TV presenter Sophia Dreyer: "I suddenly knew: I have to get out"

Created: 09/23/2022, 11:00 am

By: Michaele Heske

Sophia Dreyer loves adventure - not just dangling over crevasses.

At the age of 40 she took the plunge and turned her whole life upside down.

© Private

At the age of 40, Sophia Dreyer dares the adventure and reinvents herself: divorce, dismissal, relocation.

Today, the trained architect is in front of the camera as a TV presenter (Munich TV).

Walpertskirchen/Munich

– "I get stage fright before every performance," says Sophia Dreyer, presenter of "Heimatgschichtn", which is broadcast daily on the local television station München TV.

You won't believe it when you see her on screen, as eloquent, charming and humorous as she comes across.

"I only calm down when I'm out on stage." The outspoken nature of the 45-year-old speaker and singer, who grew up in Walpertskirchen, is what makes her so charming.

She is also an exceptionally brave woman.

At the age of 40, she started again from scratch.

When your inner voice gets louder and louder, you can no longer ignore it in the hustle and bustle of everyday life and it asks you relentlessly: "Was that it, do I want to continue like this until I retire?" Then it's commonly called a midlife crisis.

But listening to your own feelings also has a lot to do with mindfulness.

"I just didn't want to go on like this anymore," says Dreyer, mother of a ten-year-old daughter.

She decided that shortly after her 40th birthday on April 6, five years ago.

And where the future path of the qualified architect, who worked as a production manager in the costume department at the Bavarian State Opera, should lead, was not really clear to her.

"I suddenly knew from the gut: I have to get out."

It was precisely in this situation that Dreyer remembered her school days in Walpertskirchen.

"I remembered what I wanted to do as a little girl." Her dream jobs from childhood: "Nun in Kathmandu or news anchor."

A nun from Nepal had attended the class - she found that super exciting: "I've always been drawn to the wide world, I wanted to travel a lot," she remembers looking back.

On the other hand, she grew up with Dagmar Berghoff, so to speak.

"So somewhere in between, I saw myself placed back then."

Born in Munich, she was one year old when she moved with her parents and two siblings to the former Wagnerhäusl in Walpertskirchen in 1978: "It's one of the oldest houses in town," she proudly says.

In the beginning, the family lived on a construction site because the building, which is more than 200 years old, first had to be restored.

One of her favorite places is still the Wagnerhäusl in Walpertskirchen, where presenter Sophia Dreyer grew up.

© Michaele Heske

“We were outside a lot, could walk around freely.

The meadow went all the way down to the stream, and there was also a sledge hill.” She had a happy childhood, and she says that her grandmother, who lived in Pfronten, also shaped her.

"I used to visit her on vacation.

We were in the mountains every day.” To this day, she enjoys the peace and quiet of hiking, the view from the rocks: “I really like being alone.”

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When her parents' marriage failed, the girl found solace with her grandmother.

"I didn't want my dad to go, even though my parents kept arguing." At that time, divorces were still an exception.

"Not an easy time, not even for my mother, who was suddenly a single parent." Because the three children were born in quick succession.

"Mom was very busy with us, we all hung on to her skirts."

Dreyer is a woman of extremes: on the one hand she loves country life, on the other hand she was drawn to the city at an early age.

After spending 16 years abroad at the high school in Bakersfield, California, she graduated from high school in Kirchheim near Munich.

She then studied architecture at the Technical University of Munich.

"I've lived in Munich for so long now - but I also need the country life." Every now and then she takes a short break from the hustle and bustle of the big city and visits her 74-year-old mother: "Here I can relax."

Dreyer financed her studies with a job at the Bavarian State Opera.

So she was able to afford the many trips during the semester breaks.

With her backpack she traveled through Africa, Southeast Asia and South America – sometimes together with her boyfriend at the time, sometimes alone.

Here she came into contact with the locals and got to know the country and its people.

“I was a good student and graduated with a grade of 1.8.

But I didn't like the idea of ​​sitting in front of the computer in the office and only having to meet DIN standards," explains Dreyer.

It was different with the world of opera, which she got to know early on through her father, a management consultant.

“I often went to Bayreuth with him.

Musically, Wagner really got to me.” She had already taken classical singing lessons in Hörlkofen.

"I never told anyone.

But I would actually have liked to have been an opera singer.”

She inherited her love of opera and music from her father: she is the singer of the Munich band Amalfi Swing.

© Private

After completing her studies, she volunteered as a costume painter and spent the next few years not on stage but behind the scenes: "I always listened to the arias, I was totally fascinated." She describes the workshop as a witch's kitchen: "We dyed fabrics, made angel wings and edited the costumes, making them dirty or gory depending on the script.”

Later she was promoted to production manager for costumes at the Bavarian State Opera.

In the 2014/15 season she was responsible for the robe in Rossini's opera "Le Comte Ory".

It was directed by Marcus H. Rosenmüller, who also brought “Who dies earlier is dead longer” to the cinema screens.

“That was the absolute highlight,” enthuses Dreyer.

It was there that she met her first husband.

In 2012 their daughter Ida was born.

The young mother stayed at home for three years to take care of her child.

After that she went back to the opera, part-time.

She lasted two years, then she broke up: "I was shocked myself how clear I was suddenly."

She also broke out of her marriage.

Today she lives with her new partner in Munich.

"We are soul mates," she says, and laughs.

She is happy, she adds.

You can clearly see that: "We are now a big blended family."

Sophia Dreyer is in front of the camera for Munich TV.

She was also in Maria Dorfen for her show Heimatgschichtn to interview Andreas Begert.

© Michaele Heske

At the same time, after retraining to become an editor/presenter three years ago, the moderator managed to jump directly into the Munich TV studio.

"And at my age," she says happily.

It all sounds like a picture book.

“I have a totally positive attitude.

And life has been good to me so far." But she also had difficult times: "A separation is hard, you never know exactly how things will continue.

Back then it was all a jump in at the deep end.” She also mourned the loss of her grandmother, who had had a strong influence on her.

And her father's death two years ago also left its mark on her.

"And then somehow the common thread is missing in my CV." Everything doesn't always have to go according to a preconceived plan when determination and drive are the leitmotifs.

Last but not least, there is also a lot of research and work in the job as a moderator.

“Interviewing people, choosing the best scenes and editing the films – always keeping an eye on the clock.” Because she wants to be with her daughter on time when school ends.

"The compatibility of work and family is still the big challenge for us women."

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