crooner
Ute Freudenberg talks about her Parkinson’s disease
Ute Freudenberg noticed the first symptoms of her Parkinson’s disease a few years ago during an autograph session
© imago/Future Image
Ute Freudenberg has made her Parkinson’s disease public. In a talk show, the pop singer spoke openly about her diagnosis.
Pop singer Ute Freudenberg has on Friday evening in the MDR talk show “Riverboat” made her Parkinson’s disease public. “I now have an illness that you can see, and I can’t just keep quiet about it,” said the 66-year-old. Her right arm was particularly affected. Since she is right-handed, her handwriting has changed, which “always caused a lot of praise and joy”: “And it’s gone now – because of Parkinson’s.”
Freudenberg received the diagnosis in 2018. She noticed the first symptoms during an autograph session with her fans. “All of a sudden I was getting like electric shocks, I could hardly hold the pen,” she recalled. The event was eventually canceled. “I tried it again at home and I couldn’t write there either.” A medical marathon followed. After a nuclear medicine head screening at the University Hospital in Marburg, she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
“Getting old is not for cowards”
The pop singer had to process that first: “Then I was in shock for three days.” She has always lived healthy and taken care of herself, she explained. “And then I thought, ‘Oh shit. Getting old really isn’t for cowards. Now you’ve got something coming.'”
She also revealed that a doctor found that her body was unable to process toxins due to a missing gene. “And then I was married to a guy who spent 12 years restoring swords and building furniture in our apartment. So I was breathing wood preservatives in our apartment for 12 years.” Your brain is therefore poisoned with heavy metals. “And when I saw this picture from the head screening and you see the white holes in your brain: That’s not fun.”
Ute Freudenberg remains positive despite Parkinson’s
But she quickly went into “survival mode” and acquired knowledge. “I will not surrender to this disease and will always do something about it.” She’s trying to stay positive and slow down the disease by exercising and eating well. “That’s also the advice I give to others: adjust and make the best of it.” Going public now makes her happy: “Now I’m better.”
With her hit “Jugendliebe” in 1978, Ute Freudenberg became a celebrated hit star in the GDR. This year she is celebrating her 50th stage anniversary, for which she would like to perform on stage despite her illness.