Schumacher’s wife breaks eight-year silence: ‘Michael is here’

Michael Schumacher’s wife Corinna has broken her near eight-year silence on her husband’s condition, telling the makers of a new Netflix documentary that the seven-time Formula 1 world champion is “different, but here”, and that he “still shows her how strong he is every day”.

Schumacher suffered a near-fatal skiing accident in December 2013 when he fell and struck his head on a rock.

After being airlifted to hospital, the German was placed in a medically induced coma for six months. He has not been seen in public since.

In the Netflix documentary Schumacher, which will be released next Wednesday, Corinna reveals for the first time that her husband voiced doubts about the snow in Meribel shortly before the accident. And she explains the reasons she has remained fiercely private for so long.

Corinna, who has two children with Schumacher, 24-year-old Gina and 22-year-old Mick (now racing in F1 for Haas), said: “I miss Michael every day, everybody misses Michael, but Michael is here. Different, but he’s here and that gives us strength. I think that he is simply very strong mentally. He still shows me how strong he is every day.

“We are trying to carry on as a family, the way Michael liked it and still does. We live together at home [in Geneva]. We do therapy. We do everything we can to make Michael better and to make sure he’s comfortable.

Michael Schumacher and wife Corinna in 2013. She has fiercely protected her husband’s privacy since a skiing accident.Credit:Getty Images

“We are getting on with our lives. ‘Private is private’ as he always said. It’s very important to me that he can continue to enjoy his private life. Michael always protected us, now we are protecting Michael.”

Schumacher, who is regarded as one of the sport’s greatest ever drivers and who shares the record of most successful driver of all time in terms of drivers’ championships, has been cared for privately at the family home on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland since September 2014, with first-hand reports on his state of health few and far between.

It was revealed in July that Netflix had purchased the rights to the documentary and the makers are promising never-seen-before archival footage in the film.

It will include the Schumachers’ wedding in 2005, as well as interviews with family members, and motorsport figures such as Jean Todt, Bernie Ecclestone, Sebastian Vettel, Mika Hakkinen, Damon Hill and David Coulthard.

Telegraph, London

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