The daughter of the controversial Swabian company patriarch Wolfgang Grupp has provided a rare insight into her private life. Since she never got any pocket money, she always went to her parents when she needed something, Bonita Grupp tells the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.
Mother like that, father like that
“We then went shopping with a list to Stuttgart or Munich. It was more relaxed with my mother. My father wanted to know exactly: Where is your list? You need a pair of jeans, a pair of trousers, a skirt – then we buy them. Nothing more and nothing less,” says the 36-year-old entrepreneur, who has been running the textile company based in Burladingen on the Swabian Alb with her brother, Wolfgang Grupp junior, since her father’s retirement.
Not only was there no pocket money, she also never received any money for helping out at the company during the holidays, says the Trigema heiress. “It was natural for us to give something back,” she told the newspaper.
Family leads debate about Grupp senior’s media presence
Bonita Grupp, who gave birth to her first child last year, says openly that the family no longer wants Wolfgang Grupp senior to be in public so much. When asked whether she believed her father could take a step back, she said: “We can give him some advice. In the end, he has to decide for himself.”
After his suicide attempt last summer, ex-Trigema boss Grupp initially withdrew from the public. This year he returned and fielded questions at various events and interviews.
He recently said on the SWR1 program People that his suicide attempt was a “short circuit”. He immediately regretted this act and will certainly not repeat it. His hearing suffered as a result. “There are times in life when you have a break. And I had that.” Back then, he fooled himself into believing that he had become worthless. This has changed. He is taking medication.
The 84-year-old made his suicide attempt public in the middle of last year. He suffered from old age depression and was worried about whether he was still needed, it said in a letter to his former employees. The entrepreneur wrote that he very much regrets what happened and would like to undo it.