Kristiane Verena Backer (born 13 December 1965) is a German art dealer with a previous career as a television presenter, journalist and author residing in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Biography

At the age of 15, Backer went to the United States as an

exchange student A student exchange program is a program in which students from a secondary school (high school) or higher education study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions. A student exchange program may involve international travel, bu ...

for a year. From 1987 to 1989 Backer volunteered at the private radio station

Radio Hamburg Radio Hamburg is a private commercial radio station based on Hamburg, Germany. Established in 1986, it was the first private radio station in Hamburg and one of the first private radio stations in West Germany. Radio Hamburg GmbH is owned by Ham ...

. In 1989 she moved to London to work at the then Europe-wide, exclusively English-language TV channel,

MTV Europe MTV Global (formerly MTV Europe) is the international version of the American TV channel MTV as 24-hour music video and entertainment pay television network officially launched on 1 August 1987 as part of the worldwide MTV network. Initia ...

. Backer was the first German to present and VJ there and among the programmes she presented were ''The Coca-Cola Report'', ''The European Top 20'' and ''Awake on the Wild Side''. She remained there until 1996. While still at MTV Europe, she created and moderated the youth program Bravo TV on the German TV channel

RTL II RTL Zwei (stylised as RTLZWEI), formerly spelled RTL 2 and RTL II, is a German-language television channel that is operated by ''RTL2 Television GmbH & Co. KG''. RTL2 is a private general entertainment ''(Vollprogramm)'' tv channel on the bas ...

from 1993–95. From 1996 to 1999 she presented the daily cultural programme ''The Ticket'' on

NBC Europe NBC Europe (formerly Super Channel, and later NBC Channel) was a satellite television network based in the United Kingdom that broadcast across Europe, and it was picked up by various European cable television, cable systems where available. Th ...

. From 2000 to 2009, Backer continued to do TV presenting as well as voiceover work. In 2005 she presented the in-flight music show for Emirate Airlines. For her work as a television presenter, Backer was awarded a

Goldene Kamera The Goldene Kamera ("Golden Camera") is an annual German film and television award, awarded by the Funke Mediengruppe. The award show was usually held in early February in Hamburg, but also took place in Berlin on occasion. It has been paused ...

award in 1994 and in 1993 and 1994 two

Bravo Otto The Bravo Otto is a German accolade honoring excellence of performers in film, television and music. Established in 1957, the award is presented annually, with winners selected by the readers of ''Bravo'' magazine. The award is presented in ...

awards. Backer also hosts and presents conferences, business presentations, and galas throughout

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Personal life

In 1992, Backer began dating former Pakistani cricketer and now former prime minister

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician, philanthropist, and former cricketer who served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He was the founder of the political party Pak ...

. He gave her books on Islam and took her travelling with him through

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. In 1995, she converted to

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any Succession to Muhammad, successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr ...

from

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

. The relationship ended after the three years. According to Backer, she and Khan were planning to get married and move to Skardu. She does not wear a headscarf at all times but insists that "women who cover themselves are not discriminated against but respected." In May 2009 she published the book ''From MTV to Mecca – How Islam Changed My Life''. On 14 April 2006, she married the Moroccan television journalist Rachid Jaafar. She and Jaafar later divorced. Backer lives in London and works as a

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function (such as ...

consultant.

Voice filmography

* 1994:

Asterix Conquers America ''Asterix Conquers America'' (in France as ''Astérix et les Indiens''; in Germany as ''Asterix in Amerika'') is a 1994 English-language German animated film, directed by , and co-produced by Hahn and . The film is a loose adaptation of the ''As ...

as Ha-Tschi (German Dub)

Publications

* ''From MTV to Mecca: How Islam Inspired My Life'', 2009; * ''Der Islam als Weg des Herzens: Warum ich Muslima bin'', 2010;

References

External links

* *
"Der Islam ist sehr zugänglich"
interview with the ''Islamische Zeitung''
Kristiane Backer
on the ''Matters of Faith'' website
Kristiane Backer, from MTV to Mecca
{{DEFAULTSORT:Backer, Kristiane 1965 births Living people Writers from Hamburg German former Christians German Muslims Converts to Islam from Protestantism German video jockeys Press TV people German emigrants to England German women television presenters German women television journalists 21st-century German journalists