Michael Schumacher’s daughter, Gina, has marked her father’s birthday with a deeply personal tribute shared on social media.
The seven-time Formula One world champion turned 57 on Saturday, but has remained out of the public eye since his catastrophic skiing accident in December 2013.
In a post on Instagram, Gina, 28, shared a childhood photograph showing herself with her father, her younger brother Mick, her mother Corinna and the family’s dogs.
“The best forever. Happy birthday papa,” she wrote.
Schumacher’s family have long maintained strict privacy around his condition. However, reports indicate he continues to live under 24-hour medical care at the family’s home near Lake Geneva.
The German racing legend was injured while skiing off-piste in the French Alps during a family holiday. He fell and struck his head on a rock, sustaining a severe brain injury despite wearing a helmet.
Schumacher was airlifted to hospital and placed in a medically induced coma for six months.
More than 12 years after the accident, reports suggest he is unable to walk or speak and requires constant care from a team of up to 15 people.
His son, Mick Schumacher, appeared to confirm his father’s inability to speak in a 2021 Netflix documentary about Schumacher’s life.
“Since the accident, of course, these experiences, these moments that I believe many people have with their parents, are no longer present, or to a lesser extent. And in my view, that is a little unfair,” he said.
“I think Dad and me, we would understand each other in a different way now. Simply because we speak a similar language, the language of motorsport. And that we would have much more to talk about.
“That’s where my head is most of the time. Thinking that would be so cool. That would be it. I would give up everything just for that.”
Schumacher’s wife of 30 years, Corinna Schumacher, has also spoken publicly about life after the accident, saying she misses her husband every day.
“I have never blamed God for what happened. It was just really bad luck, all the bad luck anyone can have in life.
“It’s always terrible when you say, ‘Why is this happening to Michael or us?’ But then why does it happen to other people?
“Of course, I miss Michael every day. But it’s not just me who misses him.
“The children, the family, his father, everyone around him. I mean, everybody misses Michael,” she said.
Despite the family’s efforts to protect Schumacher’s privacy, they were later targeted in a blackmail plot in which offenders threatened to release private information and footage unless they were paid approximately $24 million.
In February last year, three men were convicted of attempting to blackmail the family. One of them was Schumacher’s former bodyguard.
More than 900 private photographs, 600 videos, and confidential medical records were stolen from the Schumacher home and stored on two hard drives and four USB devices. Police recovered all but one of the hard drives, which remains missing.
The former bodyguard, identified in court only as Markus F, received a two-year suspended sentence following the trial in Germany. The Schumacher family subsequently announced plans to appeal the ruling.
“We have appealed against what we consider to be the far too lenient sentence for Mr F,” Corinna said in a statement.
“In my opinion, he was the mastermind behind this. What still shocks me most is the massive breach of trust.
“He should receive a punishment that deters any potential copycats.”
Another offender, identified as Yilmaz T, was sentenced to three years in prison for threatening to upload the stolen material to the dark web if the family did not comply with his demands.
His 30-year-old son received a six-month suspended sentence for aiding and abetting extortion.
Images: Instagram
