A leading neurosurgeon has disputed reports that F1 legend Michael Schumacher made a rare public appearance to attend his daughter’s wedding.
Schumacher’s daughter Gina reportedly married her boyfriend Iain Bethke at the family’s luxurious £27million villa in Mallorca last month.
The couple said ‘I do’ under a flower arch at Villa Yasmin, the property the seven-time F1 world champion’s wife, Corinna, is believed to have bought in 2017 from Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez.
BILD has claimed that it is “very likely” that Michael was at his daughter’s wedding despite being largely missing from public life since his life-changing skiing incident in 2013.
However, now a leading neurosurgeon has come forward to dispute these claims, suggesting that “everything points to him being unwell”.
A leading neurosurgeon has disputed reports that F1 legend Michael Schumacher made a rare public appearance to attend his daughter’s wedding last month.
Schumacher’s daughter Gina married her boyfriend Iain Bethke last month.
Gina Schumacher confirmed the news through a post on her Instagram account on Saturday.
talking to IltalehtiJussi Posti, head of the department of neurosurgery and traumatic brain injury at Turku University Hospital in Finland, said: “If you’ve built a hospital in your house, with everything medicalized around it, it looks like you’ve been in the hospital the longest. part of the time.” time’.
‘According to the information available, I don’t think he leads a very active life. Everything indicates that he is not feeling well. As bedridden patients, most people become so frail and stiff that it is no longer possible to get them out of bed after so many years.”
Given the limited information that has emerged about Schumacher’s current health, Posti insists the F1 legend’s conditions are unlikely to have changed.
“This suggests that it has probably been in the same condition for the last decade.” “I doubt anything sudden has changed at this point,” he said.
“Typically, patients recover what they can recover for up to two years, and then the level of recovery is usually set. Basically, these types of patients are, at best, very experimental models.”
A statement issued almost a year after the accident told fans that he was no longer in a coma and was “continuing a long phase of rehabilitation,” but few details of his condition have since been revealed.
Spanish newspapers reported in 2020 that Schumacher had been moved more permanently to the exclusive property at the luxury Las Brisas estate, near Andratx, southwest Mallorca, from the couple’s Swiss home.
Schumacher has not been seen publicly since a skiing accident in 2013 (Schumacher pictured with his wife Corinna in 2005)
Gina and her brother Mick (left) wished their father a happy birthday earlier this year with touching messages as he turned 55.
The Schumacher family did not want photographs of the interior of their luxurious Villa in Mallorca to be leaked
Rumors that Schumacher cannot speak were backed up by his son, Mick, during a 2021 Netflix documentary about his father’s life. He said: “I think dad and I would understand each other in a different way now.”
The effects of a traumatic brain injury depend on a number of factors, such as the type, location and severity of the injury, says brain injury charity Headway.
He adds that the symptoms of a brain injury are very varied, from physical effects such as balance problems, headaches and dizziness, to cognitive, emotional and behavioral effects. This can include memory problems, fatigue, and anger.
Posti continued: ‘There are several consequences of brain damage. For example, the injury may make the patient unwilling to communicate with anyone other than his or her immediate family.
“It may also be the case that no one other than the patient’s immediate family can stimulate him or her enough to communicate in a meaningful way.”
The ceremony was held at the family’s £27million mansion in Mallorca, which Schumacher is believed to have bought in 2017 from Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.
Schumacher lives and receives treatments at his £50 million mansion in Gland, Switzerland
The last proper update fans received was in 2023, when Schumacher was reported to have driven a Mercedes AMG sports car in a bid to stimulate areas of his brain he once used for racing.
German outlet Bild recently reported that guests had their phones confiscated because the family did not want anyone taking unauthorized photos of the property’s private rooms.
Guests at the wedding are said to have included Michael’s brother, Ralf, and his partner, Etienne Bosquet-Cassagne, who became embroiled in a dispute with the former’s ex-wife, Cora, over her claims that he felt “stabbed in the heart” after discovering he was gay.
The villa has an airstrip and he is regularly flown from the family home by Lake Geneva in Switzerland to the villa in Port d’Andratx.
It is part of a 15,000 square meter estate that has two swimming pools, a helipad, a gym and a huge garden surrounded by palm trees.
According to the prestigious Mallorcan newspaper Ultima Hora, the ceremony lasted approximately half an hour.
Updates on the Ferrari legend’s health have been few and far between in recent years.
The newspaper reported that a banquet and party with live music by a country music group would be held tonight in the town of Port d’Andratx.
Last month, a pair of suspects, Yilmaz T, 53, and his 30-year-old son, from Wuppertal in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia region, were charged after being arrested for allegedly threatening to leak images of Schumacher taken after skiing almost fatally. crash.
They allegedly told the Schumachers that they “would not want (the photographs) to be published” and “demanded millions” to prevent them from doing so.
The two men, who were arrested on June 19, transferred “individual files” to the family to show they had access to documents about the F1 star, threats that investigators found credible.