Greta Thunberg in great sadness: Close family member dies - mother reports terrifying things

Greta Thunberg's mother made a shocking confession: because of depression, Greta stopped eating at the age of eleven. Now the activist mourns again.

• Greta Thunberg's mother recently revealed shocking details about her daughter's health prior to the climate strikes.
• The 17-year-old had severe depressive symptoms and had not eaten anything, her mother says.
• Now another death shakes Thunberg's family.

Stockholm - She stopped eating, talking and laughing - Malena Ernman recently made this shocking confession about her daughter, the world-famous Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg *. The 17-year-old had "disappeared into a kind of darkness at the age of 11," said Thunberg's mother, according to a report by the British news portal Metro .

Now the climate activist and her family have to fight again with a tough setback. As Thunberg announced on Tuesday evening, her grandfather Olof Thunberg passed away .

Igår kväll gick min farfar Olof Thunberg bort. Han var en av Sveriges största skådespelare och har stått på scen i över 75 år. Han var en av de snällaste mans korna jag någonsin träffat. Vi saknar honom fruktansvärt mycket. pic.twitter.com/zekYvdPJND

Greta Thunberg mourns her grandfather publicly: "We miss him terribly"

"He was one of the nicest people I've ever known," the 17-year-old wrote on Twitter. " We miss him terribly ." Only shortly before his 95th birthday, the Swede died on Monday, reports Express.de . Thunberg's sister Beata also shared her grief on Instagram and Twitter. We can only hope that the cohesion of the Thunberg * Greta family gives enough strength during this difficult time. It is not uncommon for bad events such as the death of a family member to cause a setback in people with depression.

Thunberg already showed strong symptoms of depression six years ago. She lost weight significantly in just two months and was about to go to the hospital. Thunberg's mother , who is currently writing a book about her family , tells of a shocking scene: "She has no energy to climb stairs and her depression test scores are high," Ernman said, according to Metro news portal. Her daughter's physical condition must also have been worrying. Greta Thunberg's body temperature was low and her starvation had already had symptoms of pulse and blood pressure .

Greta Thunberg apparently got new courage to live through the climate protests

Psychiatrists have diagnosed Thunberg with an obsessive-compulsive disorder , which her mother calls "highly functional" autism . When Thunberg began to take an interest in climate change, the big turning point came. Thunberg started her first school strike in the summer of 2018. As Ernman reports, the family could see that her daughter was feeling good while pushing her climate plans forward. It made a better impression "than ever before".

Thunberg has achieved a lot since then: The Fridays for Future movement she initiated has followers worldwide, the 17-year-old is the youngest person that Time Magazine has ever voted Person of the Year , and the Swedish activist is one of the most noted speakers at important political events such as the World Economic Forum in Davos * or the UN climate summit *. Thunberg is also on everyone's lips when it comes to politicians - and it doesn't always come off well. The Swedes mourn the death of their grandfather like any other granddaughter - hopefully she can take the time she needs to do so.

Read also for which tweet Greta Thunberg recently received harsh criticism.

* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.

List of rubric lists: © dpa / Christian Charisius