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Celebrity chef Tim Mälzer talks about the death of his father in his TV show.
IMAGO / Stefan Schmidbauer
"Kitchen Impossible" star Tim Mälzer is known as a cheerful character, but his new TV format also confronts him with questions of mortality: in an interview, he gets emotional when it comes to the death of his father.
In the new RTL show "Herbstresidenz mit Tim Mälzer und André Dietz", the TV chef and actor train ten people with disabilities to become everyday helpers in a retirement home.
For Mälzer, the topic brings back emotional memories - his father died before the question of moving into a home could even arise. His father Rainer passed away unexpectedly in 2023.
"We made plans for the fall vacations to do activities together, and three days later I got the call that my father had passed away," the celebrity chef describes the sad experience in an interview with RTL.
"He was sitting on the sofa, said he was feeling a bit unwell, wanted to go to the toilet and died standing up." According to Mälzer, his father "fell to the floor in the corridor and was dead".
However, the 54-year-old can see one positive aspect in the tragedy: "I lost my father, he was still the person I knew, the person who raised me." This realization helps him to "develop acceptance". Rainer Mälzer never became a care case.
Tim Mälzer's mother Christa is 77 years old - her future concerns the TV chef, but ultimately he sees the decision as being up to her: "It is her decision to tell me what she would like, and then we have to check the reality of what is feasible."
His father's death provided the food for thought that would ultimately lead to the production of "Herbstresidenz": "Since my father's death far too early, I had to think about it very intensively: How do we actually want to manage our personal and family lives in old age? What wishes do we have? What fears do we have?"
