"I am dying"

Great concern for hippie icon Rainer Langhans

Rainer Langhans(Bild: Felix Hörhager / dpa / picturedesk.com)

Shocking news from Rainer Langhans (83)! The cult hippie and former Kommune I resident has been battling prostate cancer for years - but now the fight seems to be lost.

"I'm dying, the doctors say", Langhans explained in a moving interview with the newspaper "Bild". 

He refused surgery and chemo
Langhans had been suffering from prostate cancer for five years, but never underwent surgery or chemotherapy. His reason: "I didn't want to start a war with my body." Instead, he opted for palliative measures while his values continued to deteriorate. "The doctors say I'll be dead soon." There is no chance of a cure, he says, they can only make it easier for him to die.

He is currently receiving hormone therapy to reduce his testosterone levels - a "chemical castration", as he describes it himself.

The news also hits his long-time companions hard: Christa Ritter, Brigitte Streubel and Gisela Getty, with whom Langhans lives in a special community in Munich-Schwabing. They have been part of his so-called "harem" for decades.

Langhans and Uschi Obermaier(Bild: dpa Picture Alliance / picturedesk.com)

An icon of the 1968 movement
Rainer Langhans became famous in the 1960s as a member of the legendary Kommune I and later lived with model Uschi Obermaier. His political and spiritual views often caused controversy - as did his invitations to former RAF terrorists or female politicians to his "harem".

In 2011, he took part in the RTL show "Ich bin ein Star - Holt mich hier raus!", where he surprised the jungle camp viewers with a fee of 50,000 euros.

Now his life seems to be coming to an end - but Langhans is facing death with his typical composure. "I'm making friends with him."