Matthias Reim: His wife tearfully tells how he fought his way back to life

Anyone who hears the melody of his biggest hit “Damn, I love you” will hum along – whether they are a pop fan or not. With this song, singer Matthias Reim (66) celebrated a meteoric rise in the hit industry in 1990. He’s been there for decades now. However, as high as he flew, he also fell just as low: 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 the pop singer Christin Stark (34). His youngest daughter Zoe from this relationship was born in March 2022.

The new ARD documentary “Matthias Reim – My Life is Rock’n’Roll”, which will be broadcast on Saturday evening (January 13th, 11.40 p.m.) on Erste, after Reim will also be a guest on Florian Silbereisen’s show “Schlagerchampions” from 8.15 p.m is, accompanies the singer between the stage and his family life on Lake Constance. And she looks back on setbacks like the one in 2015, which was a “fateful year” for Reim, as the documentary says. “A nightmare” began for his family back then.

Matthias Reim: His wife tearfully remembers his serious health problems

The singer became seriously ill while on tour at the time. “Within days he just lost more and more weight, he became incredibly thin. (…) That was dramatic,” says his wife Christin Stark. The evening before he “more or less crawled into the hospital,” he played a concert, “that was a hard number,” emphasizes Reim.

Severe myocarditis was diagnosed in the clinic. The pop star’s condition was serious. With tears, her wife Christin remembers the moment when the doctors told her that her husband’s heart was only functioning at 20 percent capacity and it was unclear whether Reim would ever be on a stage again. “That’s hard,” she emphasizes – and has to interrupt briefly.

Reim had to stay in the hospital for five months before he was finally allowed to go home to his family, where he started a training program. Wife Christin emphasizes: “He stood up (…) and said, I want to live. I want to live with my wife, I want to live with my children, and I want to make music with my fans. I get up again and I fight for that.” She has a “great respect” for it. “He did it all by himself.”

Documentary shows Matthias Reim privately – “you pay a price if you have me as a father”

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 job, as he himself admits. Reim’s son Julian (27) and his daughter Marie (23) from his relationship with the pop singer Michelle (31) are striving for a music career like their father and can be seen on stage with him in the film. “You pay a price when you have me as a father, you don’t see me often, I’m always busy and on the go,” summarizes Reim. On the other hand, through his life as a show star, he can give his children time that no other father could give. He says he likes to be “a hero” for his children.

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

Nevertheless: A life just at home with wife Christin and his youngest, less than one-year-old daughter, that wouldn’t be Reim’s thing. He needs the stage. When he comes home after performances, he “falls into a hole,” he reports honestly. “You suddenly feel so unnecessary.” After the spotlight, normal everyday tasks are on the agenda: “Playing with the baby in the garden or going to Edeka to get diapers.”

A supermarket purchase drives Matthias Reim to despair

Matthias Reims is not particularly interested in shopping, as the documentary shows with a wink. He is “old school”. The motorcycle and boat fan “preferably only does men’s jobs,” explains the spokesman. Reim reports that he is actually more responsible for the “rough stuff” like repairs, construction work or insurance. But when his wife Christin asks him to go shopping, he has to take over here too – albeit grudgingly.

Shopping like this in the supermarket sometimes drives the pop star to despair: “Where is the stupid spelled bread now, I can’t find it, (…) I’m looking for the stupid baby food. (…) Seriously, where is the shit ?” he complains in front of the shelves. “It’s such 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 something. “I always ask myself whether I’m too stupid. Anyone can do that, except me.” Wife Christin jokes about her husband’s shopping phobia: “I think he’s still reluctant to this day. But he’s doing it.”

He had 20 million marks in debt: “Matthias completely tore that down”

Of course, the documentary also looks back at Reim’s career lows and his millions in debt, which led to his personal bankruptcy at the beginning of the 2000s. At a time when his albums were also flopping, he was also saddled with a mountain of debt totaling 20 million marks. “My manager and partner had general power of attorney and bought up eastern real estate like a madman,” remembers Reim. He was personally liable for it.

His long-time driver and friend Willi emphasizes: “That really tore Matthias down.” Back then they played “in every beer tent” to make up for it, he reports. Matthias’ brother Christoph Reim, who lives as a banker with his family in Milan, helped him out of the crisis and also has his say in the documentary. Matthias is grateful to him to this day: “When it came to really spending a lot of money and getting me out of shit, he didn’t bat an eyelash.” The brother lent Matthias money and gave him a new start – his “new birth”, as the singer calls it.

Matthias Reim doesn’t think about quitting: “Until the good Lord takes me”

Matthias Reim is going on tour again this year from May to December. He doesn’t think about saying goodbye to the stage: “There’s no arriving. You never arrive, 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 the good Lord comes for me,” he says.