- Joined
- Oct 7, 2008
- Messages
- 61,301
- Location
- Bulgaria
Cruise officials say Daniel Kaiser-Küblböck, 33, threw himself from the fifth floor deck of the AIDAluna into freezing waters off Newfoundland on Sunday as it sailed from Hamburg to New York.
But close friends insist the German star was not suicidal and likely fell accidentally while fooling around on the balcony railing.
Overnight, fellow passengers claimed to have witnessed the famously androgynous performer — who had an alter ego called Rosa Luxenbourg — behaving erratically in the lead up to the fall following an “incident” with a ship bartender.
The tragedy came just weeks after Kaiser-Küblböck posted a heartbreaking message about having been bullied by classmates at the European Theatre Institute (ETI) in Berlin where he was studying to be an actor.
Kaiser-Küblböck, who shot to fame as a contestant German version of American Idol in 2002, opened up about having endured “months of bullying” that shook him “deeply in my soul”, in a note posted to his official website.
“Dear fans. Unfortunately, I still do not feel better mentally and physically,” he wrote in the message, which has since been deleted, according to Stern. “I have yet to cope with this pain of the past months”.
