Christiane F.

Vera Christiane Felscherinow (born 20 May 1962) is a German actress and musician who is best known for her contribution to the 1978 autobiographical book Christiane F. (original title: ), and the film and television miniseries based on the book, in which her teenage drug use is documented. Early life Felscherinow was born in Hamburg, but her family moved to West Berlin when she was a child. They settled in Gropiusstadt, a neighbourhood in Neukölln that consisted mainly of high-rise apartment blocks where social problems were prevalent. Felscherinow's father frequently drank large volumes of alcohol and was abusive towards his two daughters while her mother was absorbed by an extra-marital relationship. When she was 12 years old, she began smoking hashish with a group of friends who were slightly older at a local youth club. They gradually began using stronger drugs such as LSD and various forms of pills and she ended up using heroin. By the time she was 14, she was heroin-dependent and a prostitute, mainly at West Berlin's then-largest railway station Bahnhof Zoo. During this period, she became part of a group of teenage drug-users and sex workers of both sexes. Christiane F.