Four short lines, that's all Simone Ballack (50) needed to say everything on this day. "I love all three of my children equally", the entrepreneur wrote on August 5 on Instagram, along with three red hearts. And continued: "No matter where they are right now! Miss you all. Your mama". The post required little explanation. On August 5, 2021, her son Emilio (2002-2021) had died at the age of 18 in a quad bike accident on the family's estate in Portugal.
In her post, Ballack published old pictures from her sons' childhood days. From the circle of prominent companions, Claudia Effenberg (60) spoke up in the comments: "You are a good mama", she wrote.
In addition to Emilio, she and her ex-husband, former national soccer player Michael Ballack (49), have sons Louis (born 2001) and Jordi (born 2005). Ballack has repeatedly remembered son Emilio on social media over the past years.
On Emilio's birthday on September 19, on Mother's Day, or on August 5, she honored him. On the third anniversary of his death, she posted a whole series of pictures from different stages of his life on Instagram and wrote that she missed him "more than words could ever express".
She also spoke about her tragic loss earlier this year in the jungle camp. She doesn't want to silence Emilio's memory; she even likes it when people tell stories about him. She is glad "that I've become strong through all of this and don't need anyone anymore, except my children".
Michael Ballack rarely speaks about the loss. In early 2026, he made an exception in the Sky format "Meine Geschichte - Das Leben von Michael Ballack" and called his way of dealing with his son's death a "process of repression". Anyone who hasn't experienced something like this can hardly imagine how difficult it is to cope with. He finds support in everyday life, family, work, and his two other sons.
"Peace" with a country
A few weeks before the fifth anniversary of his death, Simone Ballack deliberately returned to Portugal, to that country which she called "beautiful" and at the same time "fateful" in an Instagram story. After five years, she wanted to make "peace" with this place, she wrote, and tagged the short stay with the hashtag "#healing".
Simone and Michael Ballack had been a couple since 1998. After the birth of their three sons together, they married on July 14, 2008; divorce followed in 2012.
