After the induced coma, Ralph Siegel (80) is on the road to recovery. He remembers what he experienced during that time. "It was terrible," the composer and music producer told the "Bild" newspaper. "You know what nightmares are. But nightmares are ridiculous compared to what I experienced in the coma," Siegel recounts. The images still haunt him.
Siegel can remember many situations that seemed "so lifelike" to him. "They never happened, but in the coma they were reality," he explains. "Blackmail, captivity, terrible stories. I was tied up, tortured, murdered. I also saw other people before me who had to suffer." He describes the scenes as "horrific."
Composer receives home-cooked meals daily
Ralph Siegel, who is among Germany's most successful modern composers and has shaped the Eurovision Song Contest for decades, woke from the coma in mid-July. His daughter Giulia Siegel (51) confirmed on Instagram: "The whole family is infinitely grateful and relieved that he has achieved the first big step: The induced coma could be ended and he is awake."
Also on the platform she explained on July 31, 2026: "Our father is currently in rehabilitation and is working intensively to regain his strength after the long hospital stay." Siegel has to rebuild the muscle mass he lost. The fact that he has now given a first interview is "another important step on his road to recovery." The family accompanies Siegel daily and brings him home-cooked meals. "The recovery is not yet complete, but it is developing positively," writes the 80-year-old's daughter.
Daughter Giulia was told to say goodbye to Ralph Siegel
How serious the situation apparently was is made clear by Ralph Siegel in his conversation with the tabloid. His daughter Giulia received a call from a nurse at the time: "They told her that if she wanted to see her father one more time and say goodbye to him, she had to come now." When he woke up, he believed he had died because so many people were around him - his three daughters, his best friend and his wife, his wife Laura and also singer Angela Wiedl (59) with her husband.
The ESC legend was placed in the induced coma because of severe pneumonia. Siegel has since left the intensive care unit. "I'm doing better, but not well," he also confirms in a message to "Brisant". And here too he hints at what he experienced: "The time in the coma was simply terrible. [...] What I encountered in the coma was absolutely horrific. And I can hardly repeat it."
