Biography: Claudia Weidung/Anders

"There are just a few people who are worth it that you contradict them."

Born in Bendorf, outside Koblenz, in the sign of the Taurus - 29 April 1972, a girl was born, who was given the name Claudia Hess. She grew up with her parents, Doris and Hans, and her brother, Andreas, in Westerwald outside Koblenz, and that's basically all that is known about her childhood... apart from the fact that she used to listen to Modern Talking in the 80s, just like millions of other girls.

Claudia is a trained Businesswoman for Foreign Trade and Wholesale Trade Foreign Correspondent Clerk, and worked as a director's secretary assistant at a road construction company, which she really liked, before she passed training at Sony/ATV Music Publishing. This was, however, before she met the man she would marry. Now she's supervising the paperwork of Thomas Anders Music GmbH, and she says that even though her work only includes papers, she is always informed about what's going on in the studios.

In the spring of 1996, she was with three of her friends at the brasserie Faustus on Elzerhofstrasse in Koblenz. Not too far from them sat a man who thought Claudia looked like the woman of his dreams, so he walked up to her table and asked "Hello, where are you from?". She knew who he was, but didn't know he lived in Koblenz, or that Faustus was his favourite restaurant. She treated him as a very nice and agreeable man, and not at all like a superstar. The brasserie soon became their favourite, and every time she went there, she would meet this man "by chance". On her birthday, he gave her a big bouquet of red roses, but was this man really Mr. Right? Claudia wanted to be sure that his intentions were true, and her friends warned her - "he's a superstar, he has a thousand women and swims in champagne!", but she ignored them. She realised his intentions were honest, and soon after that, they started calling each other, and they could talk for hours! Her friends and relatives were still warning her, but she decided to stay with Thomas.

Claudia was on a vacation with a friend on Ibiza when she reached her decision of what to do with this newly begun romance. She was resting by the pool, listening to Thomas' voice on a walkman, when the thought struck her that the man on the tape was a real person, he was as normal as you and me, and he could very well be the sort of man she could see herself with in the future. When she got home, they met again, and she was invited to dinner at his place, and on that night, the 6th of August, her heart was truly captured. She only planned to stay for maybe 15 minutes, but stayed a lot longer than that. Thomas had cooked macaroni with cheese and mushrooms for her, and had promised to sing live for her. He sat at the piano, performing Barry Manilow's "Mandy" for her.

What did her parents think about their daughter's popstar boyfriend? "They are always travelling and they change their girlfriends like you change your underwear!". However, since Thomas courted her for four months, both her parents and she herself were convinced that he wasn't just playing with her. Because of this, you would perhaps assume that the first meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Hess was a total disaster? You would be wrong! He was charming and respectful as usual, and this is what everyone who gets to know him knows him for.

How did her friends react to her boyfriend? She still has contact with her old friends, she says, and adds: "When you have "old" friends you can be sure that they like you, because you are what you are and not, because Thomas Anders is your boyfriend, or now your partner in life. You always have to find out the reason, why people treat you with respect and why they are nice. Unfortunately, people look more at money and success, than at the character."

There was one problem in their way to happiness, though. Thomas was still officially married with Nora Balling, even though they had been living apart for three years. In order to settle this, Thomas and Claudia flew to Los Angeles to meet and talk to her. Nora had no objections to part officially, and the divore was officially through on the 20th of February 1999. Thomas and Nora are still friends and keep in touch, and Claudia doesn't seem to mind this very much: "Sometimes she gets at me, if she rings, but she is always very polite".

On July 15th 2000, the couple was married in Stromburg, not far from Koblenz, so nowadays, Claudia Hess is Claudia Weidung, and she of course gets the attention that goes with it. But being the center of attention isn't always fun, as she says: "We also have problems in, for example simply going to the swimming-pool or to the cinema, because nearly everybody would like to talk to us and we are always watched. Sometimes it is OK, but sometimes it really gets on my nerves." Modern Talking fans need not worry that she will become "a new Nora", because she stays out of everything concerning Modern Talking.

Claudia is interested in skiing, reading, home decoration, music (pop, latino music, melancholic soundtracks and chill-out music), travelling, and golf. If you want to want to invite her to a dinner, you should serve roast duck on a green salad, topped with raspberry vinaigrette, and apple juice or mineral water to that would be the perfect beverage, or just "anything without alcohol". She is 168 cm's tall, has blonde hair and blue-green eyes. Her favourite book is "Wer Liebe verspricht" by Rebecca Ryman, her favourite movie "The Mirror Has Two Faces", and her favourite actors are Romy Schneider, Barbra Streisand, Nick Nolte, and Steve Martin. She says that drugs are no solutions for your problems, and that she is very religious, although she has problems with the Catholic church, like Thomas. Her favourite places are at home, Los Angeles, and Ibiza.

One of her two mottos is "Always look to the front, never look back", which in my opinion sums up this biography. Let's not look to the past, but to the future!

Biography: Alexander Weidung

Alexander Mick was born in