"We have separated," says a statement by Anne Will and Miriam Meckel. "We will not explain any further and ask to respect our privacy." The letter is the German Press Agency according to their own information. The very short text is followed by the signatures of both women.
The ARD-Talkerin Will and the communication scientist Meckel had made their relationship public in 2007 in the "Bild am Sonntag". In March 2010 Meckel explained her coming-out at SPIEGEL: "We just wanted to be able to go to a public event and sit at the same table, and for that we had to bear with the fact that this photo is taken." Will explained in the "star": "We just did not feel like cramping anymore: I'm going, Miriam is coming after."
DPA
The couple in 2008
After that, "first big alarm" was, said Meckel the SPIEGEL "but that was then quickly over again." Both women were reluctant to talk about their relationship and had little in common with clichés about lesbian couples. When asked how long they were a couple, Meckel evasively replied in 2010: "Much longer than that is an issue in the media."
In 2016 it was said: "Yes, we got married." Even before the marriage for anyone who has only been possible in Germany for two years, Will and Meckel have given the vow for a registered civil partnership.
Meckel is publisher of the magazine "Ada" and director at the Institute for Media and Communication Management of the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.
Her private life kept Will and Meckel largely under wraps. Little was known about it. Even when Meckel worked up her burnout in the book "Letter to my life", she did not reveal much about life with her partner.
Common appearances were more frequent, then not for a long time. In the meantime circulating separation rumors were denied.
In June, there was an appearance in a prominent round: During a conference on artificial intelligence Will and Meckel visited the Dresden Frauenkirche, together with Chancellor Angela Merkel and Greens chief Robert Habeck.