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I, Christiane F. - Christiane Vera Felscherinow was born on May 20 , 1962 in Hamburg, Germany.

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Context - At this point in history, Germany was still divided by the Berlin wall, and Hamburg was on the western side.

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City of birth - When Christiane F. was born, crime was a big problem in Hamburg.

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Cultural scene - But Hamburg also had a burgeoning music scene, with a lot of rock band performances.

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Beatles - One of the bands which often performed in Felscherinow's hometown were The Beatles, before they became world famous.

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Changes - When Christiane F. was six, her parents, who had a complicated relationship, moved to Berlin. This was to open a whole new chapter in her life.

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Separation - Her parents split up in Berlin at the end of the 60s, which set the girl's life on a completely different course.

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Life on the margins - Before she was 14, Christiane F. had got involved in drugs and prostitution.

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Autobiography - From this harsh reality she managed to find success: the teenager became famous for her life story which she told in her autobiography 'Christiane F.: Autobiography of a Girl of the Streets and Heroin Addict.'

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Bahnhof Zoo - The book told the happenings of a busy station of Bahnhof Zoo, in the richest part of Berlin at the time, where Christiane and other adolescents worked with prostitution, and bought, sold, and took drugs.

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The book - As well as telling stories from four years of Felscherinow's life, the book served as a portrait on West Berlin at the time, and quickly sold millions of copies.

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Shared authorship - The book was written together with two journalists from the time: Kai Herrmann and Horst Rieck.

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Christiane F - The story went from the page to the screen in 1981, with a movie starring David Bowie.

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The character of Christiane F. - In the movie, actress Natja Brunckhorst – who was a child at the time – played the role of Christiane F. Even today she is remembered for playing this role.

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Screen success -

Just like the book, Christiane F.'s movie was a success and made her into a sort of reverse pop idol.

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Star of the underworld? - When the movie hit the USA, Christiane  F. traveled to Los Angeles and was dubbed a 'junkie princess.'

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Repercussion - Her story was so shocking that almost no one who saw the movie believed that the real Christiane F. would live much longer.

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Christiane F - But contrary to expectations, Christiane Vera Felscherinow is still alive today and lives off the story she told during her teenage years.

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Christiane F - In an interview published in 2013 on Vice, Christiane Felscherinow revealed details about her life at the time the movie was made.

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Meeting with a star - She said that her anxiety in the months leading up to the filming of the movie were because she was excited to meet David Bowie.

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True story? - Even though she agreed that the movie told the story of her life, Christiane admitted that she thought certain important parts had been left out, especially the fact that she had been neglected by her parents.

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Sorrow? - In the interview she also confessed to feeling that everyone at the time was interested only in the character's addiction, and not on a likeness to the real person.

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Regret - This led Christiane to say that she regretted having written the book and letting it be adapted for the screen.

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Her life - Christiane Felscherinow said that after the release of the book and the movie, she spent her time attending literary events and leading her marginal lifestyle on heroin in Platzspitz, Zurich.

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Addiction - In the interview, Christiane also admitted that despite being 'clean' for a while, she had never been totally separated from drugs.

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New biography - In another interview for Spielgel Online, Christiane spoke about the second book she had written: 'Christiane F - My Second Life,' a sequel to her biography.

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New stories - In this book, which was published in 2013, Christiane F. warns readers about the damages caused by drug use. She, for example, is a carrier of Hepatitis C and suffers from the consequences of this disease which has made her liver weak.

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Always Christiane F. -

Her story is an incredible one, immortalized not only in her book and her movie, but by the strength of the stories told by a woman who was dragged into a world of drugs and crime, and survived it.

See also:  The scandalous truth about Charlie Chaplin

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