Carl Hirschmann and Noemi Lenoir: Reality Check on Press Rumours

British and international press and media latched on to the alleged suicide attempt of VIP Noemi Lenoir, a person so unimportant she didn’t even make the list of the most unimportant VIPs in the world. In an attempt to spice up the story to news level, they added unchecked rumour but didn’t do their homework. 

Paris Hilton and Carl Hirschmann

Reporting the sordid story of an alleged suicide attempt of a working single mother was obviously not enough of news for the press and other media. To link the father of her child, someone called Makelele, into the story is understandable. Makelele shares the non-VIP status of Lenoir; seemingly he is (like millions of others) someone who plays a bit of football (soccer).

Desperate to make at least some impression, they then cited ‘friends’ of Lenoir linking her to non-VIP Carl Hirschmann which finally allowed them to introduce the name of Paris Hilton into the story. Mission accomplished, at last a VIP from the D-list. Journalism must be a tortuous profession. But in doing so, they showed themselves as the incompetent scribblers they usually are, they didn’t bother to check on any of the ‘facts’ they reported.

In the reports, press and media placed Carl Hirschmann in Zurich, currently on bail for the duration of an investigation into alleged sexual offences. Actually, Hirschmann is in St. Tropez, in Southern France, and nowhere near Switzerland. Last week, the bail requiring him to remain in Switzerland had been temporarily lifted (for a small deposit of £300,000) to allow him to visit his father at their family estate in St. Tropez.

Father Carl Hirschmann Jr. is reported as suffering from pancreatic cancer, but there is no official statement from the family on that account. Whatever the reasoning behind the Swiss judge’s decision to let him go, Carl Hirschmann left Switzerland on Friday by private plane for Nice. He was conveyed by limousine straight to St. Tropez. Rumours that he hosted a big party at Cannes on Saturday haven’t been substantiated. It is also unlikely, as there are too many real VIPs throwing well planned bashes right now.

The tortuous way to link Hirschmann into the Lenoir story was done by an alleged romantic tie between the two. In view of his direction of travel, I would say that the hospital in Paris where Noemi Lenoir was treated over the weekend was not on the agenda. The whole ‘romantic tie’ story is based on a coincidental snap showing the two in Zürich and the stories of all those ‘friends’ of Lenoir’s.

Suicides often are the result of a total breakdown of communication with friends and family. It is doubtful that anybody should be called a friend at such a time. And all those ‘friends’ inventing Lenoir’s life for her should be ashamed of themselves, as they obviously failed her and just don’t know anything. The involvement between Hirschmann and Lenoir might be as true as Carl’s self-invented involvement with Paris Hilton.

As usual: It’s all true, it said so in the newspapers. 

Article first published on Triond on 27/05/09.

Further reading
When a Sassy Headline Becomes an Embarrassment
Carl Hirschmann: Poor Rich Boy
Carl Hirschmann: Home Theatre