Naddel | Nadja Abd el Farrag: Died for the tabloids

Looking head-on into a spotlight is a jarring experience. Despite the dazzling brightness, you can see almost nothing. This effect is familiar from tabloid journalism and the C-list celebrities it spotlights. Although every nook and cranny of their private lives is illuminated, the essentials remain hidden.

This is inherent in the nature of C-list celebrities. Traditional A- and B-list celebrities have to demonstrate some kind of achievement, even if it's just appearing in interchangeable early evening series or singing mass-produced hits. Someone like Thekla Carola Wied ("Ich heirate eine Familie," "Wie gut, dass es Maria gibt") has built an entire career on consistently sporting the same facial expression on ZDF .

The C-list celebrity, on the other hand, has only himself to offer. He is the trash version of the aristocracy, who has nothing to show for it other than inherited or married titles. A prime example of this was Nadja Abd el Farrag, born in 1965 in Hamburg as the daughter of a car dealer, who was usually referred to in public as "Naddel."

Her tragedy began before the turn of the millennium, before "Big Brother" paved the way for reality TV. As a long-time girlfriend of Dieter Bohlen , who was temporarily dumped for Verona Pooth (née Feldbusch), Nadja Abd el Farrag played the role of the victim from the very beginning. She met him as a backing singer for Blue System. Questions like "When will the two finally get married?" and "When will she have a child?" occupied the gossip press throughout the 1990s. They were dishonest questions. Because everyone who experienced Dieter Bohlen in the media knew: the answer would be "never."

An honest article would have focused on how a rather disgusting person kept a rather naive woman waiting and putting her off for years. But tabloid journalism isn't about truthfulness; it's about "drama, baby, drama" (Bruce Darnell). The C-list celebrity thrives on making his existence seem like a series of traffic accidents.

And Naddel delivered reliably. In 2001, she weighed her—that's a fitting expression here—tits on a Sat.1 quiz show. The depressing punchline was that the audience had to guess in advance whether they weighed as much as a mango, a bunch of broccoli, or a small honeydew melon. In moments like these, one realized: human dignity is inviolable.

But Naddel didn't understand it until years later, much too late. The arts sections of the mainstream press might discuss the extent to which a woman was selling her soul by offering her body for sale on trash TV: "Big Brother," "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here," and "Celebrity Boxing." But on the tabloids, all that mattered was the anti-aircraft spotlight that shone so brightly on Naddel—she registered the name as a trademark in 2007—that the person Nadja Abd el Farrag became invisible behind it.

"Bild" and other newspapers repeatedly harped on about her "downfalls." The phrase sounded spectacular and always boosted circulation and clicks. The actual truth would have only disturbed readers: The woman, who would likely have been happier as an unknown pharmacy assistant, was an alcoholic. Not a nice word for a headline meant to sell. The fact that her addiction began at the same time as her relationship with Dieter Bohlen could have provided material for an interesting portrait: Why do women who feel abandoned start drinking? But this text, too, was never written.

Nadja Abd el Farrag made headlines for the last time on May 9. That day, she died of liver cirrhosis.