Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses sociopathy, narcissism, and other personality disorders.

Mary L. Trump, the author of Too Much and Never Enough, received a PhD from the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies. Additionally, she has taught graduate-level courses in trauma, psychopathology, and developmental psychology. Trump is also the granddaughter of Fred Trump Sr. and the only niece of former president Donald Trump. Her father, Fred Trump Jr., died of a heart attack in 1981 at the age of 42 after years of heavy smoking and alcohol addiction. In Too Much and Never Enough, Trump’s overarching theme focuses on the family dynamics between her grandfather, her father, and her uncle Donald. Her father was originally selected as her grandfather’s heir apparent, but instead he decided to pursue a career as an airline pilot, a decision that both Fred Sr. and Donald ridiculed. After her grandfather died in 1999, Trump discovered that she and her brother, Fritz, had essentially been disinherited as their father’s 20% share of the estate was being divided by his four living siblings.

In 2017, Mary L. Trump was approached by New York Times reporter Susanne Craig, who was working on a story about the Trump family’s finances.