German TV presenter Böttinger "Alice Weidel is living a lie"

"I'm a lesbian woman and part of the queer community," says TV celebrity Bettina Böttinger. In an interview with "Stern", the 68-year-old criticizes the AfD leader and some members of the German government.

Long-time talk show presenter Bettina Böttinger (68) believes that AfD leader Alice Weidel (46), who is in a relationship with a woman, is a clever move by the party.

"The AfD needs female protagonists like her because she is so assertive and goes down well with the public," Böttinger (formerly of "Kölner Treff", "B. trifft ...") told Stern magazine. "And yet Alice Weidel is living a lie because she deludes herself into believing that she is unconditionally accepted in her party and by voters."

Weidel contradicts "the 50s tradwife ideal of the heterosexual wife and housewife", says Böttinger. "That's clever: The AfD serves two images of women - it makes them both relatable."

She finds it "astonishing" anyway, said Böttinger, "that the women who embody the right in Europe do not all lead the life that their parties envisage for women".

"Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had a child out of wedlock and threw her husband out when he cheated on her. French politician Marine Le Pen has been divorced twice and now lives alone."

Many current cabinet members were against marriage for all

Böttinger says of the new German government under Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU): "As far as queer politics are concerned, I take a very critical view of the government. It bothers me how many current cabinet members voted against marriage for all in 2017: Agriculture Minister Alois Rainer, Research Minister Dorothee Bär, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder, the head of the Chancellery Thorsten Frei."

In 1996, Böttinger was outed by Harald Schmidt on his show without being asked. "That was a highly aggressive act." Her father found out about her lesbianism from television.

"How can you not consider that public malice has private consequences?" Böttinger told Stern magazine.

"I also prefer to use the term lesbian rather than queer"

Like Weidel, Böttinger shies away from using the word "queer" when referring to herself: "Jens Spahn also says: "I'm not queer, I'm gay." Translated, this means: I have nothing to do with the political movement for equal rights, I stay away from the community.

Both want to signalize: We are actually normal and harmless as a homosexual personality." This is a kind of supposed self-protection, says Böttinger, "which is a bit of a lie". "But that's her decision."

She also "prefers to use the term 'lesbian' rather than 'queer'", said Böttinger:

""Queer" sounds modern and offensive. But there is a danger that women will once again be a minority and go under, because men are also very assertive in the queer movement, sometimes a little more assertive than women. That's why I prefer to say: I'm a lesbian woman and I'm part of the queer community."

More videos from the department