Reinhold Messner warned wife Diane on first date: "It's all about me"

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Reinhold Messner warned wife Diane on first date: "It's all about me".

Reinhold Messner doesn't do things by halves when it comes to love either. At his first meeting with his now-wife Diane, the extreme mountaineer is said to have confronted her with an unusual catalog of questions and a surprisingly clear statement – a scene Diane has not forgotten to this day.

Exactly what Messner said at the time is reported slightly differently by two German media outlets. While Focus quotes the statement as "It's all about me," Bunte quotes him as saying "It's difficult with me." In terms of content, both agree: Messner unusually directly warned Diane against entering a relationship with him.

What happened at the first meeting?

What sounds like a classic first date apparently had a different character from the start for Messner. According to Focus, Diane recalls an "unusual catalog of questions" that the mountaineer asked her at their first meeting. Exactly what he asked her is not clear from the available reports – what is clear is that the warning he gave her has stayed in Diane's memory to this day, as Bunte writes.

The episode fits the image of the South Tyrolean, who is also known for being direct away from the mountains. Anyone who wants to be with him must know what they're getting into – Messner apparently prefers to make that clear right at the beginning rather than beating around the bush later.

Two sources, slightly different wordings

That the two media outlets reproduce the exact wording of the warning differently is not unusual with anecdotes recounted after the fact. Both report in agreement that Messner was unusually direct and that Diane has not forgotten the declaration to this day. One thing is certain: Diane did not let herself be put off.