For decades they were a model couple: The actress Maria Furtwängler (55) and the publisher Hubert Burda (82) announced their separation after more than 30 years of marriage.
This was announced by Maria Furtwängler’s spokeswoman on Monday at the request of the German Press Agency in Berlin. In a statement on behalf of the spouses, which is available to the dpa, it says: “Maria Furtwängler and Hubert Burda have been going their separate ways for some time. They are friends and family members, also in view of the two children they have together, and will continue to do so in the future.”
Beyond that, the couple did not release any further details on the matter. The two spouses have a daughter and a son together: Elisabeth Furtwängler (30) is a musician, her brother Jacob Burda (32) works as a digital entrepreneur.
The actress, who comes from a well-known family of artists, and the successful media entrepreneur have been among Germany’s best-known married couples since their marriage in 1991. Nevertheless, the two have managed to keep their family life largely out of the public eye over the years.
But there is a remarkable interview that Furtwängler gave to the “Spiegel” in 2012. She said there that she herself had also become a self-confident woman through her marriage to the multi-millionaire: “I now have an extremely strong and self-confident man in whose shadow you easily become the environment, the satellite. It sounds insanely cliche now, but that may have made it all the more necessary to find myself and my own world.”
For Hubert Burda, marrying her was the second marriage. When the couple celebrated their wedding in 1991, Furtwangler was 25 and the publisher a good quarter of a century older. The two had known each other for a few years, the first child was already born, the second on the way.
The award-winning Maria Furtwängler, granddaughter of the famous conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, had been in front of the camera since she was a little girl and had her big breakthrough in 1987 with the ARD early-evening series “The Happy Family”. Her prime role is the “Tatort” television commissioner Charlotte Lindholm. With around 30 cases in 20 years, Maria Furtwängler is always a quota guarantor and has also made a name for herself as a television producer. In addition to her TV life, she is also a doctor and has long been a public advocate for women’s rights.
Maria Furtwängler founded the MaLisa Foundation with her daughter Elisabeth in 2016. This is committed at international level to combating violence against women and girls. In Germany, the foundation is also committed to social diversity and overcoming restrictive role models. Again and again, MaLisa initiatives draw attention to grievances, such as the image of women in the media.
