Gloria-Sophie Burkandt, the daughter of CSU boss Markus Söder, has been in the limelight for almost two years. First, she made headlines as a model. Now the 24-year-old also reveals a less than pleasant part of her life. So she suffered from anorexia.
Markus Söder’s daughter Gloria-Sophie Burkandt has made her overcome anorexia public – and with this step would like to encourage everyone to live out their emotions and dreams. “I would like to help young people in these difficult times to live authentically and be happy,” says the 24-year-old model. “I see that everyone is repressing their emotions, everyone is being forced to be something they are not, and listening to what’s on the inside is my message.”
Even as a child, she was offended because she was different from others: louder, livelier, more emotional, and a bit clumsy. As a result, she suppressed her true self – “it’s good to be different”. In her early 20s, she was diagnosed with anorexia, as Burkandt first described to the “Bild” newspaper. She lost so much weight that she only weighed 59 kilograms at a height of 1.85 meters.
For Burkandt, the disease has a larger context. “It’s a social problem that people don’t feel alive anymore. Everyone looks grim on the streets, nobody smiles anymore,” she says. Too many suppressed their feelings and dreams. “Especially my generation has a big problem with it. Everything is boring, everyone wants something new – that’s why everyone dresses so crazy and colorful – but it has to be lived out. But they can’t because they don’t know like,” says Burkandt.
“I experienced a lot, but I didn’t live,” says the daughter of the Bavarian Prime Minister about herself. She has a degree in economics and has also traveled abroad as a model. “But I really didn’t know what it was like to be in love with life,” she explains now.
Although her parents – Burkandt comes from a previous relationship with Söder – always supported her in her individuality and also during the time of anorexia, she concealed the illness from them as much as possible. “I didn’t want my parents to feel guilty or responsible for anything. I’m responsible for myself.”
She found the way out when she started working with an acting coach earlier this year, says Burkandt. “There’s never been a moment in my life that I’ve felt happier than acting. Because I finally have a purpose,” she explains. “I so love acting, I love experiencing all the emotions and it’s so fun to let them out and once I let them out I feel so balanced and so fulfilled.” Therefore, she is certain that she has finally left anorexia behind. Now she is aiming for a future as an actress.
