Extreme mountaineer Reinhold Messner has spoken in a new interview about an inheritance dispute that tore his family apart.
In a new interview, the legendary mountaineer Reinhold Messner (79) has spoken openly about an inheritance dispute in his family. The South Tyrolean, who was the first person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders, talks about “private setbacks” that he could have done without. When asked specifically about his children, the 79-year-old then reveals: “Our relationship is strained. One of my biggest mistakes was: I left them the majority of my assets in my will before I died.”
Reinhold Messner: “At that moment the family fell apart”
Messner says that he himself did not inherit anything from his parents. He is “happy” about that. “There was nothing there except respect and gratitude.” But in the case of his inheritance, things would have been different. “For me, it was the other way round. The moment I had distributed my material inheritance to my children and wife, the family fell apart,” explains the world-famous mountaineer. “The question of who got more was paramount, and at 75, I was standing on the edge of the abyss.”
According to Messner, his children do not understand that he has given them a generous gift. Nevertheless, he hopes that the relationship will improve in the future.
Great love in your mid-70s
In the conversation, Messner also reveals how he met his current wife Diane Messner (44). “Diane attended one of my lectures in South Tyrol in the summer of 2018 […]. She wanted a selfie with me and we started talking. I asked her for her number […]. The next day I called Diane and arranged to have dinner with her.”
But it wasn’t love at first sight. “We got to know each other little by little,” says Messner. He was also honest with her from the start and told her “what she was letting herself in for, what she needed to know about me and my life.”
“I am very lucky that I have a charming woman by my side in my old age,” said the mountaineering legend about his late happiness in love.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
