The general public knows Toto Wolff as the head of the most successful team in Formula 1 history, as a successful financial investor; you know his dream marriage to the racing driver Susie Stoddart on Capri and, thanks to Netflix, also pictures of his beautiful apartment in Monaco. A carefree life straight out of a picture book, you might think.
But in an interview with the London Times, Wolff recently admitted that not everything that glitters in his life is gold: “I’ve been going to a psychiatrist since 2004.” He has probably completed “more than 500 hours” of therapy since then. This corresponds to an average of more than two sessions per month.
He “suffered mentally,” says Wolff, and he still does. With the stigma that psychiatric treatment could be seen as a sign of weakness, he had “never had a problem”: “Some of the most successful people are very, very sensitive – and very, very sensitive also means very, very vulnerable.”
Wolff: “That helped me”
It is not the first time that Wolff has spoken about his mental problems. As early as 2019 he explained in an interview with the “FAZ” that he “always had to fight with demons” and that from a medical point of view his suffering would be described as depression.
A condition that is much more widespread than one might think. According to information from the German Society for Bipolar Disorders, at least one million people are affected across Germany. Another reason why Wolff became an investor in the eHealth start-up Instahelp in 2019.
“Getting help is a way of getting my problems under control, and that in turn has helped me to unlock untapped potential,” the 50-year-old tells the Times that he’s trying to make the best of it of his illness and to accept it as positively as possible.
Wolff does not like to talk about the details of how his depression affects him. He sometimes feels depressed and inferior. “It all depends on how you perceive yourself,” he says. And emphasizes how important it is that celebrities also speak openly about their suffering. Just like the tennis player Naomi Osaka and the gymnast Simone Biles.