'An unexpected turn': Kai Trump suffers another setback at college in Miami

Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald on Oct 15, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

MIAMI — Kai Trump’s freshman year at the University of Miami isn’t exactly starting off with a bang.

The 19-year-old Division 1 golfer documented her rocky beginning on her YouTube vlog, showing her packing up her life in Jupiter before moving to her apartment at UM, in Coral Gables.

President Donald Trump’s eldest granddaughter admitted to being “literally sobbing” over leaving her friends and family, and found it “weird” to cry, adding she isn’t an emotional person.

The move to Dade from Palm Beach County was complicated by a bout of strep throat, which forced her to return home so her mother — Donald Trump Jr.’s ex-wife Vanessa Haydon, who’s also battling breast cancer — could nurse her back to health.

The latest blip: Trump is currently recovering from her second surgery on her left wrist this year. In a vlog late last month she told followers that she aggravated it while competing at the Golfweek Fall Challenge in Pawleys Island, South Carolina. She recalled feeling a “shock” go through her arm when her club hit concrete beneath a “very hard” cart path.

The Benjamin School alum revealed doctors subsequently found a “sliver” of damage to her cartilage and ligaments that required repair. The same wrist had been operated on in January in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania,

On Instagram Wednesday, Trump posted a selfie from a hospital bed with her arm bandaged up. The operation again did not take place in South Florida, but at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.

“While I had hoped to avoid surgery, after talks with my family, coaches, and athletic training staff I know I made the best decision for my long-term health and my future in the game I love,” said the caption. “It’s certainly not how I envisioned the next few months, but sometimes the journey takes an unexpected turn, and I’m choosing to embrace this one with patience, and a whole lot of determination.”

She ended the post rooting for her team: “Go Canes!”

_____