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Melania Trump noticeably absent from family Christmas photo

Sources say the former first lady was busy caring for her ailing mother, but rumors are flying nonetheless

Senior Culture Editor

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Melania Trump walks down the Grand Staircase of the White House Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020, as she arrives to review the Christmas decorations. (HUM Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Melania Trump walks down the Grand Staircase of the White House Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020, as she arrives to review the Christmas decorations. (HUM Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Melania Trump, the former first lady famously quoted as saying, "Who gives a f**k about Christmas stuff and decorations?" was noticeably absent from her family's holiday photo this year, which otherwise features the full Trump family posed in front of a trifecta of lit trees at the former president's Mar-a-Lago compound.

Shortly after the photo began to circulate, rumors flew as to why Melania skipped the occasion, adding to a running theme of her passing on attending the majority of her husband's events surrounding his campaign for a second term of presidency.

According to a number of sources such as Fox News and Page Six, there's an easy explanation for why she's not featured in the photo, with a Trump spokesperson weighing in to say that a family matter kept her away. Her mother, Amalija Knavs, is “very sick," according to a source who spoke with Fox, adding that “Melania has always been very devoted to her entire family . . . It should be no surprise that she spent this Christmas with her ailing mother.” But as The Mercury News points out, her father managed to make it to Mar-a-Lago for the snap. In the outlet's coverage of the family photo, they quote Laurence Leamer, the author of a book on Mar-a-Lago, as having told The Telegraph in a recent interview, "Nobody knows where she is. It’s like a mystery. It’s certainly talked about . . . She rarely exits Mar-a-Lago. It’s a strange, isolated life they have in that place."

 

By Kelly McClure

Kelly McClure is Salon's Senior Culture Editor, where she helps further coverage of TV, film, music, books and culture trends from a unique and thoughtful angle. Her work has also appeared in Vulture, Vanity Fair, Vice and many other outlets that don't start with the letter V. She is the author of one sad book called "Something Is Always Happening Somewhere." Follow her on Bluesky: @WolfieVibes

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