The big interview

Is this what Richard would have wanted, Mrs. Lugner?

Last year they were at the Opera Ball together: Simone and her husband RIchard Lugner.(Bild: Martin A. Jöchl)

This year, there was no room for Richard's last wife in the Lugner box with daughter Jacqueline (left) and ex-wife "Mausi".(Bild: Alexander Tuma)

"The royal blue of my dress is also a tribute to Richard's funeral home," says the widow.(Bild: Andreas Tischler)

The widow came to the Opera Ball with Lugner's chauffeur Roland Granzer.(Bild: Alexander Tuma)

Three days after the first Opera Ball without Richard Lugner, widow and "Dancing Star" Simone talks to Conny Bischofberger about a memorable night, how she deals with humiliation and envy, a future scenario as an animal rescuer and the immortality of the soul.

It is very quiet in the Lugner villa in the middle of the Grinzing vineyards. The two cats have hidden away, only the dog has barked briefly. Simone Lugner sits at the dining table, which is set with two turquoise sets. "We always had breakfast here and read the "Krone" on Sunday," says the 42-year-old. She didn't actually want to give an interview, "there was so much about the ball in the paper anyway", but then she heard Richard grumbling and changed her mind. The master builder, who died on August 12, 2024, laughs from countless pictures and dons his black top hat as the proud host of the Vienna Opera Ball on a modern, glittering collage standing on the floor behind Simone.

"Krone": Mrs. Lugner, how did you feel on Thursday without Richard and left out by your late husband's family?