Maybrit Illner | |
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 Ilner in 2016 | |
| Born | Maybrit Klose (1965-01-12)12 January 1965 (age 60) |
| Education | University of Leipzig (1984–1988) |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, television presenter |
| Spouses | |
| Awards | SeeAwards |
Maybrit Illner (néeKlose; born 12 January 1965) is a German journalist and television presenter.
Born inEast Berlin, Illner went to school in theFriedrichshain area of Berlin and studied journalism at theUniversity of Leipzig from 1984 to 1988. She joined theSED in 1986 and left it in 1991.
After university, Illner worked as a television journalist atDeutscher Fernsehfunk, East German state television, until it was dissolved in 1991. She joined German broadcasterZDF and co-presentedMorgenmagazin, a weekday morning show from 1992. She became the head of the Morgenmagazin in 1998.
From October 1999, Illner presented an evening talk show originally titledBerlin Mitte but changed in March 2007 toMaybrit Illner. Besides, she moderated theTV election debates betweenChancellorGerhard Schröder and his challengersEdmund Stoiber (2002) andAngela Merkel (2005). In 2006, she interviewedPresident of RussiaVladimir Putin. She also interviewed Merkel shortly before the2009 elections.[1]
As successor toSteffen Seibert, Illner anchored ZDF's news showheute-journal from September 2010 until December 2012, in rotation withClaus Kleber andMarietta Slomka.
Since 2013, Illner has been focusing on her own political talkshowMaybrit Illner. AlongsideAnne Will,Peter Kloeppel andStefan Raab, she also moderated the onlyTV election debate between incumbent Merkel and her competitorPeer Steinbrück ahead of the2013 elections, which was aired live on four of Germany's most-watched television channels during prime-time.[2] Ahead of the2017 elections, she moderated the debate between Merkel andMartin Schulz, this time with Kloeppel,Sandra Maischberger andClaus Strunz.[3] Alongside Oliver Köhr, she most recently moderated one of threeTV election debates between the three candidates to succeed Merkel –Annalena Baerbock,Armin Laschet andOlaf Scholz – ahead of the2021 elections.[4] In March 2022, she conducted the first major televised interview with Scholz as newly elected Chancellor;[5] a second one followed in March 2023.[6]
She was married to fellow television journalist Michael Illner (born 1962) from 1988 to 2007. She marriedRené Obermann, at that time CEO ofDeutsche Telekom, on 14 August 2010 at Schloss Ulrichshusen.[7] They live in Berlin andBonn.
For theGerman Red Cross (DRK), Illner has travelled toIraq in 2003 andPakistan in 2004. In 2018, she chaired the jury for the annualLudwig-Börne-Preis, which awarded the prize to journalistSouad Mekhennet.[8]
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