Anne will and miriam meckel call it quits

With anne will and miriam meckel, one of the most prominent female couples in germany announced the end of their relationship. TV presenter will (53) and communications scientist meckel (52) announced the end of their partnership on monday.

"We have separated," read a brief statement by both women available to the deutsche presse-agentur.

"We will not make any further statements on this and ask you to respect our privacy," announced the ARD sunday evening talk show host will and meckel, publisher of "ada" magazine. The short sentences are signed with both names.

Will and meckel, who is also director of the institute for media and communications management at the uni st. Gallen in switzerland, have been considered a prominent lesbian couple for years. In 2007, the two women made their connection known.

Meckel later justified her coming out via a photo in the "bild am sonntag" newspaper in the "spiegel": "we just wanted to be able to go to a public event and sit at the same table. And for that we had to endure once that this photo is made."Will's variant on this in the "stern": "we just didn't feel like the cramp anymore: i go first, miriam comes later."

The hype was rough. "Yes, we are a couple," was the striking sentence. Since there were only a few lesbians known to the general public at that time – including maren kroymann, hella von sinnen, cornelia scheel and ulrike folkerts – many people in the scene were happy about it. During the christopher street day parade in berlin, the slogan "anne will – me too" promptly appeared.

In 2016, the official step followed. "Yes, we got married," they said. Even before marriage for all, which has only been possible in germany for two years, will and meckel gave their vows for a registered partnership. For the ceremony, will wore a simple, feminine sheath dress, combined with a bridal bouquet of red, pastel and cream roses. Meckel came in a striped, sleeveless dress in rose and woman. To celebrate, there were helium balloons in the shape of two women.

Will and meckel kept their private lives largely under wraps. Little is known about this. When meckel came to terms with her burnout in the book "letter to my life," she hardly revealed anything about life with her partner.

Joint appearances were sometimes more frequent, then again not for a long time. In the meantime circulating separation rumors were denied. When both appeared in public, their outfits always seemed to be coordinated: both in black, both in suits, both off-the-shoulder, both with low necklines, both in the same color combination or – at carnival – both in fancy dress.

In june, there was another prominent appearance: during a conference on artificial intelligence, will and meckel were framed by chancellor angela merkel (CDU) and grunen boss robert habeck in the dresden frauenkirche.

Meckel dealt with the flurry of flashbulbs and the media hype surrounding the celebrity couple in her own way: she turned her opponents into objects and photographed the photographers herself.