Billionaire divorces wife over her ‘dementia’

Billionaire Porsche executive Wolfgang Porsche has filed for divorce from his wife of 16 years after her “dementia-like illness” worsened. His wife Claudia Huebner is 74 and her illness caused a shift in her personality that made it “impossible” for them to live together, according to Porsche. She has four carers who help her all around the clock since she is unable to move on her own and her mental health has declined since her diagnosis two years ago.

Wolfgang Porsche Leaves Sick Wife

Wolfgang Porsche, 79, lives in Zell am See in Austria. He is the youngest son of Porsche founder Ferry Porsche and chairman of the company’s supervisory board. Huebner and Porsche started dating in 2007, about a year before Porsche divorced his previous wife, director and screenplay writer Susanne Bresser. They got married in 2019 and had two children together, and Porsche has two children from his previous 20-year marriage with Bresser. Reportedly, Huebner — a former politician and professor — saw declines in her health soon after the wedding. But it has worsened in recent months. Two years ago, she reportedly began living with her daughter Lousia Lehmann. Lehmann helps her mother alongside her round-the-clock carers. [1]

After separating from Huebner, Porsche has reportedly been spending more time with Princess Gabriela Prinzessin of Leiningen, 59, who has been his close friend for the past 25 years. Rumors about their romance began this past January when the two were found taking a vacation together in the Maldives.

Gabriele is also known as Princess Inaara Aga Khan. She had previously married two princes, namely Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen from 1991 to 1998 and Aga Khan IV from 1998 to 2014. The Russian Prince Karl gave up his right to succession to marry Gabriele, who did not come from aristocracy. They had a daughter together, and Gabriele became a consultant for the UNESCO to advocate for women’s rights. But the couple divorced in 1998.

Wolfgang Porsche has filed for divorce from his wife as her mental health rapidly declines due to a “dementia-like illness”.https://t.co/oJfUKrStqc

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The same year the divorce was finalized, Gabriele converted to Islam, took the name Inaara, and married Prince Karim Aga Khan, who later became Aga Khan IV. They had a son in 2000 and split in 2004. Before then, Gabriele believed her husband was having an affair with an air stewardess and a hired a private investigator to track them. Inside sources state that she and Porsche now live together because they don’t want to be apart. But it’s unclear whose home they’re staying in. [2]

Sick Wives Increase the Risk of Divorce, According to Studies

Previous studies have found that many marriages dissolve after one of the partner’s receive a fatal diagnosis. However, that is predominantly the case for when the wife is the one sick. On the flipside, women are less likely to leave their sick husbands. “Only measures of wife’s illness onset are associated with elevated risk of divorce,” concluded one 2015 study in The Journal of Health and Social Behavior. “These findings suggest health as a determinant of marital dissolution in later life, via both biological and gendered social pathways.” [3]

There are many theories about this phenomenon. One speculates that women tend to have more relationships with friends and family members, so when crisis arrives, they have trusted people to fall back on. Meanwhile, men tend to depend on their wives as their own support system, so when they fall ill, the husbands have no one else to turn to. Additionally, men have more opportunities to remarry as they age, an advantage most women do not have. 

There’s also the balance of give and take within marriages. “Research generally finds that men’s health benefits more from marriage than women’s,” says Mieke Beth Thomeer, Ph.D., a sociologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “One explanation is that women provide more care and support for spouses within marriage than men do — many men reap more benefits from marriage than women do while women are doing more work.” And when an illness takes away these benefits, men are more likely to walk away instead of taking up the extra work.

It’s important to note that most of this research is based on older couples, who are more likely to fit traditional marriage gender roles. But as marriages and long-term relationships evolve, it’s possible that these statistics will change over time. After all, sicknesses are difficult to navigate, for the person affected and their spouse. But crises could break relationships or make them stronger. “Stress is easier to handle when you have someone to share it with,” says Thomeer. [4]

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