Jürgen Fliege

His childhood was characterized by fear and loneliness; he himself described it as the hardest time of his life. He found refuge from his father's beatings with his grandfather Eugen, to whom he had a very close bond. Due to a congenital reading and spelling disability, dyslexia, he found it difficult to keep up with the level of instruction at high school. However, his early desire to become a pastor made him persevere and pass the required high school diploma. After studying theology, Fliege served in parish offices in Düsseldorf, Essen and Aldenhoven near Aachen for twelve years. His talent as a speaker was discovered at a Protestant church conference. From then on he moderated church events more often. Fliege worked freelance for a number of television and radio stations until his own show "Fliege - The Talk Show" started on ARD in 1994. At the beginning of this activity, Fliege was forced to temporarily suspend his pastorate. Nevertheless, even while working as a TV presenter, he occasionally held church services and took part in church events. In 1995, he and his television producer Johannes C. Weiss founded the "Fly Foundation", which supports people in need. In 1999, Fliege founded a private institute for pastoral care and communication to provide further training for pastors. He was also an author who has published numerous books and children's books, including the titles "Everything will be fine again" and "Dear Jürgen Fliege... Children's Questions about Heaven and Earth". In the summer of 2005 it was announced that ARD would no longer extend the popular TV presenter's contract. Fliege's talk show was therefore scheduled to end at the end of 2005, after 12 years, 1,800 programs and more than 10,000 guests. In August 2005, it was decided at short notice to stop the talk show in mid-September. Jürgen Fliege is divorced, the father of two children and lives near Munich. He has been in a relationship with Mechthild Seitz for several years.