FORMULA One legend Michael Schumacher did not attend his daughter’s wedding, says his close pal.
Rumours started to swirl in September that Schumacher watched his oldest child tie the knot in Spain in what would have marked his first public appearance for over a decade.
Fellow F1 ace Johnny Herbert has now come out and labelled the idea of the 55-year-old being at the wedding as “fake news“.
The Grand Prix winning Brit says he expects Michael’s life to always remain behind closed doors with even major events like a family wedding not being worth the media frenzy it could create.
The seven-time F1 champion hasn’t been seen in public since he suffered a serious head injury after a skiing accident in December 2013 in the French Alps.
His family have managed to keep his health and current condition a tight-knit secret for years with only a handful of people seeing Schumacher in the last 10 years.
Despite the protective inner circle around the driving icon, it was believed that he was at his daughter Gina’s wedding.
There was even hope that this might of meant he could attend his son’s Mick wedding in the future after he recently got engaged.
Speaking to FlashscoreUSA, Herbert said: “It will always be a closed shop.
“The most recent rumour was he attended his daughter’s wedding.
“Unfortunately, from what I understand that was all A1 fake news and no truth in it.”
One of the main reasons why many thought he may have gone to the ceremony was due to the location of the event.
It was held in a Spanish £27million villa, which is believed to have been adapted allowing a team of doctors and nurses to provide round-the-clock care for Schuey.
Reports in the Spanish press first claimed Schumacher was likely to have attended the private ceremony.
They named a number of reasons with another being due to guests getting instructed to leave their mobile phones at the door.
No media were given permission to attend with only pictures posted to Gina’s Instagram being seen publicly so far.
Among the small guest list was Michael’s brother Ralf and his partner Etienne Bosquet-Cassagne.
Only a few others were present outside of immediate family.
Since 2013, Corinna has been creating a private world around Michael as he continues his recovery.
This includes forming a tight knit group of people allowed to see the icon and those who can’t due to fear of his private life being leaked.
Schumacher is said to have regular meetings with his former teammate Luca Badoer at Ferrari.
As well as his manager Sabine Kehm – who is arguably the closest non-family member to Michael both before and after the accident.
The third member of the circle is Jean Todt who has been close to Michael for over 30 years.
MICHAEL Schumacher’s life was hanging by a thread over 10-years-ago as medics tried desperately to keep him alive after a tragic skiing crash.
The F1 legend was left with horrific brain injuries and placed into a coma for 250 days.
He was given the best possible treatment as he underwent hours of tricky operations on his brain.
Back in 2013, the retired seven-time world champion, and his then 14-year-old son set off on the Combe de Saulire ski run in the exclusive French resort of Meribel.
Footage from his helmet camera revealed he was not travelling at excessive speed when his skis struck a rock hidden beneath the snow.
He catapulted forward 11.5ft and crashed into a boulder head first that split his helmet into two and left him needing to be airlifted to hospital for two life-saving operations.
At one point his family were told to brace themselves for the worst case scenario as the situation was much worse than originally believed.
At the time, medics said Schumacher was likely to stay in an induced coma for at least 48 hours as his body and mind recovered.
But the coma ended up lasting 250 days – more than eight months.
After he woke up in June 2014, he was discharged from hospital and sent to his home in Lake Geneva to get further treatment.
Since then his wife Corinna and his inner circle of friends have expertly avoided almost anything leaking out about his health status.
Only small amounts of information have been released including reports that Schumacher was in a wheelchair but can react to things around him.
In 2019, it was said that Schumacher was set to undergo breakthrough stem cell therapy in a bid to regenerate and rebuild his nervous system.
Renowned France cardiologist Dr Philippe Menasche, who had operated on him previously, was set to carry out the treatment that would see cells from his heart go to his brain.
Following the treatment at the Georges Pompidou Hospital in Paris, he was said to be “conscious”, although few other details were given about his state.
The pair reportedly still watch F1 races together but Todt has admitted in the past that the F1 legend “is no longer the Michael we knew” before the accident.
Ex-Ferrari ace and Michael’s teammate Felipe Massa – regarded as “Michael’s younger brother” – has also been allowed to see his old pal occasionally.
Mick’s fiance Laila Hasanovic, a Danish lingerie model, was reportedly also given a vote of confidence by the Schumacher’s to see Michael earlier this year.
Outside of a dozen welcomed visitors, Corinna has also been forced to make the tough decision and cut certain people out of Michael’s life.
Some of these people include ex-teammate Rubens Barrichello, former manager Will Weber and ex-F1 team boss Eddie Jordan.
Weber once made sensational claims that “we have only heard lies” from the distraught family.
The F1 chief is often credited with discovering a young Schumacher and kick-starting his iconic career.
But he now admits he fears he’ll never be able to see Michael again.
