Donald Trump finally addressed where his wife, Melania Trump, has been as she's been missing from several holiday celebrations.
"Melania — great First Lady, so popular, the people love her — she's now in a hospital with her mother," he told the crowd at his annual holiday bash. "Her mother, Amalija, is very ill, but hopefully she'll be recovering."
"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, but it's a tough one, it's a very tough one. So she sends her love to everybody and she knows probably about 95 percent of the people here like I do. And we just want to wish Amalija that she gets better as quickly as possible," the former president, 77, added.
As OK! previously reported, the businessman and his crew — Donald Trump Jr., Barron Trump, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and their kids, Tiffany Trump and husband Michael Boulos — all smiled for the camera while standing in front of the Christmas tree.
However, people were curious why the model, 53, was nowhere to be found.
One person wrote, "I guess this wasn't a term of her latest post-nup," while another said, "Maybe she was taking the picture…"
A third person added, "Eric Trump is also missing from this photo! I'm sure there's a good reason for Melania's absence."
It was later revealed that Melania was dealing with a personal matter.
“Melania has always been very devoted to her entire family,” a source told Fox News Digital. "It should be no surprise that she spent this Christmas with her ailing mother.”
According to Melania's former aide and friend Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, she likes the attention.
"If Melania Trump ever took her former role seriously she would've released a FACTUAL statement explaining to the American people why she wasn't present. But instead, Melania knows the media will inquire further which keeps her relevant and she gets a kick out of the speculation," she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday, December 27.
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"Regardless of what I think about Melania Trump, I spent time with Amalija Knavs, Melania’s mother, and if the reports are accurate that she’s in the hospital, I pray for her," Winston Wolkoff said. "Melania could make a statement so the speculation around the family photograph is dispelled. Let me make myself very clear. I don’t wish ill will on anyone. What I do wish on Melania Trump is that she be held accountable for her deceit, deception, and duplicity, of not just what she did to me, but to the American people."
