Michael Schumacher’s Medical Mystery Deepens as He is ‘Spotted in Public’ at Daughter Gina’s Wedding, Sparking Conversations About His Health .giang

Michael Schumacher transcended Formula 1 – the sport is very popular these days, but was rather more niche when the German was in his pomp.

But still, he was a household name, a seven-time F1 champion who enjoyed the vast majority of his success with Ferrari. It was a driver and team partnership which remains possibly the most iconic the sport has ever seen.

Schumacher ‘s fame and popularity meant there was a huge outpouring of emotion when news broke of his life-changing skiing accident in December 2013. And, ever since, the appetite for updates on his condition and wellbeing has been huge.

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But true snippets of information have been few and far between. Though he lived so publicly because of his racing career, Schumacher was a private person and his f iercely protective wife Corinna has done her utmost to respect that since the accident.

We know from medical reports that, in December 2013, Schumacher suffered a traumatic brain injury when he fell while skiing off-piste in the French Alps and hit his head on a rock. He was airlifted to hospital and placed in a medically induced coma which, a few months later, he came out of.

But though he survived, it was clear he would never be the same again. He was allowed to return to the family home near Lake Geneva the following September where he has been cared for since by Corinna and a team of medical staff, with only a select few trusted people allowed to see him and know the extent of his injuries.

The inner circle is so tight that even some close relatives have been excluded at times. That includes Michael’s brother Ralf, also a former F1 racer, who now works as a pundit for Sky Germany’s coverage of the sport and admitted last year that his brother’s side of the family “go their own way”.

Michael Schumacher won five of his seven F1 titles with Ferrari ( 

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Getty Images)

Michael Schumacher skied regularly but crashed while off-piste in the French Alps ( 

Image:

AFP via Getty Images)

But there are small signs that Corinna might be softening her stance on that front. Ralf and his partner Etienne were among those present at the wedding of Michael’s daughter, Gina-Maria, last weekend. The 27-year-old wed Iain Bethke in a lavish ceremony at the family’s villa in Majorca on Saturday afternoon.

It has not been confirmed whether or not the stricken F1 legend was there to see his daughter walk down the aisle. But Bild claims it is “very likely” that Michael was in attendance, while it is known that he has been flown out to the Majorca villa before. And not everyone in Schumacher’s life was in attendance, including his former manager Willi Weber who has said he did not receive an invite.

Weber worked with Schumacher up until his final retirement from F1 in 2012, and recently said the racer was “one of my best friends”. But he has not been allowed into the inner circle of people trusted with information about his condition.

One of the few former F1 allies of the racer who has been allowed to see him is his old Ferrari team principal, Jean Todt. The Frenchman, also a former president of the FIA, has largely kept his mouth closed publicly out of loyalty to Michael and Corinna, but has said that he has been allowed to see his old colleague.

He told Bild: “I’ve spent a lot of time with Corinna since Michael had his serious skiing accident on December 29, 2013. She is a great woman and runs the family. She hadn’t expected that. It happened suddenly and she had no choice. But she does it very well. I trust her, she trusts me. Thanks to the work of his doctors and the cooperation of Corinna, who wanted him to survive, he survived – but with consequences.”

The exact nature of the ‘consequences’ is largely unknown. Corinna has described her husband as being “different” to how he was before, while son Mick – who followed in his father’s footsteps into F1 and raced for Haas for two seasons, before joining his dad’s old team Mercedes as a reserve – said Michael’s illness means he’s unable to communicate.

Corinna Schumacher has kept her husband Michael’s condition a secret for many years ( 

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AFP via Getty Images)

Former Ferrari boss Jean Todt is one of the few members of the inner circle allowed to see Michael ( 

Image:

AFP)

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In 2019, he was widely reported to have undergone stem cell treatment in a bid to regenerate his nervous system. Le Parisien reported he was admitted for transfusions of inflammation-reducing stem cells, and also quoted an unnamed nurse who claimed Schumacher had shown signs of recovery.

Elisabetta Gregoraci, ex-wife of former F1 team boss Flavio Briatore, was the one who confirmed Michael has been spending more time at the family’s Majorcan villa of late. She said: “Michael doesn’t speak, he communicates with his eyes. Only three people can visit him and I know who they are. They moved to Spain and his wife has set up a hospital in that house.”

In 2021, Corinna agreed to take part in a Netflix documentary, titled ‘Schumacher’, in which she continued to keep key details private but spoke of her own experience and said: “I miss Michael every day. But it’s not just me who misses him. It’s the children, the family, his father, everyone around him. Everybody misses Michael, but Michael is here – different, but here. He still shows me how strong he is every day.

“We live together at home. We do therapy. We do everything we can to make Michael better and to make sure he’s comfortable. And to simply make him feel our family, our bond. And no matter what, I will do everything I can. We all will.

“We’re trying to carry on as a family, the way Michael liked it and still does. And we are getting on with our lives. It’s very important to me that he can continue to enjoy his private life as much as possible. Michael always protected us, and now we are protecting Michael.”

Perhaps most heartbreaking of all was his son Mick’s admission that he regrets his father has not been able to properly follow his own motorsport career. After making it to F1, he said: “Since the accident, of course, these experiences, these moments that I believe many people have with their parents, are no longer present or to a lesser extent. And in my view, that is a little unfair.

“I think me and dad, we would understand each other in a different way now. Simply because we speak a similar language – the language of motorsport – and that we would have a lot more to talk about. And that is where my head is most of the time. Thinking that would be so cool… I would give up everything just for that.”

Whether or not the world will be able to see Schumacher again remains to be seen. His reported presence at his daughter’s wedding, in front of all the other invited guests, is perhaps a sign that Corinna is willing to soften her stance.

And, as Mick’s partner Laila Hasanovic has shared a photo on social media of her wearing a diamond ring on her engagement picture, there may perhaps be another joyous family ceremony for him to attend.