Boris Becker says he left his first wife after she kept bringing up his child ... trends now
Boris Becker has said that his marriage to model Barbara Feltus was destroyed after she kept bringing up the fact that he'd fathered a child with a Russian waitress — after a brief encounter at restaurant Nobu.
Becker, 55, extraordinarily lays part of the blame for his divorce on his wife, for her reaction to the news that he had conceived a child after the romp with Angela Ermakova in 1999.
Becker claims Barbara, the mother of his children Noah and Elias, initially said: 'Well, I still love you and I still want to be with you and let's somehow find a way.' But he added: 'For months nobody knew yet [about the baby]. But then every little thing we discussed, she came back with the joker card and said: 'You shut the f*** up, because if the world knew what you had done, you are lost.'
'I said, 'You are right, but this is not the relationship I can live with. This is impossible. We need a break.' '
Boris tells how on that fateful night he left his mother and pregnant wife alone in his hotel room to go out and celebrate the end of his playing career, after a defeat in the fourth round of Wimbledon. 'The first beer was opened right after the match,' he recalled. 'Then there was another beer. I wanted to go out with my coach, my physio and my [racket] stringer to celebrate.
Boris Becker (pictured) has said that his marriage to model Barbara Feltus (pictured) was destroyed after she kept bringing up the fact that he'd fathered a child with a Russian waitress
Becker, 55, extraordinarily lays part of the blame for his divorce on his wife, for her reaction to the news that he had conceived a child after the romp with Angela Ermakova (pictured)
'I said to my wife, 'Tomorrow I will be a husband and father but tonight, one last time, I want to be a tennis player.
'My wife was p****d off. I then had a long discussion with my mother on the balcony . . . and the last thing she said to me was, 'Boris, just don't do anything stupid.' '
Later that evening, though, he went to Nobu, met Angela, and had that encounter in a back room of the restaurant. Then he went back to 'his boys', paid the bill for dinner and went home to Munich.
Eight months later he received a fax from Ermakova saying she was pregnant. Becker initially denied paternity, but DNA tests proved that the child Anna (who had inherited his red hair) was indeed his, and he made a financial settlement with her mother — while also funding an expensive divorce from Barbara.
In the documentary Boom Boom! The World vs Boris Becker, the former tennis champion is candid about his failings, which saw him declared bankrupt and eventually jailed, before being deported from the UK. He is still in the throes of divorcing second wife Lilly.
The two-part documentary tells the story of his rise and fall, concentrating on his achievements on the court. Becker was interviewed by Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney twice: first in 2017 and then in 2019, three days before he was jailed. Clearly emotional, he tells viewers: 'I'm just praying that the sentence is lenient.' He weeps as he says: 'It's tough, it's tough. I have hit my bottom.'
Becker, 55, conceived a child (pictured) with Russian waitress Angela Ermakova in 1999
Becker was released from jail last December after serving eight months of his 30-month term, and deported on a private jet back to Germany.
Producer John Battsek told me this week: 'I've seen Boris several times since he came out of prison. It has without doubt had a profound impact on him. He is now ready to start looking at what he wants to do for the rest of his life.'
This looks certain to include commentary on tennis, and he will be free to rejoin the BBC team at Wimbledon for the 2025 championships.
One of the surprises in the film, which streams on Apple TV+ from April 7, is how close first wife Barbara remains to Becker. Reflecting on the scandal that ended her marriage, she says: 'I look at the pain as a learning experience. It had to happen for me to be here.'
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