Doro Pesch recounts traumatic childhood battle with tuberculosis

Heavy metal singer Doro Pesch has shared details regarding a life-threatening struggle during her youth. In an interview on the format ‘MusikerGrillen’, the Düsseldorf-born musician revealed that at age 14 or 15, she was hospitalized with end-stage pulmonary tuberculosis.

Pesch described the conditions at the clinic as traumatic, comparing the environment to a restrictive institution where patients were restrained. She noted that her mother eventually had to intervene and threaten media involvement to secure her release from the facility.

Following a nine-month recovery period in a different hospital, Pesch made a life-altering decision to pursue a career that would ‘make people happy.’ She formed her first band just two weeks after her discharge, eventually achieving international success with the band Warlock and later as a solo artist.