Clarissa von Anstetten

Clarissa von Anstetten (née Prozeski and formerly Kaufmann) is a fictional character on German soap opera Verbotene Liebe (Forbidden Love). The character was played by actress Isa Jank from the show's debut on January 2, 1995 to September 5, 2001^[1]. Jank left the show after a disagreement with the producers. A return of her alter ego was rumored several times, but the actress debarred the possibility. In March 2011 followed the surprise when Jank decided to return to the show.^[2] She returned on-screen on June 21, 2011.^[3]

Casting

The producers of show knew from the beginning, thanks to the Australian soap opera Sons and Daughters - which Verbotene Liebe was based on, what impact the character Clarissa would have on the show. They needed a strong and powerful actress in the role, who would click with viewers from the first scene. Isa Jank was eventually cast in the role and the producers soon saw that they succeed with the plan to find the right actress to play the role. She gave her debut in the show's premiere and for years seemed to be the center of Verbotene Liebe. Clarissa became known as the German Alexis Colby and brought the mark glamor soap to the show.

In 1999, Clarissa's story was partly rewritten with the introduction of her ex-husband Peter Kaufmann. Clarissa was supposed to be married to him way before she even met Christoph von Anstetten and no less Arno Brandner. But as the beginning of the series showed, Clarissa was just eighteen years old when she was pregnant by Arno. The background to the Peter Kaufmann story also showed a very cruel Clarissa at a young age. It simple made no sense and the story was not favored by fans nor Isa Jank herself. The actress began to have disagreements with the producers over her role and it ended in leaving the show only a little over a year after the Peter Kaufmann story was finished. It would take almost ten years to win Isa Jank back into her iconic role.

Storyline

The lying game

Clarissa is an attractive, manipulative and scheming woman and married to Christoph von Anstetten, a wealthy aristocrat with a huge empire. She loves her rich life, after she grow up in a poorly family. When she was in a young age, Clarissa met the architect student Arno Brandner and fell in love with him. But Arno wasn't a man with much money and when Clarissa got pregnant with twins, she gave birth to them, and left Arno with their son Jan. She took their daughter Julia with her and became the countess of Anstetten with her marriage to Christoph, who loved Julia and adopted her. Julia and Christoph's son Henning grow up as siblings and believed that Christoph were the father of both of them. Clarissa kept the truth as a secret and made that to the lie of her life. As Christoph's wife, Clarissa became successful and has now her own fashion label, Ligne Clarisse. She considers for Julia to marry the wealthy Gero von Sterneck, who is a long-time friend to the Anstetten family. But Julia falls in love with a young man, named Peter Neumann. Clarissa tries to impedes the relationship, so that Julia can have a future with Gero and take him as her spouse. Even though, Julia and Peter have to face many problems, they seem to always find their way back to each other. When Clarissa realizes that Peter really is her son Jan, she is shocked. Jan already knows that Julia is his sister and tries to stay away from her. He wants to tell her the truth, so that she knows why she and Jan can't be together, but Clarissa warns him that the truth would destroy Julia. Even though, Jan sees that Clarissa only wants to keep her secret, because even Christoph doesn't know about Jan's existents, but he agrees that Julia shouldn't know the truth. Jan disappears, which almost costs Julia her life, when she tries to kill herself. Gero, Henning and Christoph can rescue her. After that, Julia falls into deep depressions. Clarissa is concerned, but keeps saying to herself, that Julia sooner or later will get over it. But Gero anticipates that something else is going on and wants Julia to see a doctor.

Meanwhile, Clarissa and Christoph face problems in their marriage, when Christoph finds out that Clarissa worked on destroying the fashion company Cara Donna, where Barbara von Sterneck, a good friend of the family and Gero's mother, is working as head designer. Clarissa elaborates a personal war against Barbara, which leads to many problems between the woman. Clarissa would have liked to see it Barbara come to work for her, but instead she wants to buy Cara Donna and run it herself. Clarissa is outraged by Barbara's plan and gets even more upset, when she finds out that Christoph wants to help and finance her. She tells Barbara that she should offer shares of the company for her loan that Christoph is giving her. Barbara agrees and goes to Christoph to offer him shares. When he discovers that Clarissa went again behind his back, he is very upset and his marriage is going into a serious crisis. Clarissa even begins a short affair with Alex Wiegand. But she ends things with him, when she finds out that he is the son of Max Orbis, another former lover of Clarissa's.

Julia is diagnosed with leukemia, when the truth threatens to come out. Christoph wants to inform Julia's biological father, but Clarissa wants to make sure that it is really necessary. When Fiona Beckmann, who knows all about Clarissa's secret and is like a mother to Jan, finds out how serious Julia's condition is and that she could die, she tells Jan that Julia needs him. When Clarissa finds her son on Julia's bedside, she finally opens up and tells Julia, Christoph and Henning the truth. Christoph is hurt and shocked, when he finds out that Clarissa never told him about Jan and kept it a secret for more than twenty years. Clarissa tries to rescue herself and to find sympathy by her family. But even her loyal daughter Julia no longer wants to see her. When Christoph discovers all of Clarissa's lies and learns that she left Arno all this years ago and not he her, he wants her to leave Castle Friedenau.

Longtime Rivals

Barbara von Sterneck is a business rival of Clarissa as she owns the successful fashion company Cara Donna and therefor is a competitor to Clarissa's company Ligne Clarisse. Barbara also is a close friend to the Anstetten family and as Christoph ends his marriage with Clarissa, he and Barbara grow closer together. Clarissa uses Barbara more than once in her schemes, trying to ruin her business and her relationship with Christoph. As the fight with Clarissa seems to find no end, Barbara ends things with Christoph and starts a new life in South Africa.

Another rival, an arch enemy, becomes the young Tanja Wittkamp. Clarissa takes a dislike in her right from the beginning and sees her as a dangerous figure when she gets involved with Henning and Jan. Tanja also starts working for Avatex, one of the Anstetten businesses, and puts Clarissa's company in danger as she tries to sell cheep clothes under the Ligne Clarisse label. Jan finds out about it and tells Clarissa everything. This sets the start of a long-going deadly rivalry.

Clarissa's worst scheme

In 2000 she puts pressure on Christoph to marry her again, only then she can free Carolin von Anstetten. He doesnt see any possibility, so he marries Clarissa again. After Caroline, Henning left Freidenau, Christoph felt into a Depression and loneliness. He decides to commit suicide. When Clarissa came into his office, he shot himself. Clarissa was so shocked, that she needed to go to a psychiatrist. After Christoph von Anstetten death, Henning sells the Castle Friedenau.

The final act

In 2001, Tanja von Anstetten, who became Clarissa's longtime enemy over the years, threatens her with a gun on a plane. Clarissa manages to get the gun, when they find out that the plane will crash. Soon later, the news breaks to Henning and Clarissa's best friend Charlie Schneider that the plane crashed. Clarissa supposedly died as did the pilot. While Tanja survived the plane crash and returned three years later into the high society of Düsseldorf.

Second chances

Clarissa spent the last ten years in a prison in South America - innocent. She believes Tanja died in that plane crash and can't figure out who set her up. But anyway, Clarissa wants to leave her past behind her and use her newfound freedom to reunite with her children, Jan and Julia. She feels guilty for what she has done to them and searches for their forgiveness. While Clarissa finds her daughter Julia in Spain, living there with her son Timo and her new husband Ricardo Mendes, Jan is nowhere to be found. When Clarissa looks after Julia, she eventually reunites with Arno. After a few meetings she can convince him to help her reunite with Julia. Arno realizes that Julia misses her mother and still has so many unanswered questions. But when mother and daughter see each other for the first time in years, Julia is just angry with Clarissa, wishing she would have stayed dead. Arno tries to help both women to find their way back to each other as Clarissa promises that she has changed. Eventually, Julia can let Clarissa back into her life, but it also raises a lot of questions for Timo and Ricardo. Clarissa feels threaten by Ricardo as he seems to think that after all those stories he heard about his mother-in-law, it's impossible that she has changed. She gives him a warning that she wouldn't let anyone come between her and her daughter again.

As it turns out, Jan is living in Spain too and has become a priest. Clarissa and Arno are overwhelmed to reunite with their son after all those years. Jan forgives Clarissa and is glad that his mother is alive. He tells her that he wants to put the past behind them and move on. Clarissa finds out that Jan already knows that Julia is close by and is afraid of what might happen if the twins meet each other. But Clarissa's desire to have a real family is stronger and she pushes Arno to plan a family reunion. But their fears seem to get the better of the story as Julia is confronted with all her feelings for Jan all over again when she sees him for the first time since she went missing in Lanzarote. She eventually wants Jan to leave and he wants to follow his sister's wish. But Clarissa can convince Julia that they finally have the chance to be a real family. As it turns out, Jan left his then-girlfriend Kerstin Richter pregnant and has a daughter named Leonie. Clarissa is happy to get to know her grandchildren and finally wants to reunite her entire family. But when Timo finds about the family relations and that Ricardo isn't his biological father, he is shocked and disgusted by all the family secrets. Clarissa tries to manipulate her grandson when she tells him that it wasn't her idea of keeping all this from him, but Timo already has made up his mind and wants nothing to do with Clarissa.

Clarissa still sees Ricardo as a threat and plans for him to be seduced by Patricia Villanova in order to keep him under control. But she eventually has to realize that the feelings between Jan and Julia spinning out of control and that these two still love each other. She tries to protect Julia's marriage from now on to not let her family fall even more apart. Jan can't deal to be near Julia anymore and wants her to protect her marriage. He offers to leave again, but is stopped by Julia when she gives in to the forbidden love to her brother. They are caught by Timo, who know thinks that Jan could be his father since Julia kept everything about her marriage with Tim and his paternity a secret. When Clarissa finds out about what happened, she is outraged and slaps Jan across the face. While Julia is telling Timo that his biological father is Tim Sander and that he has died years ago, she realizes that all these secrets destroyed her family.

Old habits

Out of prison, Clarissa promises to have changed and believing that Tanja is dead for years made that promise a lot easier. And in order to keep Clarissa's intention alive, Arno and Charlie try everything to keep Clarissa from the truth. But when Tanja is having a special photo shooting on the Spanish coast, Clarissa spots her and can't believe her eyes. Charlie has to tell her that Tanja returned to Düsseldorf years ago, married into the Lahnstein clan and now owns Clarissa's old company Ligne Clarisse after Marie died. Clarissa is shocked and is tempted to confront her old enemy. Especially when she finds out that Tanja's planning to relaunch the company with the old twins campaign, now calling it "Incest". Charlie tries to convince Clarissa to hold still and helps her friend by scheming against Tanja. The two come up with a plan and eventually a priest from the United States tries to ban Tanja's campaign from the American market. While the trial against Tanja is successful, Ansgar von Lahnstein, Tanja's ex-husband, finds out that Clarissa is still alive. He visits her and tries to convince her to make a deal with him. Ansgar plans to make her the co-executive director of her old company, now called Ligne Clarisse Lahnstein, in order to face Tanja on the same level. Clarissa proves that she's still good at her game and leaves Ansgar impressed as she demands half of the company.

Notes