Philipp Stehler talks about his artificial anus on the talk show "Riverboat".

A few days ago, the former "Bachelorette" candidate Philipp Stehler made it public on his Instagram account that he suffers from ulcerative colitis and had to live with an artificial anus for a year and a half. It is the first time that Stehler has spoken in such detail about his illness, although he felt the first symptoms ten years ago.

"I was ashamed. It was really difficult for me," Stehler said when he appeared on the MDR talk show "Riverboat". He was worried about his image because he was always the fit, muscular influencer for his Instagram community. "What do people think of me? They see me very differently," Stehler summarized his concerns.

Colitis UlcerosaPhilipp Stehler talks about his serious illness and shows an artificial bowel outlet

Before appearing on TV, the 33-year-old trained with the police. In his early 20s, he suddenly got diarrhea and stomach cramps. "I didn't know what it was. It just hurt something," Stehler said. At first he thought it was lactose intolerance, but when he had bloody stools, he realized that this is not normal. After a month-long odyssey to various doctors, a gastroenterologist finally diagnosed ulcerative colitis, a chronic inflammation of the colon. Stehler was prescribed medication and thought he had the disease under control.

But his excessive lifestyle made everything worse. In 2015, during his participation in the third season "The Bachelorette", he had to be treated in the hospital. Stehler made it to the so-called Dreamdates in the TV show. He and Bachelorette Alisa Persch were in Bangkok when he collapsed.

Philipp Stehler initially rejected an intestinal surgery

"I was out of therapy. The last step was the surgery. You remove the affected areas. Unfortunately, that was my entire colon, which was already black," Stehler described his ordeal. But he initially refused the surgery and lived nine days without eating solid food – until he had to have an emergency operation.

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"I already had budding sepsis. The doctor said it wouldn't have been good for a long time, maybe another day or two. When I woke up from the anesthesia, there was a bag hanging there. I couldn't look for a week because it was for It was so difficult for me to accept that I was a pre-op fitness influencer and then I have a bag on my stomach. It took a long time to process that," Stehler said. To make matters worse, his girlfriend at the time left him at the hospital bed because she couldn't deal with the situation.

Stehler has now got rid of the artificial anus. After several operations, it was removed in September 2020. And the 33-year-old also has a new woman at his side, model Vanessa Ciomber. "She has a medical background. My illness was unimportant to her, I was important to her," Stehler said of the 30-year-old.

You can see Philipp Stehler's entire appearance on "Riverboat" in the ARD media library