DER SPIEGEL: Mrs Schäfer, do you know who Claudia Hein is?
Shepherd: Who?
THE MIRROR: Claudia Hein.
Schäfer: Oh, that was "Miss Germany", can that be? But I do not remember what year.
DER SPIEGEL: That was in 2004, when you competed in the "Miss Germany" election. A few days before the decision, you flew out.
Schäfer: That's right, because of my first nude shoot.
DER SPIEGEL: We wonder what Claudia Hein is doing now. Do you know it?
Schäfer: Is not she an actress? Does that help with "Unter Uns"? I have no idea. How so?
DER SPIEGEL: I do not know either.
Shepherd: Is that your ex or what?
DER SPIEGEL: No. But why, do you think that you are remembered even though you flew out then and not to the winner Hein?
Schäfer: Well, scandals: The press just reports bigger.
DER SPIEGEL: Was that the moment you realized that your business works through scandals?
Schäfer: No, I really wanted to become "Miss Germany". I certainly participated in 18 Miss elections. I was ambitious. I kept trying until I became "Miss Tempelhof" and later "Miss East Germany". Then I was allowed to Miss Germany election. But even if I had become "Miss Germany", that would have come out with the photos a week later. I had no idea that you can not do nude photos there. They came up again at "Germany's Next Top Model". And that, even though I was already known naked. Heidi Klum probably just needed a scandal. Later I undressed at "Das Supertalent". That's when I realized that you had spent a lot of time with me. And then came the "jungle camp". After that it was clear: nakedness works. And I noticed that nobody else does. And I thought: I think that's cool and I enjoy it, I'll try that out now.
DER SPIEGEL: Have you always wanted to become famous?
Schäfer: Yes, but I also knew that I could not do anything normal. I knew I would not become an actress, a singer, a presenter. And for a model I'm too small and curvy. So I took part everywhere - something would happen.
DER SPIEGEL: In your Wikipedia article, you are a nude model, DJane, presenter. What is your job?
Schäfer: Sometimes I ask myself that question. In the past there were singers, actresses, models, women could still be put into these categories. I would most likely refer to myself as an erotic model, but actually this is such a new-fang becoming famous profession.
DER SPIEGEL: Are you also an influencer?
Schäfer: No, I do not earn my money with postings. I'm from the TV. If Instagram goes bankrupt tomorrow, I would not give a damn.
DER SPIEGEL: Prefer to pull out on TV?
Schäfer: Yes, that's just fun. But, I'm really not a social media guy, I'm honest with you.
DER SPIEGEL: Are there media inquiries that you reject?
Schäfer: I do not like talk shows so much. I have been to Markus Lanz several times now. There are eight people in a round. How is that supposed to work? Since you do not speak.
DER SPIEGEL: Are you taking you seriously?
Schäfer: I was in Vienna recently in a talk-round, together with a politician and a real estate guy. It was about money. By the way, I knocked out that I'm a real estate millionaire. Then there was a moment's silence and people thought, "Wow, I'm not a real estate millionaire!" I've been running around with my handbag for seven years now, I'd rather invest my money wisely.
DER SPIEGEL : Here comes a Markus Lanz question: "What do you regret in your life?"
Schäfer: What do you regret in your life ... - why do you always ask me that? I'm fine! I do not take drugs, I do not drink alcohol, I have no escapades. Actually, I'm a showcase celebrity, treated like a leper.
DER SPIEGEL: Scandals have also made you big.
Schäfer: Yes, we trash stars live on scandals. But mine are clean. I never stumble drunk from the club, pöble rum or taxes.
DER SPIEGEL: And if you would do something different than being naked for work?
Schäfer: When I do not feel like being a nude DJ, I think of something new - a fashion collection, for example. Or I would make a magazine, I already have an idea.
DER SPIEGEL: You work on a magazine?
Schäfer: Not yet, but I would like to.
DER SPIEGEL: What is the topic?
Shepherd: Of course, erotic. That's where I know the best.
DER SPIEGEL: Mrs Schäfer, in front of you are media makers. Pitch us your idea.
Schäfer: An erotic magazine for him and her. Because for men there are already erotic magazines, only we women do not come at our expense. We can read something about lipstick or about which aristocrats are divorcing. But if I want to read something about sex, it will be bleak. That's missing!
DER SPIEGEL: Will that be like Barbara or BOA?
Schäfer: I want to specify the topics. I do not have to write. The magazine should also be good.
DER SPIEGEL: Who would come first cover?
Shepherd: Me!
DER SPIEGEL: And the second?
Shepherd: Me, me, me! But I'm just planning an issue for now. That costs money. And I have no idea how to get a magazine into stores. Ads and advertisers - for God's sake.
DER SPIEGEL: Honestly, your positive attitude to print media surprises you.
Schäfer: At the beginning of my career a lot of bad things were written because people could not make friends with them. "There is one that shows breasts, which is crazy in the head." Meanwhile, I'm more likely to ask, "Why are you dressed this way today?" As if I had to justify myself.
DER SPIEGEL: Why do we even need trash stars and trash TV?
Schäfer: We are all voyeuristic. We want to believe that we know the lives of people in public. We suspect that everyone plays a role in front of the camera. Nevertheless, I am a convinced trash aunt.
DER SPIEGEL: When you appear on television, are they really you or do you just play a role?
Schäfer: Of course I am pretending. I always take off my clothes. No producer asks me for that, but he would be disappointed if I did not get naked. Monday morning in the cafe I do not do that.
DER SPIEGEL: Once the reputation has been established, it lives completely uninhibited.
Schäfer: For me the saying fits quite well. An A-celebrity like Helene Fischer has to be careful what she says, otherwise she loses one of her highly endowed advertising contracts with some nonsense company. When I say something wrong, it just says, "Ahh, the stupid nut again." But that's not bad, I feel fine.
DER SPIEGEL: If Helene Fischer is A-Celebrity, which letter do you have?
Shepherd: C.
DER SPIEGEL: Is it possible to become a C-Celebrity A-Celebrity?
Schäfer: I could only become an A-celebrity if I'm a national player or if Til Schweiger falls in love with me. But I do not accept A-celebrity. This already forbids the management. This is how this arrogant media industry is ticking. There used to be something like A, B, C celebrities.
DER SPIEGEL: Where is the difference?
Schäfer: Bambi, German Film Award. Something like that you can bend as a C-Celebrity. We do not hold a laudation and great designers do not equip us. We do not get a cover in Bunte or Gala, we come to the InTouch. We walk around in the jungle camp, but do not get an hour at Lanz, like Lagerfeld. We C-celebrities just do not have certain privileges.
DER SPIEGEL: Does that bother you?
Schäfer: That's okay with me. But sometimes the way we treat C-celebrities is borderline. Really like the last dirt. Sorry, we fill 50 percent of your formats. If we were not, then when should the chocolate bar manufacturer switch his advertising with you?
DER SPIEGEL: If Til Schweiger came, they would say: "Hey Micaela, do you want to be my girlfriend? You just have to stop taking off your clothes." Would you say "yes"?
Shepherd: Oh God, I would not stop working just because a man says that! What is that picture of a woman? Do we live in the Middle Ages? No way. And stop taking off my clothes? What should I use to earn my money?
DER SPIEGEL: With Real Estate?
Schäfer: In order to buy them, I have to take off my clothes. No, I would say Til Schweiger, sorry, that will not work.
DER SPIEGEL: You once said that you had something in common with Angela Merkel.
Shepherd: Oh god, what did I say?
DER SPIEGEL: In your autobiography.
Schäfer: So optically by no means.
DER SPIEGEL: But what do you think?
Schäfer: Merkel does not care what others say about her. She just pulls her thing through. I love Mrs. Merkel, I'm a self-confessed CDU voter.
DER SPIEGEL: As a political person do you also go public?
Schäfer: No, not really. I'm calling on Facebook not to vote for the AfD, but I'm not starting any policy discussion. That brings nothing. Maybe I should say something about old-age poverty, because that touches me. That's when I think of my grandma. But as a c-celebrity, politics is not my job.
DER SPIEGEL: What do you have to do as a c-celebrity to stay successful?
Schäfer: I know many who think they are coming to the new Til Schweiger movie after being in the "jungle camp". That's bullshit! You can not do anything and you will not be able to do anything. Better show why you came to the "jungle camp," and if it's just your breasts. If you do that 100 percent, then you will remain successful.
DER SPIEGEL: You claim that you enjoy aging. But with all the cosmetic surgery they stop this process.
Schäfer: Yes, I want that too.
DER SPIEGEL: So getting older, but not aging?
Shepherd: No! So of course I'm getting older, but I do not want to look like that. I want to feel good in my body and I do not do that when I have wrinkles and it hangs everywhere. Of course at some point I can not stop that anyway, but right now I want to look in the mirror and just feel good.
DER SPIEGEL: How many operations are there actually?
Shepherd: Two times the butt, once the chin, three times the nose and then the Schlupflider. And I did the breasts one, two, three, four ... five times. Oh, and stomach, lips and cheeks, I almost forgot that
DER SPIEGEL: Why do you have to do this so often?
Shepherd: Oh, because I'm crazy about beauty surgeries.
DER SPIEGEL: Are there any operations they would not do today?
Schäfer: I limited that with the Botox now. For some jobs, I noticed that I should somehow "look different" and that just did not work. And so a bit of facial expression would be nice. I still inject but not so that everything is there as festgetackert.
DER SPIEGEL: Does all this really need it?
Shepherd: In the meantime, women think I need bigger breasts and a thicker butt. I say, do that, but it does not solve problems! You still have to work hard, be ambitious and disciplined, something you can not just buy from the doctor. But bigger breasts: Sorry darling, you can get it on installments too.
DER SPIEGEL: What would you say to a 14-year-old girl that she adores and emulates you?
Shepherd: Do not do that. I stand by the product Micaela Schäfer. To show my breasts. But that will not be yours. You will not stand the shitstorms, that does not make you happy.
DER SPIEGEL: The Süddeutsche Zeitung once called you "modern Helena" and "the personified sexual provocation".
Schäfer: The South German once wrote about me? Great!
DER SPIEGEL: Yes, back then to the "jungle camp".
Schäfer: Oh shit, that's how long ago?
DER SPIEGEL: Is Provocation Successful?
Schäfer: So in the beginning everybody said: "It's gone after half a year, but breasts can show anybody." Of course anybody can do that, but it does not matter.
DER SPIEGEL: Tomorrow, RTL will come to you and offer you a show in prime time. They determine the concept and invite guests. How do you react?
Schäfer: Ha, I have often thought of that. I expect that will happen someday. I thought it all over carefully.
DER SPIEGEL: What should your format look like?
Schäfer: Of course this will be a show in which only C-celebrities get a stage. They have such great stories to tell, but never get the chance. There should be time for that on TV. Or I caste the next C-celebrity. The winner gets a green card to the "jungle camp". That's all worked out, I'm just waiting for RTL to contact me.
This interview was first published in "Klartext 48: Wertstoff", the final journal of the Lehrredaktion 57A of the German School of Journalism of 13.9.2019.