Claudia Norberg, once in the spotlight alongside singer Michael Wendler, is now in the public eye for other reasons: she owes more than three million euros and is in the middle of insolvency proceedings. After a four-year absence, she breaks her silence and talks about her financial woes.
The ex-wife of singer Michael Wendler has retreated from the public eye in recent years. 53-year-old Claudia Norberg is facing debts amounting to millions, and her creditors are demanding more than three million euros. The insolvency proceedings conducted so far have brought in only 100,000 euros, a large part of which – 60,000 euros – has already been spent on procedural costs. After a four-year hiatus, Norberg now commented on his current financial situation in an exclusive chat with “rtl.de”.
“All obligations are in my name”
How did such a large debt come about? For Claudia Norberg, the answer is easy, because during her marriage to pop singer Michael Wendler, the couple lived a little too lavishly. “The debts have been there since I was with my ex-husband,” admits Norberg in an interview. A total of nine creditors are demanding money from the 53-year-old, including the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Niederrheinische Sparkasse RheinLippe, Porsche Financial Services GmbH & Co. KG and the city of Dinslaken.
Michael and Claudia were said to be living beyond their means and living “in an incredibly luxurious house in Germany.” They also bought expensive cars with leasing contracts and “had to pay 25,000 euros a month.” According to Norberg, the contracts of the record company CNI Records, where Michael Wendler worked as an employee, were also in his name: “All obligations are in my name. So I left my marriage with excessive debt.
No more luxury: Norberg works for a vacation rental company
In his new life, there is no more room for expensive cars and thoughtless spending. “The life of luxury is long over for me,” Claudia Norbeg told rtl.de. Meanwhile, the 53-year-old man has to spend every penny. Claudia has worked for a Cape Coral vacation rental company for a year and a half. Her duties include working at the reception desk, taking care of various clients and office work. For this, he should receive 18 euros an hour. Previously “money didn't play a role”, but now the tide has turned and Claudia Norberg has to think about the little things of everyday life. “Now I have to see which days I have to take out the garbage and how I pay the electricity and water bills.”
“If I had the money, I'd pay it back”
But it is not easy for the 53-year-old to live with a debt burden. He would like to repay his creditors, but he lacks the possible means. They don't care about external circumstances and still want their money back. According to former Wendler manager Heiko Schulte-Siering, he also receives money from Norberg, a total of about 22,000 euros: “To date, I have not received a single cent, and I even had to pay court and court costs myself.”
But Claudia Norberg has yet to find a way to get her hands on the money. “If I had the money, I would pay it back,” he says desperately, wanting to find a way to “somehow get that much money.” But the future is financially bad for Claudia Norberg as well. “But I won't make that much money in my entire life. I don't know how I'll ever accumulate that amount in my life. If I won the lottery, I'd definitely give the money to my creditors.”
Cohabitation for Claudia Norberg
Instead of living a life of luxury in Florida, Michael Wendler's ex-husband has now had to give up his house in Cape Coral and is sharing an apartment with several roommates. That would be the easiest way for Claudia Norberg to make ends meet. “I have three rooms in the house and I rent out two of them. I couldn't afford this house without my two tenants.
The original article “Claudia Norberg despairs: 'I don't know how I will raise this amount'” comes from BUNTE.de.