Becker to give £435k interview on prison stint that ‘destroyed’ him

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Boris Becker is set to give a tell-all TV interview about his eight-month stint in prison on Tuesday – five days after being released and deported to Germany. The retired tennis legend is reportedly being paid £435,000 for the rights to his first interview since being jailed for hiding assets relating to his bankruptcy and is set to detail how he was “almost destroyed” after being locked up with “sex offenders, murderers and people who have committed major robberies.”

Details of Becker’s first interview after being released from prison have officially been revealed, and the former world No 1 has reportedly been holed up in a hotel room since arriving in Germany last week as editors race to cut down a final copy of his TV interview to be streamed on German station Sat 1, according to the Daily Mail.

The six-time Grand Slam champion is set to give an “emotional” recount of his time in prison after serving eight months of his two-and-a-half year sentence before being released in a fast-track scheme that sees foreign criminals deported in an effort to relieve pressure on British jails. “It’s been a very rapid turn around but it’s taken time because the interview has been done in German and English,” an insider told the Mail.

“The aim is to distribute it abroad to a world wide market and there has been significant interest. He’s been so busy he hasn’t even had time to see his mother but they have spoken on the telephone. The final editing will go down to just a few hours before broadcast on Tuesday night and then afterwards there will be a live TV debate.”

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The TV station is said to have provided Becker with a private jet to fly from Biggin Hill airfield in Kent to their Munich HQ for the interview following his release, with Steven Gatjen understood to be the interviewer. The German-American TV host met with the three-time Wimbledon champion on three separate occasions during his time in prison.

“When I visited him in prison, a very slim Boris Becker greeted me with a smile on his face. In conversation, I found him surprisingly cheerful, like someone who had a lot of time to think,” Gatjen said ahead of the interview’s release. “And he was very emotional, especially in the moments when he spoke about his time in Wandsworth First Prison. His description of the first days in Wandsworth Prison.”

Becker’s first post-prison interviewer also revealed that the German had feared his fellow inmates at Category B HM Wandsworth Prison, where he was kept before being moved to Category C HM Huntercombe Prison for the majority of his sentence. Gatjen continued: “It’s not just people who have committed financial crimes who are incarcerated there, but also sex offenders, murderers and people who have committed major robberies.

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“Boris Becker told me that he was very afraid of ending up in a collective cell. For the first four days, however, he was alone, incommunicado, and locked in his cell 24 hours a day, with an hour out a day.

“He didn’t even take a shower during this time because he didn’t know how and where that was actually done in prison. After those first four days in solitary confinement, his only goal was to get out and work. He just wanted some fresh air. He said he would have done anything for it. He did not enjoy a celebrity bonus while in custody.”

The 50-year-old interviewer also detailed his first meeting with Becker in prison, where the 49-time title winner was eager to tell his story. “He seemed cautious, but I also got the impression that he wanted to get his experiences of the last few months off his chest,” he said.

Gatjen also shut down any suggestions that Becker had it easy in prison thanks to his status, adding: “And it was extremely important for him to make it clear that he did not enjoy a celebrity bonus in prison. I think the imprisonment, the separation from family and friends, this completely different life, made him really reflect on his life.

“You have to be aware: Boris Becker has been in the limelight since he was 17 years old. And then suddenly he’s locked up, can’t go out, only gets visitors twice a month, is forced to conform to a strict prison system. In any case, I had the impression that this experience really blew him away. When we met in prison, I had the feeling that there was someone sitting in front of me who was looking for a new beginning.”

Revealing more details about the £435k TV interview, the German-American said Becker would also be setting the record straight as he revealed that the tennis star was “almost destroyed” by his experience.

He explained: “I believe that we will meet someone who will speak very emotionally and honestly about his time in prison, but who has also reflected intensively on himself and his situation. Boris Becker has been under tremendous pressure for the last few weeks. He suspected that he would be released, but that was not certain.

“And this feeling, this hope, almost destroyed him, he said. He has constantly tried to ensure that he does not attract negative attention, that he behaves. But on the other hand, he has forbidden himself to think too much about freedom, lest he become arrogant, and risk being fired. That burden will be off his shoulders, and I think he’s really willing to clean up and get a lot of things straight.”

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