Christine Westermann (born 2 December 1948 in

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...

) is a German television and radio host, journalist and author.

Radio and television career

Westermann grew up in

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

. After finishing her

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

she did an editorial traineeship at ' and attended the

Deutsche Journalistenschule The Deutsche Journalistenschule e.V. (), the German School of Journalism, is a journalism school in Germany. At the time of its establishment, it was the country's first German journalism school. Today, Deutsche Journalistenschule is considered o ...

(German Journalism School) in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. Starting in 1972, she worked as a freelance journalist for several radio and TV stations, produced films and reports and moderated the ' on

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

. In 1983 she switched to WDR and moderated the ' until 2002, from 1987 on together with

Frank Plasberg Frank Plasberg (born 18 May 1957) is a German journalist and television presenter. Biography Born in Remscheid, Plasberg has an education in theatre, politics and pedagogy and works as television presenter on German broadcaster WDR. From 1987 ...

. Since 1996 Westermann has been moderating the show ' together with

Götz Alsmann Götz Alsmann (born 12 July 1957) is a German musician, singer and former television presenter. Biography Born in Münster, Alsmann studied German studies, music and communication studies at the University of Münster from 1977 to 1985. Fro ...

, in which an alternating famous "roommate" will be challenged with unusual tasks and games. Westermann and Alsmann called the format a "children's birthday party for celebrities". For their work with ''Zimmer frei!'' the duo has been awarded with the

Adolf-Grimme-Preis The Grimme-Preis ("Grimme Award"; prior to 2011: Adolf-Grimme-Preis) is one of the most prestigious German television awards. It is named after the first general director of Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk, Adolf Grimme.WDR 2 WDR 2 is a radio station owned and operated by the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) public broadcasting organization in Germany. It focuses on contemporary pop and rock music for an adult audience and on information. It is also WDR's broadcast sport ev ...

, where she presents – rotating with her colleagues – the ''Montalk'' (Monday talk) and on Sundays the ''Buchtipp'' (Book tip). In 2010 she was awarded with the German Radio prize () in the category ''Best Interview''.

Writer

In 1999 Christine Westermann published her first book ''Baby, when will you marry me? – A novel from the jungle of relationships'' (German title: ''Baby, wann heiratest du mich?''). One year later her second book ''I think he dropped (me). Stories out of the real life'' (German: ''Ich glaube, er hat Schluss gemacht. Geschichten aus dem richtigen Leben'') followed. In collaboration with she published the 2008 book ''Invitation for dance – a twosome story'' (German: ''Aufforderung zum Tanz – Eine Zweiergeschichte''), a correspondence between two journalists.

Personal life

Between 1990 and 2000 Westermann had a secondary residence in San Francisco, where she worked as a freelance correspondent. During that time she shuttled regularly between the US and her workplace in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

. Since June 2000 Westermann has been married to corporate consultant Jochen Baller, who is also her agent. They live in Cologne.

Novels

* ''Baby, wann heiratest du mich?'', Kiepenheuer und Witsch, Köln 1999, (1999) * ''Ich glaube, er hat Schluss gemacht'', Kiepenheuer und Witsch, Köln 2000, (2000) * ''Aufforderung zum Tanz'' (2008), Kiepenheuer und Witsch, Köln 2008, (2009) – in collaboration with Jörg Thadeusz * ''Karneval. Bilder und Geschichten'', Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 2009, (2009) – in collaboration with Stefan Worring * ''Da geht noch was: Mit 65 in die Kurve'', Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln 2013, (2013).

External links

*
Official website by Christine Westermann (German)

– Christine Westermann and Jörg Thadeusz in an interview with Christian Rohm (7 December 2008) {{DEFAULTSORT:Westermann, Christine 1948 births Living people German television presenters German television journalists German women television journalists German radio presenters 20th-century German journalists 21st-century German journalists German-language writers German women radio presenters German women television presenters ZDF people Westdeutscher Rundfunk people 20th-century German women 21st-century German women