Amalija Knavs, the mother of Melania Trump, former First Lady, died at the age of 78 on January 9. This was confirmed by Melania Trump through a statement on social media. In her tribute, she portrayed her mother as a woman of strength, grace, warmth, and dignity, adding that her family would greatly miss her and continue to honor her legacy.
Born in 1945 in Slovenia, which was then part of Communist Yugoslavia, Amalija Knavs had a career in a textile factory. She was married to Viktor Knavs, a car dealer, and they raised their daughter Melania in the industrial town of Sevnica. When Melania started her modeling career, she changed her surname from Knavs to Knauss.
The specific cause of Amalija Knavs’ death remains undisclosed, but reports indicate that she had been suffering from ill health. Two weeks ago, it was revealed by Donald Trump that his wife was missing from a New Year’s Eve party because she was at a Miami, Florida hospital with her seriously ill mother.
According to Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, the author of “Melania and Me” and a former senior aide to Melania, Melania and her Slovenian mother had a close relationship. Wolkoff recalled Melania’s dedication to looking after her parents and offered her prayers for Amalija.
The Knavs family immigrated to the United States and became permanent residents before obtaining U.S. citizenship in 2018 with Melania Trump sponsoring their application. The circumstances of their citizenship, acquired during Donald Trump’s presidency, sparked conversations due to Donald Trump’s critique of the family reunification immigration policy, often called “chain migration.”
Amalija and Viktor Knavs lived a quiet life in their later years at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, a stark contrast to their daughter’s public life during the Trump presidency. Melania Trump had initially moved to the United States in 1996, settling in New York. She met Donald Trump, then a businessman, in 1998 and became his third wife in 2005. Her journey from Slovenia to the United States and her subsequent role as the First Lady have been a subject of public fascination.
The death of Amalija Knavs concludes her life as an immigrant mother who saw her daughter rise to prominence in American society. Her life story, from working in a Slovenian textile factory to seeing her daughter become the First Lady of the United States, represents a distinctive trajectory that intersects with notable historical and political events.
Further details about Amalija Knavs’ death have not been shared by the Knavs family at this time.