Michael Schumacher’s family discuss his life after skiing crash in new film

2021 F1 season

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Michael Schumacher’s wife Corinna and son Mick have given rare insight into the multiple world champion’s life with his family since he suffered serious head injuries in a skiing crash seven years ago.

The seven-times world champion was badly injured when he fell while skiing in Meribel, France in December 2013. After undergoing surgeries for injuries to his brain, Schumacher returned to the family home in Switzerland in September 2014, at which time he was said to no longer be in a coma.

He has not been seen in public since then and the Schumacher family has largely remained silent over his condition during that time. However family members discuss the crash and their life with him in a new, officially-sanctioned biopic due for release next week under the title Schumacher.

“Of course I miss Michael every day,” says Corinna Schumacher in the film. “But it’s not just me who misses him: The children, the family, his father, everyone around him.” Schumacher’s mother Elisabeth died in 2003.

“Everybody misses Michael, but Michael is here,” his wife continues. “Different, but he’s here, and that gives us strength, I find.”

She also confirmed he is continuing to undergo treatment for his injuries. “We’re together,” she says. “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.”

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

The younger of the Schumachers’ two children, their son Mick, made his debut as a Formula 1 driver this year. He described the sadness he feels at being unable to discuss his career and share other experiences with his father.

“Since the accident these [family] 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,” he says.

“I think dad and me, 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 much more to talk about. And that’s where my head is most of the time, thinking that would be so cool. I would give up everything just for that.”

Schumacher is due for release on Netflix on September 15th 2021. RaceFans’ review will be published today

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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31 comments on “Michael Schumacher’s family discuss his life after skiing crash in new film”

  1. Not a big shock or anything, but boy that is a bummer. You’ve got to feel for the family, knowing Michael is both gone and still there, I don’t know how I could’ve dealt with that.

    1. Yes, I guess it is up to each unique situation how to deal with it. But it doesnt sound much like a situation I would allow to occur, while I am aware I have way too little information to make that call in this case

  2. That is heartbreaking, expected as much, but I can’t imagine what the family had to go through all these years holding out hope to get Michael back, while trying to go on with their lives. You’ve got to respect Mick making it to F1 through all of that.

  3. I had to pick away a tear after reading this….

    1. I don’t think you’ll be alone. Get ready for a rollercoaster of emotions watching the film next week…

  4. Not sure I’ll get through this one in one sitting. This just keeps confirming what we already now, Schumacher isn’t present even though he’s alive. This’ll be a tough one to watch.

    1. Yeah this is sad really.
      All this time in my mind i hoped that he is communicating somehow with the family but what mick says it makes me more sad not only for Michael but for mick also.

  5. Jean Todt: “Corinna willed him to survive, he survived – but with consequences”

    I really am sorry for Mick. He should have been move on and live with a great memory of his dad. But his own family make him watched a sad state of his father for a decade.

    1. This sort of judgement is the reason families prefer to stay private. We should not be doing that. Anything other than empathy and sympathy are unnecessary in my opinion.

      1. Clearly my comment is nothing but empathy and sympathy to what Mick as a kid had been endured. His mother should prioritize the living. Making a film deal while saying Michael condition has to stay private also very questionable.

    2. I really am sorry for Mick. He should have been move on and live with a great memory of his dad. But his own family make him watched a sad state of his father for a decade.

      Who are you to judge on the decisions Michael’s family took related his treatment and private life?

      1. They’ve kept it a secret so we all get to judge. It is very creepy. She should move on.

        1. Oh c’mon man. What is you problem

    3. You forget hope is a very very strong thing as there is hope there is life….

      Never stop hoping otherwise you fade away.

      1. you wholeheartedly deserve comment of the year. thank you, i am crying.

  6. This is a tough topic but in a weird weird way Schumacher’s situation is someway similar to Senna’s. What has happened, has happened but almost every motorsport fan know the story of Senna. His name and his legacy has grown a lot since 1994. Schumacher broke all his records but after the skiing accident he has only been in public by his hashtag #KeepFighting.

    1. Totally different situations. Senna died at his peak while driving an F1 car, leading a race and fighting for a championship.
      That is why his death was a monumental blow to the sport. He was the black sheep, the outsider who came in and defied the rules and rule makers.

      Michael’s death(to the public) came as a shock, but he wasn’t racing anymore, wasn’t driving and didn’t affect the sport in any way at all. Michael’s accident made absolutely no difference to Formula 1.
      Michael is just as much of a GOAT as Senna. But never for one second think that their accidents are even remotely similar in the way they touched people.

  7. Always makes me really sad to read anything about this, I hope Michael is aware on some level at least that his son has made it into F1 and I hope Mick is able to share some of his experiences in the sport with his father in some way.

  8. Just one stupid slip caused all of this. Life is strange.

  9. Yes, a difficult topic and I can only assume from the news blackout from the family that he is not in any sense in a positive condition. Very tough for everyone there.
    He most certainly shone bright in his career and although I was always rooting for his rivals I much admired the man. His appearance on Top Gear was also a classic moment.

    Slightly off topic but could Racefans not come up with a proper photo of Corinna instead of one obscured by these ugly masks.

  10. Lisbeth Wilson
    8th September 2021, 17:24

    This is so very sad. I’m quite sure Michael would be at every race, cheering on his son and basking in the pride of it all. Such a tragic loss. Good luck young Mick. I know you’ll make Daddy proud.

  11. Gut wrenching. Almost wish it wasn’t said.

  12. Makes me sick the very idea he’s alive but he’s this once great racer is reduced to this awful deal

  13. At what point do you let someone go to the afterlife instead of being kept alive in a vegetative state? I understand the will to keep him alive, necessitating a fortune to do so, I can’t imagine the pain they went through and still do, but at some point you have to say goodbye, the afterlife is nothing to fear, a journey we must all take :)

    1. we don’t know if he’s in a vegetative state

    2. We can’t judge in this particular case given their weird silence (aren’t we all human after all?) but I agree in general. I just hope it is all with consent of Michael/that he has been able to deliver his input/wishes/desires to the matter. Being silent in this matter just triggers this feeling something is not really right here

      1. And on another note, where does this leave his kids? Surely talking about a trauma is part of processing it. They are not able to talk to friends etc / vent their hearts. That is mentally quite challenging. Again, we can’t really say anything in this particular case because nothing is said…its a circle.. which in my opinion makes matters not only worse but also questionable. I just hope this all doesnt end in a Misery (movie) scenario.

  14. Why is it so hard and taboo for this family to tell Michael’s fan his true state? the fans will take it and then stop asking. I have a disabled sister, it would be terrible for her if we kept her away from the world she lives in. Michael is in a vegetative state, so what?? so are many other people. I bet Michael would like the world to know if he could communicate it. Alex Zanardi’s family are hero’s for how they have dealt publicly with his current situation, while Schumacher’s family goes and makes money from Michael’s state without even explaining it.

    1. I agree. It triggers debate over whether or not the status quo is with consent of Michael. I sure hope so.

  15. Mick’s words made my want to cry

  16. Such a tragedy.

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