Judith Williams: A break in her life didn’t stop her

Judith Williams
A break in her life didn’t stop her

Judith Williams celebrates her 50th birthday on September 18th. The investor in the VOX founder show “Die Höhle der Löwen” has been aiming for an artistic career for a long time. But her health thwarted her plans, whereupon the American discovered her sales talent through a part-time job. It was the start of a success story.

Judith Williams was born in Munich in 1971. At the age of four she was on stage with her father for the first time. Basso profondo Daniel Lewis Williams, who grew up in Billings, Montana, moved with his family to Trier in the late 1970s. In December 2019, Judith Williams looked on Instagram Back to her childhood: “Of the many wonderful memories in your first ice-cold apartment in an old building in Munich. Or puppet theater at home because the circus was way too expensive for us, I am so grateful to them for everything. Perfect parents? Yes, because they are imperfect and I was allowed to go through many ups and downs with them and they didn’t put me in cotton wool. “

Children instead of an opera career

After graduating from high school, Judith Williams studied classical singing at the University of Music in Cologne and ballet at the Royal Academy of Dance. Williams was able to celebrate her first successes as a soprano, she appeared on stage as Maria in the “West Side Story” or as Papagena in “Die Zauberflöte”. In the mid-90s, the singer suffered a stroke of fate that ruined her professional plans.

Williams was diagnosed with a benign tumor of the uterus and was given a choice. An operation would have had the consequence that she could not have children, hormone treatment would affect her voice for years and thus destroy the dream of an opera career. Williams opted for a child instead of a stage career. “To be honest, I’m very grateful today for my life as it has taken the turn. You always have to make the best of everything,” explained Williams in an interview with RTL in 2018.

A turning point came for the businesswoman through a temporary job. In a fitness studio, she sold an above-average number of drinks to customers – and immediately sent an application to the sales channel QVC. It was taken on the second attempt. In 2001 she switched to HSE, Germany’s first teleshopping broadcaster. In 2004 Williams got her first jewelry format on the station. In 2007 she ventured into self-employment and founded her own company. With her Judith Williams brand world, she built a cosmetics and lifestyle empire with an annual turnover of 150 million euros and created the largest European teleshopping brand.

Seen as a TV lioness since 2014

Williams has been known to a larger TV audience since 2014. In the start-up show “Die Höhle der Löwen” the entrepreneur invests in start-ups and good ideas. The show is currently in its tenth season. In addition to entrepreneurship and TV work, Williams attaches great importance to social engagement. She has been an ambassador for SOS Children’s Villages since 2009, supports various women’s shelters and, since 2017, the José Carreras Leukemia Foundation.

In 2018, Williams took second place in the eleventh season of the RTL show “Let’s Dance”, she only had to admit defeat to Ingolf Lück (63). In tears, she told the TV show how painful the experience of her tumor had been for her, but she now has two wonderful daughters. “You have to believe in yourself no matter what,” Williams explained. She has been married to actor Alexander-Klaus Stecher (53) since 2011; they have two daughters together: Sophia was born in 2007, Angelina was born in 2009.

Music continues to play a major role in Williams’ life to this day. “We are a very musical family. Together with my husband I sing almost every day, for example in the morning for our two daughters to wake up – although their enthusiasm in the morning is honestly limited,” she explained in an interview with spot on in October 2019 news. A special song for her is “Somewhere” from the “West Side Story”: “It was the last song I sang before I had to give up my career as an opera singer.”

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