In Hollywood or at home in Germany, unbelievable stories not only happen in front of the camera, but also behind it. GALA looks back at the most mysterious deaths and destinies. This time: the incredible accidental death of talk show pioneer Ilona Christen.
Ilona Christen was the first woman and after Hans Meiser, 77, the second person, the one Daily talk show on German television. “Ilona Christen” flickered across the screens on RTL from September 1993 to August 1999. Before that, the TV pioneer led from 1986 to 1992 through the “ZDF-Fernsehgarten”. In the 90s, Christen was an integral part of German entertainment television and became a cult figure.
In the 2000s, Ilona Christen, who had lived in Switzerland since marrying building contractor Ambros Christen in 1982, suddenly disappeared from the scene. She rarely appeared in public. It was to be her last living decade. According to her husband, Ilona died on July 31, 2009 at the age of 58 as a result of blood poisoning as a result of falling down the stairs. Her death still raises questions to this day.
Ilona Christen dies at 58: The details of her mysterious death
The unexpected news of Ilona Christen’s accidental death shocked everyone in July 2009. Her husband Ambros Christen first confirmed to the newspaper “SonntagsBlick” that she had succumbed to blood poisoning. He further explained that Ilona had fallen down a flight of stairs on July 8th. However, she refused “to go to the doctor. Only when her right arm turned dark blue did she go to the hospital,” said Ambros Christen.
He continued, “There they found a broken collarbone and a severe hematoma (bruise, editor’s note) firmly. Her severely weakened body could not recover from blood poisoning that followed later.” In an interview with “Bunte”, he added: “A week before her death, her body showed the first signs of poisoning. In the end, her blood was completely poisoned.” “No antibiotics” or “blood dialysis” would have helped either. “Liver and kidneys” failed, “septic shock” had set in, his wife “fell into a coma (…) and died on July 31”.
Rumors of depression, suicidal thoughts and cancer are loud: Ilona’s husband takes a stand
It’s a story that’s hard to take, especially for Christen’s husband. Rumors about an alleged illness or depression quickly arose. Ilona Christen is said to have gained a lot of weight, and there was even talk of suicidal thoughts. At some point, Ambros Christen could no longer remain silent and took a stand a few days after his wife’s death.
In conversation with the In the Swiss daily “blick” he described his wife’s alleged suicidal thoughts as “nonsense” and explained:
I would have known if she had been suicidal. We were a member of Exit and had living wills, so people talk openly about death. And she wasn’t physically ill either.
“It is true that she had gained weight in recent years, but”
He also had to deny an alleged thyroid tumor, due to which Ilona Christen is said to have gained weight. Ambros explained to “Bunte”: “It’s true that she had gained weight in recent years, but not because she allegedly had a thyroid tumor. (…) She just liked to eat and that’s why she gained weight”. In this interview, too, he emphasized that the popular TV face was “otherwise in good health”.
This is how Ilona Christen felt after she withdrew from the limelight
Ilona Christen is said to have coped well with her sudden departure from the limelight at the end of the 1990s. Your house with a garden According to her husband, she loved Lake Lucerne and thus fulfilled a lifelong dream.
In addition, the couple would have done a lot after the TV break. “She took photos, collected art, we traveled half the world,” he quotes “blick”. It sounds like a wonderful old age. And yet the end of Ilona Christen always creates question marks
Sources used: Bunte.de, blick.ch
