“They didn’t even inform me of the funeral, the Austrian police should intervene”- Corriere.it

«Late last night I learned the news that a funeral home will be hastily set up on Wednesday for only 4 hours, and that a cremation and a `closed funeral’ will follow. What is happening is very serious, I appeal to the Austrian police, who I am sure have already taken action to do their best, but who certainly could not have imagined the suddenness of all this. There is something strange and I say it clearly, I will go to the end».

The appeal

This is the heartfelt appeal of Francesca Guidato, wife of the actor Helmut Berger, who passed away last Thursday, in a desperate attempt to be heard directly by the judicial authorities in Austria, after receiving the news of the actor’s funeral already organized and preceded for days of silence. «I appeal to the Salzburg Police in Austria, to intervene and assert my right as a spouse to all legal effects, given that I have not authorized any funeral home, nor cremation or funeral, because I have not received the news expectations – articulates the director and screenwriter, who informs her that her lawyer has informed the Austrian Polizei of the latest events – I don’t know who these relatives are who signed, despite having been to lunch once with my husband and my mother-in-law years ago in Salzburg, with some distant relatives of hers».

Accusations to the manager

The reference to the work of the actor’s manager, Helmut Werner, is clear. «The manager says that he is carrying out the wishes of his actor himself, so why was it necessary to do everything with this veil of secrecy? And is it true that the signed authorizations of two distant cousins ​​and a friend were needed for the cremation and funeral, as reported by the press?», Guidato asks. “Perhaps my husband hadn’t left written instructions?” In five days, Guidato explains, «the legitimate wife, who had already promptly sent the marriage certificates to the Italian consulate in Vienna and to the facility where she died, has not been communicated precise information. Why?”.

The node of the will

The hospital, reports Berger’s wife, «didn’t even send the health certificate with the causes of death as requested by my lawyer. The press speaks of `cardiac arrest´, it would therefore have been important, as well as a widow’s right, to read the medical notes on the causes of death, in the event of requests for investigations if necessary”. Adding to the pain of the woman is the bewilderment of reading in the press allegations relating to her willed interests. «I was accused of having interests in a will, of boasting about a marriage that would have been fake, which never took place – says Francesca Guidato in bewilderment – but if I haven’t even managed by any means to get news of the body, how could I have known about the will?». And she concludes with a powerful jab at Berger’s manager: «The manager who instead spoke about it in the international press for several days claims to know that I am not part of this will. But how does he know if it hasn’t been opened yet?’