Frank Elstner
He is “fighting” his way through Parkinson’s disease
Frank Elstner made his Parkinson’s disease public in 2019.
© imago / Future Image
Frank Elstner is not ready to put his feet up yet. The TV presenter literally “boxes” his way through his Parkinson’s disease.
Frank Elstner’s (79) Parkinson’s disease has been publicly known since 2019. The presenter has since withdrawn from the TV business, but not completely, as he recently revealed in the “Spiegel” interview. He continues to have new ideas and concepts ready: “Three of them are very specific, one is a bomb, and 20 others have so far just been gimmicks.”
Moderation is also still on the agenda for him. He only lost interest in shows, “I’m out of age”. Most recently Elstner worked on numerous animal reports for species protection, for which he traveled around the world.
Elstner keeps fit with boxes, among other things. The sport supports him in his agility and coordination. For his 79th birthday in April 2021, his wife Britta presented him with a punching bag – “a great gift,” said Elstner. It is used to train several times a week in Elstner’s basement, where he has set up a fitness room.
Long hospital stay
Nevertheless, the disease does not pass the 79-year-old. In August Elstner was on an Ayurveda cure in Austria and lost eight kilograms within 20 days. Then he traveled to his wife and son Andreas in Mallorca, where his health suddenly deteriorated. Elstner had to go to the hospital for several days. “I had overexerted myself,” he explains to “Spiegel”. “Maybe I took losing weight too seriously.”
Therefore, he wants to reduce his appointments in the future. “I now see more and more clearly what I can no longer”, reveals Elstner with regard to his 80th birthday in the coming year, for which he has “hellish respect”. First of all, an SWR documentary about him and his book “Then I stop shaking” are in the works. Elstner wrote the latter together with his doctor, it will be published on September 30th.
Frank Elstner was already known at the end of the 1960s for the show “Spiel ohne Grenzen”. “The Monday Painters” followed in the 1970s. In 1981 he invented “Wetten, dass ..?” Elstner moderated the show from 1981 to 1987 a total of 39 times before handing it over to Thomas Gottschalk (71). He is considered to be one of the most important show developers in German-speaking countries.