It all started with the words “Damn, I love you.” The song made Matthias Reim suddenly famous in 1990 and topped the charts for 16 weeks. Reim became a hit and a pop star. He says today that he wasn't entirely happy with that meteoric rise at the time. “Everything happened so fast.” He would have been “so embarrassed” if teenagers had screamed hysterically about him as a “Bravo” star. As high as pop star Matthias Reim flew, he also fell as low in his career: millions in debt, personal bankruptcy, health problems and repeated headlines about his private life.

Reim is the father of seven children and his fourth marriage is to pop singer Christin Stark (34). His youngest daughter Zoe from this relationship was born in March 2022.

ARD's new documentary “Matthias Reim – My life is Rock'n'Roll” will be broadcast on Saturday evening (13 January 23.40) on the Erste channel, after Reim has also been a guest on Florian Silbereisen's show “Schlagerchampions” since the year. 20.15 is, accompanies the singer between the stage and family life on Lake Constance. And he looks back on setbacks like 2015, which was a “fateful year” for Reim, as the documentary puts it. That's when a nightmare began for his family.

Matthias Reim: With tears, his wife Christin recalls his serious health problems

The singer fell seriously ill while on tour. “Over the days he just lost more and more weight, he became incredibly thin. (…) It was dramatic,” says his wife Christin Stark. The night before he “more or less crawled into the hospital” he gave a concert, “it was a tough number,” emphasizes Reim.

Severe myocarditis was diagnosed in the clinic. The condition of the pop star was difficult. His wife, Christin, tearfully recalls the moment when doctors told her that her husband's heart was only working at 20 percent capacity and it was not clear if Reim would ever step on stage again. “It's hard,” he insists, and has to pause.

Reim had to stay in the hospital for five months before he was finally allowed home with his family, where he began an exercise program. Wife Christin emphasizes: “He got up (…) and said: “I want to live. I want to live with my wife, I want to live with my kids, and I want to make music with my fans. I will stand up again and fight for it.” He respects it very much. “He did it all himself.”

The ARD documentary also shows Matthias Reim in his private life

Reim's role as a father also takes up a lot of space in the documentary. His children often had to do without him because of his work, as he himself admits. Reim's son Julian (27) and daughter Marie (23), from his relationship with pop singer Michelle (31), aspire to a music career like their father and can be seen on stage with him in the film. “You pay the price when I'm a father, you don't see me often, I'm always busy and on the go,” sums up Reim. On the other hand, through his life as a show star, he can give his children time that no other father could. He says he likes being a “hero” to his kids.

Son Julian says: “He's looking for that closeness. He wants to be a father. For the first time, I think he is ready to take on this role.” Reim adds that he “realized” that he can listen to his children. Not just for them, but so he could learn from it himself. He is grateful for that.

“You pay for me becoming a father”

Still: Just living at home with his wife Christine and his youngest daughter, under a year old, wouldn't be Reim's. He needs a stage. When he comes home after performances, he “falls into a hole,” he says frankly. “You suddenly feel so redundant.” After the spotlight, ordinary daily routines are on the agenda: “Playing with the baby in the garden or going to Edeka to bring diapers.”

Matthias Reims is not particularly interested in shopping, as the documentary shows in a blink of an eye. He is “old school”. The motorcycle and boating fan “preferably only does men's work,” the spokesperson explains. Reim reports that he is actually more responsible for “silly things” such as repairs, construction or insurance. But when his wife, Christin, asks him to go shopping, he has to take over here too – albeit reluctantly.

A supermarket purchase drives Matthias Reim to despair

This kind of supermarket shopping sometimes drives the pop star to despair: “Where is the stupid spelled bread, I can't find it, (…) I'm looking for stupid baby food. (…) Seriously, where is the nonsense?” he complains in front of the shelves. “It's a waste of time for me too.” He gets “in a bad mood” when he has to go through the store three times because he can't find anything. “I always ask myself if I am too stupid. Anyone can do that, except me.” Wife Christin jokes about her husband's shopping phobia: “I think he's against it to this day. But he does.”

Matthias Reim's brother remembers – he helped him out of personal bankruptcy with millions of debts

Of course, the documentary also looks back at the low points of Reim's career and the millions in debt that led to his personal bankruptcy in the early 2000s. At the time when his albums were also failing, he was also under a mountain of debt of 20 million marks. “My manager and partner had a general power of attorney and bought eastern properties like crazy,” Reim remembers. He was personally responsible for it.

His long-time driver and friend Willi insists: “It completely destroyed Matthias.” Back then, he reports, “every beer tent” was played to make up for it. Matthias' brother, Christoph Reim, who lives with him as his banker. family in Milan, he helped out of the crisis at that time and also speaks in the documentary Matthias is grateful to him to this day: “When I really had to take a lot of money and get out of there. nonsense, he didn't have it “The brother lent Matthias money and gave him a new start – his “new birth”, as the singer calls it.

“Until the Lord takes me” – Matthias Reim wants to continue being on stage

Matthias Reim will go on tour again this year from May to December. He doesn't think about saying goodbye to the stage: “It hasn't arrived. “You never get there, and that's actually the nice thing about recognizing that: after every record comes the next record, and after every concert comes the next concert—until God comes after me,” he says.

This article “Matthias Reim's wife tearfully remembers 'dramatic' health problems” was originally from Bunte.de.