What We Know About Melania Trump's Close-Knit Relationship With Her Mom Amalija Knavs

Years before Melania Trump was the First Lady of the United States — and even before she was an up-and-coming Slovenian model working in the U.S. for the first time — she was an ambitious young girl living in Sevnica with her sister, Ines Knavs, and their parents, Amalija and Viktor Knavs. And although Melania's life now is a far cry from the tiny industrial town she was raised in, she still remains incredibly close to her parents and Slovenian roots.

Due to Melania's intensely private nature and her husband's distractingly bombastic public persona, the former first lady's relationship with her family often goes unnoticed. However, it was brought to the forefront of everyone's minds when Melania was absent from multiple holiday celebrations with the Trump family at the end of 2023.

Page Six first reported her absence from the Trumps' lavish Christmas card, and days later, the Daily Mail reported that Melania also missed out on her husband's Mar-a-Lago New Year's Eve party. As it turns out, the devoted youngest Knavs daughter skipped the celebrations so that she could take care of her sick mother.

After Donald Trump Jr.'s fiancée, Kimberly Guilfoyle, posted a photo of the Trump family in front of a towering Christmas tree in late December 2023, people quickly noticed that the former first lady was missing from the photo that also included her son, Barron Trump, and all of Donald Trump's other children. A close source told Page Six that Amalija Knavs, Melania's mother, has been hospitalized with an undisclosed illness.

"Melania has always been very devoted to her entire family," another source told Fox News Digital (via Page Six). "It should be no surprise that she spent this Christmas with her ailing mother." Donald Trump addressed the situation at his New Year's Eve bash, saying that Melania and Amalija were in a nearby Miami hospital and that his mother-in-law's health problems were incredibly challenging for the Trump family, per the Daily Mail.

The former first lady has always spoken highly of her parents, thanking them in a speech at the 2020 Republican National Convention. She praised Amalija and Viktor Knavs' strong work ethic and determination to allow their daughters to move to the United States. "I want to take the moment to thank my mother and father for all that they have done for our family. It is because of you that I am standing here today," via CNN.

When Melania Trump was still a young girl living in then-Communist Yugoslavia in the late 70s, she got her first taste of fashion and modeling thanks to her mother's job at a children's clothing manufacturer called Jutranjka. Amalija Knavs worked at the factory making patterns for the clothing, and Melania and her older sister, Ines, were allowed to participate in an annual fashion show in which they and other children showed off the company's designs of the year, per the Daily Mail. This experience planted a seed for Melania's future career as a fashion model.

Melania helped her parents obtain U.S. citizenship by sponsoring their green cards in 2018, per The New York Times. According to Politico, the Knavses lived with their daughter and son-in-law in Trump Tower prior to Trump's transition to the White House. The Knavses spent lots of time in Washington, D.C., during Trump's presidency, and they're also frequent visitors of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. 

Melania and Amalija both keep their Slovenian heritage alive by speaking to Melania's only son, Barron, in their native tongue. Amalija also likes to cook Slovenian food for her grandson, per the Daily Mail. Melania and Amalija's relationship is proof that no matter how far they've come since their days in Sevnica, they've made it a priority to remain as close as ever.