Lilly Becker’s son Amadeus turned 13 two months after his father – tennis legend Boris – was fired. Then there is much to celebrate.
The second Mrs. Becker, who is still married to the disgraced champion, admits she exaggerated a bit because her son was “through a lot”.
“I wanted to give Amadeus the best party ever.” I tried everything, to the point where I had to say, “Don’t think you’ll have this every year.” You don’t get a party like that until you’re 18 or 21 again.”
“I invited every kid in his class. I hired a red carpet, a limousine, people to act as paparazzi and take pictures of him and his friends getting out. I turned our backyard into a nightclub with lights and a bar. We had animators, a belly dancer with a snake and make-up artists. Thirteen of the kids stayed home and the next day we all went out to play paintball. Then another night.
“It went on all weekend and by the end my house was trashed and I had poop, but you know what?” It was worth it just to see that big smile on his face. That’s what it was about. I didn’t want him to have time to think about anything other than what a great time he had and how much he was loved.”
The second, Lilly Becker (pictured), who is still married to the disgraced champion, admits she exaggerated a bit because her son had “been through a lot”.
Pictured: Lilly, Boris and their son Amadeus, who turned 13 two months after his father – the tennis legend – was fired
Can we mention Boris? Apparently he wasn’t in London for liquor, having been deported from the UK immediately after his release. But did he at least fill in for the belly dancer? Sending a huge gift?
Lilly refuses to be lured, but rolls her eyes.
Apparently, shock waves went around the world when Boris Becker – still a hero to millions – actually went to jail and was found guilty of concealing assets and loans worth £2.5million in a bankruptcy fraud case.
Serving eight months of his two-and-a-half-year sentence, he emerged from prison to give a series of emotional interviews about how the “brutal” experience had made him a “better man”.
“You fight to survive every day,” Boris said, raving about the fact that he was a tennis player surrounded by murderers, drug dealers, rapists and people smugglers. “You have to surround yourself quickly with what I would call the tough guys, because you need protection.”
His prison sentence “humiliated him,” he said. “I took on the incarceration, but I also took on the glory, and if anything, it’s made me a stronger, better man.”
He’s about to write the “third chapter” of his life, he said, looking up, forward, forward.
A round of applause? Well, he certainly won’t get anything from his estranged wife – she is busy making a new life for herself and her son in Clapham, having retired from her former home at Wimbledon, the scene of Boris’ greatest sporting triumphs.
I have interviewed Lilly several times. She scolded and cried and banged the table angrily the last time we met almost a year ago when he had just been taken to prison, still shocked at how let down she felt in him, unprepared for what was to come.
They separated when Amadeus was eight years old – her decision, she says today. And while he’d never been in the running for Father of the Year awards, he’d been a big part of his son’s life, and she thought that was a good thing.
However, when he was imprisoned, she felt she had to “clean up the mess and pick up the pieces.” This included telling her distraught and confused son why his father was in prison and trying to comfort him.
I asked at the time how she felt about Boris surviving indoors. Perhaps he would emerge a changed man, someone desperate to make amends?
Perhaps the three of them could sit down and Boris – who has three other children and two other wives – would do his utmost to personally explain everything to his son.
She sneered, saying he’d be closing a string of book deals and offers to “tell his story.” In the end he would triumph “because Boris Becker does it”.
“Prison didn’t change him one bit,” she said. “Boris got out of prison and did the whole ‘I’m so humble’ thing.” But it’s a constant stream of ‘me, me, me’. Give me a break.’
Boris Becker with Lilly and her son Amadeus at the Cartier Queens Cup Final at Smiths Lawn Windsor Great Park Berkshire on June 15, 2014
When he was released, he gave a long interview on German television, which she didn’t want to see, but her new boyfriend – who was German – did.
“Thank goodness for the Peleton bike.” I went upstairs and kept going for an hour, but he was still talking when I came down and I only caught a glimpse of him crying. fake tears Actually embarrassing. Did he take acting classes in prison? It made me laugh. i know this man I was married to this man. I am still married to this man. “Boris doesn’t care about anyone but Boris.”
“Then there was a magazine interview in which he commented that it takes a smart couple to raise a child together.” He was speaking of his first wife, Barbara [Felthus]who never spoke out and questioned his version, his narrative.
“He seemed to forget that I was married to him for many of those years, so the three of us were in charge of parenting together.”
“Then he started talking about his new girlfriend, about how she’s the love of his life.” What? How many of these can you have? No disrespect to her – honestly, I’m happy for her – but how can he speak to the world about the love of his life when the person who should be the love of his life, his son, has barely been mentioned.”
Dutch-born model, TV presenter and proud mother Lilly Becker has always had a fiery personality – ironically it’s one of the qualities Boris finds most attractive. But today, at the age of 46, she’s combative, tired, protective and – oh Boris, your timing was spectacularly bad – also in perimenopause.
“Amadeus is still in his teens, so he’s full of hormones, and I’m in perimenopause, so he’s full of hormones too.” When I start to lose my temper, Amadeus says, ‘Mom, your hormones!'”
Boris Becker of Germany raises his arms to celebrate his victory over Kevin Curren in the men’s singles final of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship on July 7, 1985
She never intended to be a single mother. Even when she and Boris split, she still wanted him in her life and her son’s.
‘Naturally! A son needs a father. To this day, Amadeus asks me to wrestle with him. What!? I can’t wrestle I mean, I try, but a son needs a father.’
It’s quite sad to hear her talk about her life with Boris, which was glittery, exciting and full of riches. She loved him dearly, but it is significant that she also thought of them as soul mates. “He was my best friend,” she says. “And a woman doesn’t give that up easily.”
Their breakup was messy, complicated by egos, geography, fights over money, but somehow they pulled through.
There was an occasional public argument, but it still worked.
“And of course it is possible to be parents together. Lots of people do. Even though Boris isn’t legal in the UK, there are always ways around this. You can meet halfway – literally. people do. “I don’t care if Boris lives in Timbuktu, he can always see more of his son.”
It was reported that Boris is now living in Italy.
“I do not know where he is. He seems to travel a lot. I didn’t expect things to change when he got out of prison, but I kind of hoped that maybe he appreciated that I had to fix his mess. A thank you would have been great. Instead, I got the opposite – taunts from his many interviews.
“I didn’t ask for much. Someone should have given him a book about co-parenting in prison. He would have had time to read it. He could have learned something.’
In our chat, she is witty and self-deprecating and tells me that – after a long debate – she has agreed to make a documentary that tells HER full story and that will be aired very soon. ‘Why not?’ she says when I ask why I’m making a documentary now.
“Boris is allowed to tell HIS story.” He can easily attack me. He can be selective about which parts he publishes. It’s all fame, fame, fame, the ’80s, then it jumps into the now.”
Every time her ex pops up in the media and takes another step on the road to rehabilitation and Brand Boris’ recovery, it’s an “Oof” moment for Lilly, not dissimilar to Boom Boom’s first serve Hit Becker with full force.
But isn’t it true that the public still loves Boris Becker despite everything?
“Yes,” she says. “And believe me, I understand. god i see He’s a fantastic tennis player, a legend. He won grand slams. But let’s not promote fatherhood through him. Please!’
Which brings us straight to the other thing Boris Becker is famous for. He has two adult sons – Noah and Elias – from his first marriage to Barbara Felthus. But there’s also his so-called broom closet baby, Anna Ermakova, who was conceived at London’s Nobu restaurant in 1999 during a brief sexual encounter that made headlines around the world.
Anna is now 23 and appears to be on good terms with her father (she wrote a supportive statement during his trial), but Lilly is appalled that Boris is so quick to refer to the circumstances of her conception.
“That broom cupboard thing – he STILL talks around like he’s proud of it.” I don’t like the way he talked about Anna. He keeps thinking about the impact it is having on this girl and how her mother Angela must be feeling. She has my utmost respect. After all this, she had to hold her head up.
“I also don’t think it’s respectful to his other kids if he talks about it. ‘Enough of the broom closet!’
What on earth will her son make of this debacle when he’s old enough to assess the situation? Will she let him watch her documentary? ‘Absolutely. I’m doing it for Amadeus so he can see the truth. My truth!’
Has Amadeus seen the documentary his father was involved in? No he did not.
“But this could be a good moment of father-son bonding,” she says.
BOOM!