Ilka Bessin is known as the colorful, funny Cindy from Marzahn. But as a child she was beaten “quite often”.
Ilka Bessin (52) has spoken about violence in her parents’ home. “I had a beautiful but very strict childhood, which was characterized by getting a slap on the bottom every now and then,” she says.
She reports a “tense atmosphere” when she knew “that you had done something and you knew: Dad is coming home and you’re going to get beaten up.” Such incidents did not happen regularly, but “more often,” admits the comedian, also known as Cindy from Marzahn.
She has forgiven her parents
Today, Bessin has found a good way to deal with the events and has forgiven her parents. “Of course you don’t like getting a beating, but my parents have at some point over the years […] apologized for that,” she says in a conversation with Aminata Belli (32) and Aurel Mertz (35). Back then, it was “a different time” and “a completely different kind of upbringing.” There is no such thing anymore. “And it shouldn’t exist nowadays, that’s very important,” the comedienne emphasizes.
Highs because of Cindy from Marzahn
Ilka Bessin also talks about other difficult times in her life. After a long period of unemployment, during which she had to struggle with self-doubt, she really took off in the 2000s with her fictional character Cindy from Marzahn. But contrary to expectations, the success did not only bring positive things. “Then at some point you think: people can be happy that they can breathe my air. I really am a gift from God,” she recalls her high point at the time.
The 52-year-old has now hung up her pink jogging suit and her permed wig from Cindy eight years ago. But for the 20th anniversary of her cult character, she will go on tour again this year as an unemployed Berliner.
Source: Stern
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