Melania Trump‘s mother died at age 78, the former first lady announced Tuesday evening.
“It is with deep sadness that I announce the passing of my beloved mother, Amalija,” she wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Amalija Knavs was a strong woman who always carried herself with grace, warmth, and dignity. She was entirely devoted to her husband, daughters, grandson, and son-in-law. We will miss her beyond measure and continue to honor and love her legacy.”
The Slovenian Amalija Knavs was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2018 along with her husband, Viktor, and had been ill since at least last year. Former President Donald Trump announced on New Year’s Eve at Mar-a-Lago that Melania Trump couldn’t attend because she was tending to her mother.
“Melania — great first lady, so popular, the people love her — she’s now in a hospital with her mother. Her mother, Amalija, is very ill, but hopefully she’ll be recovering,” he said.
“But she’s been very ill, so I just want to say ‘hello’ to the first lady — we just spoke, down in Miami, great hospital — and hopefully they’ll be OK,” he continued. “But it’s a tough one, it’s a very tough one. She knows probably about 95% of the people in this room. We just want to wish Amalija that she gets better as quickly as possible.”
