Anyone who successfully completes a talent show can possibly become famous overnight. That's how it was when Pietro Lombardi won the eighth season of "Deutschland sucht den Superstar" in 2011. Success came promptly, as did the money.

"Right after the DSDS victory, after three or four weeks, the first million was there. That was really blatant for me, because I had nothing to do with such numbers," says Lombardi in his RTL documentary "Pietro Lombardi : family, faith, love". Before participating in DSDS, he had a 400-euro job.

He also did not understand the tax principle at the time. "No one taught me that. I made money and spent it, at the end of the year I realized that I had done something wrong. If I earned 5,000 euros, then they were gone the next day." Out of defiance, he bought a Porsche and drove it to his old school, honking his horn. He wanted to prove it to his critics. "When I was at school, I always heard: 'Hopeless case! Nothing will come of you,'" he recalls.

Lombardi squandered the most money in one of his most successful years. "In 2019, I had all my hits. 'Phenomenal', 'Señorita', all in a row. I managed to spend a million euros in nine months. Without real estate, without investment," he says in the documentary. However, he not only spent the money on himself, but also on his environment. "I was on vacation with my boys. I've never drunk alcohol, but I wanted to be cool and ordered alcohol for the whole club for 50,000 euros. And I drank Fanta," says the 30-year-old.

Looking back, Lombardi is annoyed at his thoughtlessness. "I squandered so much money that today I can say: I could have bought three more houses," he says ruefully.

"Pietro Lombardi: family, faith, love" runs on RTL

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