friday. 

But the 48-year-old appeared to be without a date. Her 21-year-old model boyfriend Bertold Zahoran was nowhere to be seen.

Wendi Deng posed with Ivanka Trump at the candlelight dinner at Union Station in Washington D.C. on Thursday (left) but her 21-year-old boyfriend Bertold Zahoran (right) was nowhere to be seen 

The pair were recently seen canoodling in the Caribbean during a holiday to Deng's St Barts villa where they rung in the new year.

Zahoran, a Ukrainian native, is travelling for work, according to social media postings. 

While he jets from Milan to Paris, his older girlfriend has endured a more laborious past week. 

Deng hosted a women in leadership dinner for Ivanka at her Manhattan penthouse last week.

Tory Burch, Mika Brzezinski, Tina Brown, Christy Turlington Burns, and former White House press secretary Dana Perino were all in attendance.

Deng, who still uses her married name, has made no secret for her admiration of the future First Daughter.  

The pair say they have been friends for years and even holidayed together previously 

Deng's boyfriend Bertold Zahoran (right) is in Paris for modelling commitments 

'She's very impressive. She has three children and she's teaching them Chinese,' she said of the businesswoman in an interview with The Guardian last year. 

The pair had been friends for 'many years', she said. Deng stopped short of throwing her support behind her pal's father, however. 

'I try to separate [the election] from that.' Her remarks came weeks before Trump's shock election victory.

The affection she holds for Ivanka is mutual. In an interview of her own with Vogue, she said fondly: 'It's really a whirlwind with Wendi. 

'I can't recall the last time I had a conversation with her that didn't conclude with her connecting me to four people who might become great friends or great business opportunities.' 

Deng and Zahoran during a recent vacation (left). She divorced Rupert Murdoch, 85, in 2013

Deng married media mogul Rupert Murdoch in 1999. The pair divorced in 2013. He has since remarried, tying the knot with Jerry Hall in London last year. 

Among Deng and Murdoch's rumored gripes was her friendship with former Prime Minister Tony Blair. 

Murdoch sat down with President-elect Trump after his election victory. He was previously hosted by the billionaire at his Scottish golf hotel. 

Despite an initial reluctance, Murdoch has embraced the controversial candidate since November.  

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