I figured out, I guess, that the job just makes me happy if it's not number one. So if it all works, great. If it doesn't, I still go home, look at my kids, and I have a big smile on my face.

I thought that if you come across as a freak, there will be some kind of distance. Maybe the distance became excessive. I realized that people were afraid of me without knowing me.

My reputation was a bit exaggerated. Things were written in newspapers, then copied, then doubled. One of the reasons why I never disclaimed that, was because I found it amusing. But I also constructed such an image for myself in order to gain more of a private life.

I'm proud of the fact that I made my way in life very rigorously. I was a bit too stubborn when it came to certain things, which was unnecessary, like getting independent from and leaving Germany.