Marlene Knaus

Marlene Knaus is famous as the ex-wife of Niki Lauda. Marlene is a former Austrian model, socialite, and also a fashion icon in the late 1960s to 1970s. 

She was really good at making hairstyles, and she had her own signature loose hairdo which was really attractive. 

She was born in the U.S. but later on gained the Austrian citizenship. Interesting fact that she belongs to Venezuelan Ethnicity. 

Even as a celebrity, she managed to keep her life private. There is no information regarding her parents, siblings, and educational background. 

She started as a very renowned model, attracting various great brands for their marketing, but her career started to fade slowly after 1970. 

She was quite a multitasker cause she also worked as a designer and later began as a socialite.

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WHO IS HER EX-HUSBAND, NIKI LAUDA?

Andreas Nikolaus “Niki” Lauda was an Austrian Formula One driver and an Aviation entrepreneur born in Vienna, Austria, on 22 February 1949 to a wealthy family mostly stuck with paper manufacturing. 

Lauda had been attracted to Formula One races since his childhood. He stuck with his dream even when his family disapproved of him being a racing driver. 

He slowly started with a Mini to many other branded great cars to being a super Formula One race driver. 

As he gained more and more success, he became three times Formula One World Drivers’ Champion in 1975, 1977, and 1984. 

He had been the only champion for both Ferrari and McLaren. 

He also ran three airlines in Austria as an Aviation entrepreneur named Lauda Air, Niki, and Lauda. 

He had a very successful career and was one of the greatest and most renowned celebrities representing Austria.

THEIR MARRIED LIFE

Marlene Knaus and Niki Lauda met each other in 1975. 

According to sources, the movie Rush (2013) presents the scene where Lauda and Knaus meet each other at a party. 

In real life, they met at a dinner party which was hosted by Curt Jurgens, who was Marlene's boyfriend at the time. 

Niki was also in a relationship with another woman when he met Marlene. When they first met, they felt they had something between them. 

They soon started dating each other, and only after a year they were ready to tie the knot and exchange the wedding vows. They tied the knot and married in 1976.

After their marriage, Knaus got pregnant and were expecting their first baby. 

So, in 1979 they welcomed a cute baby boy in this world who was really close to their heart. They named him Mathias Lauda. 

After two years, they welcomed their second baby boy and named him Lukas Lauda. 

Marlene was Niki's diehard fan. It is said that when she saw the injured eyelids and burns of her husband after the German Grand Prix accident, she fainted. 

The accident was very deadly, and Niki had inhaled toxic fumes.

Everything was going cool and romantic in the public eye, but the celebrity life is full of hidden secrets. 

Their private life wasn’t known by the public, and all the fans were happy that all was going well, but it wasn’t. 

After 15 years of a lovely marriage, in 1991, they filed a divorce and went through their separate ways. 

The reason for their divorce was suppressed and hidden from the public, but fans were really concerned. 

However, it was rumored that the reason for the divorce was Niki's extramarital affairs.

After getting a divorce, Niki moved on and got married to Birgit Wetzinger but didn't give up his responsibility as a father. 

Marlene and Niki co-parented their children, and Marlene always maintained a close relationship with Niki. 

During an interview, Niki said that his new and old family often get together, and Marlene, Birgit, and Niki also went to the restaurant the other day. 

He praised his ex-wife by calling her an outstanding woman. She is very selfless and is happy when everyone is happy. 

He revealed that they were still friends and nothing had changed between them. And to everyone's surprise, Marlene even befriended Birgit.

Marlene, on the other hand, never remarried after her divorce.

SHE CALLED HER EX-HUSBAND THE BIGGEST AS*** IN THE WORLD

Marlene called Niki the biggest as** in the world during his racing career. 

Niki, when Graham Bensinger asked his opinion about this statement from Marlene, said that she was absolutely right. 

He also revealed that she used to call him egocentric too. In his defense, he said that in his time, it was very dangerous to drive. 

He had to put himself in a position where he had to be 100% concentrated on his job because if he made a mistake, it would cost him his life. 

He could not be disturbed on the job to stay alive. So, during the race weekend, he used to block everything out and do the job. 

Marlene ended up hating this part of her husband's job. She started hating racing and hating the fact that her husband was not home and in their life. 

Niki hated this logic of his wife and called her crazy. Marlene was convinced that after Niki was in a terrible accident, he would stop racing, but that didn't happen. 

However, Niki wanted to prove to himself that he could overcome all those problems and wanted to see if he could be back on top even after the accident.

So he understands why Marlene made that statement and accepted that he was an as** during his career. 

He also said that Marlene was a fantastic woman who stood by him during those difficult times and supported him a hundred percent.

NIKI DID NOT HAVE ANY FRIENDS? 

In this interview, the host of the show gets concerned about how Lauda didn’t have any friends. 

He asked Lauda if the information was true, and Lauda replied that it was true, and many got upset that he did not have any friends in his life. 

He said when we get known in the world, a lot of people like to bother you, and they want to be your friend but they always need something from you. 

He said no one is appreciative of the things you do for them; instead, they want more from you. 

So in order to protect himself from the constant attacks, he didn't make any friends.

He discussed the true meaning of a real friend. He said the real friend is a 24-hour guy with whom you can talk about any kind of problems you have. 

But sadly, he doesn't have that kind of friend. 

NET WORTH

The net worth of Marlene Knaus is estimated to be around $43 million. 

She and her children inherited a significant amount of her ex-husband's net worth, which was about $445 million.

AGE

1. The exact date of her birth is not listed, but according to sources, she was born in 1956, and now currently, in 2024, she is 68 years old.