Open confession on the MDR talk show “Riverboat”: Ute Freudenberg has been living with Parkinson’s disease for years. The Schlager singer doesn’t want to and can’t hide it any longer.
Leipzig – The viewers of the MDR talk show “Riverboat” should have caught their breath. As soon as presenter Kim Fisher announced her guest Ute Freudenberg (66), it became clear that things were getting serious: “Ute said, guys, I’ll come visit you today because something’s on my mind. Let’s not do a promotion for anything, let’s talk about the fact that I’ve had Parkinson’s for a few years. ”The well-known and popular pop singer then made her serious illness public on the talk show.
Schlager singer Ute Freudenberg has Parkinson’s: confession in MDR talk “Riverboat”
The Schlager singer emphasizes that she always kept the negative to herself. “But I now have an illness that shows. I can’t just keep quiet about it. That’s why I came to you.” Freudenberg explains: It affects me particularly with my right arm, and in particular with my hand, with my handwriting. I had a handwriting that always caused a lot of praise and joy, I don’t have it anymore, it’s gone due to Parkinson’s. That put me in situations that at some point I couldn’t bear anymore because I had to react in a way that as Ute F. I’m not at all able to do.”
She invented excuses when fans wanted autographs. “I disappointed people, I don’t want that anymore because I’m not. I want my fans and everyone who cares to know that I have this disease and that I can no longer write then I feel better”, she says and gets applause.
Schlager singer Ute Freudenberg was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2018
Parkinson’s often announces itself long in advance. The now 66-year-old first noticed the illness during an autograph session. “All of a sudden I got like electric shocks. I could hardly hold the writing implement.” The problems continued at home – and culminated in a doctor’s marathon. The shocking diagnosis followed in the university clinic in Marburg. “That was in May 2018.” You had to collect yourself first. It was clear to her what the diagnosis of Parkinson’s meant, according to the Schlager singer. “And then I thought to myself: Oh shit! Getting old really isn’t for the faint hearted. Now something is coming your way.” She spent three days in shock, then adjusted, came to terms with it, acquired knowledge.
The singer suspects a connection with years of inhalation of wood preservatives. You lack the gene to properly process toxins. Otherwise, she attaches so much importance to a healthy lifestyle.
Schlager singer Ute Freudenberg: The disease “makes everything slower”
Parkinson’s disease is a previously incurable nervous disease that causes, among other things, tremors and balance disorders. The cause of the disease is the death of nerve cells in the brain. After Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s is the second most common neurodegenerative disease. It mainly affects older people.
The illness makes “everything slower”, admits Ute Freudenberg, the gait changes. But the 66-year-old has set herself a combative motto: “I know that I will not succumb to the disease.” She wants to think positively, eat healthily and celebrate her 50th stage anniversary in 2023. Now she doesn’t have to hide her illness anymore and earns a lot of respect for her Parkinson’s confession. Frank Elstner also lives with the disease – and spoke about it in a similarly open manner. (lin)
