interview
Caroline Peters
How a piece of cultural heritage becomes her love secret
Caroline Peters
© Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images
Actress Caroline Peters talks about the secret of love, the desire to have children and (no) plan B.
At the latest with her leading role in the ARD hit series “Murder with a View”. Caroline Peters, 52, into the hearts of millions of crime thriller fans. It’s been exactly ten years since the last episode was filmed. Now – after major cinema successes, for example with “The First Name” – the ensemble member of Vienna’s Burgtheater is coming to television with a new crime role and expectations are high, after all, she is considered one of the best actresses in German-speaking countries.
Caroline Peters didn’t have a plan B at first
It’s a good thing that at the beginning of her career she wasn’t discouraged by the rejections she received from seven acting schools. “I didn’t really think about a plan B,” she admits in the GALA interview. Today, as a celebrated star, she sums it up: “Acting is the revenge of the shy, as Robert Mitchum said.” By chance, a plan B came into her life.
Gala: You operate with your partner Frank Dehner a post garden shop in Vienna. How did you come up with that?
Caroline Peters: The idea came about in 2017 when we both had the feeling that everything was modernizing. When we moved to Vienna, we thought about what makes us special. Postcards still looked as horrible as they did in our childhood and youth. So why not create a more modern, stylish version?
“A random sign that I’m thinking of you”
Many people keep postcards because they have emotional value.
Yes, it’s like a secret message that you always find by chance when it falls off the shelf while cleaning up. There is no other reason to write a card except for pure love and friendship. Today it no longer serves its original purpose, but only the message: I want you to still find out by chance in five years that I am thinking of you.
Then a love product was created out of love…
You could say that. (laughs) This has become very much our thing. But of course it can also cause trouble because you don’t always agree. But it is very positive for our relationship because the professional exchange also creates completely new possibilities for compromise in our private lives.
Of postcard shops and love secrets
So the store is your secret as to why your love has lasted for more than twelve years?
Oh, if I knew the secret of love, I would immediately write a world bestseller (laughs). You just hope that love lasts a long time.
In any case, your love does not need an official etiquette like a wedding.
It’s much more about making an effort for each other, taking care of each other, watching your partner. We are all constantly changing. You never know whether you will develop together. Of course I hope for the best for us and so far I can’t complain. (laughs)
What advice would you give your younger self?
Today, of course, we see things from back then with different eyes. In my twenties, for example, I lived in an environment of young unemployed artists in Berlin in which the desire to have children seemed absurd, even though I actually had the desire to become a mother young. As I got older, the desire faded. I never thought: “I must have a child at all costs.”
And otherwise?
Buy Apple shares, life is not free! (laughs)