Nathalie Brandner

Nathalie grows up in the East Germany and lost her parents, when she fled to West Germany during the DDR. She finds a new home by her aunt Elke Käppler (Elke Bludau). Elke works as head maid for the aristocratic Lahnstein family. Nathalie grows up with them and soon finds good friends in Carla (Claudia Hiersche) and her brother Leonard (Lars Korten). With their oldest brother Ansgar (Wolfram Grandezka), Nathalie's relationship isn't so good. He makes always fun of her and likes to play his little games with him. But even through, Nathalie has a crush on him, which Ansgar never saw or doesn't want to see. With eighteen years, she leaves her aunt Elke and the Lahnstein family to study aboard to become a professional interpreter.

In 2004, after ten years, Nathalie returns to her old homes and reunites with her friends and aunt Elke. When the arrogant Ansgar first sees her, he can't remember who she is, but finds out eventually, that Nathalie is the kid he grew up with and became a very attractive woman since then. Nathalie truly didn't forget Ansgar or the feelings she once had for him. But she denies them now, seeing his arrogant type and despises him for that. Carla is happy that her old best friend returned and they remember old times together. Then Nathalie begins to support Carla in her war against Ansgar, when she finds out, that he outed his sister as a lesbian. Ansgar tries to frighten Nathalie, but it doesn't work, so that he tries to play the friends against each other. But Nathalie stays on Carla's side and proves Ansgar once and for all that she isn't this naive kid anymore. Nathalie begins to work as professional interpreter for Johannes (Thomas Gumpert) and the 'Lahnstein Holding'.

By an accident, Nathalie meets the smart and attractive attorney Lars Schneider (Herbert Ulrich). Soon after they met, Lars begins to fall for Nathalie and she can't deny her feelings for Lars either. After a few approaches they become a couple. But soon later, Nathalie sees that she can't really love Lars. When he finds out about Nathalie's second thoughts to their relationship, he wants to end it, which becomes reality, when Lars becomes a generous job offer in Hamburg. After a lovely goodbye from Nathalie, Lars leaves Düsseldorf and leaves Nathalie sad behind.

When Lars returns more than one year later, they both remain as friends. When Nathalie, who is now married to Ansgar has serious problems with him and becomes an addict to alcohol, Lars is the one who is always there for her. He even rescues her from attempted suicide. After Nathalie went to rehab both come closer again. Lars is working on Nathalie's divorce from Ansgar, when they get even closer and spend a night together. After this night, Nathalie sees what a person Lars really is for her and tells him that she has deep feelings for him. While Nathalie is filing for divorce, Lars and her become a couple again. But Ansgar wants Nathalie back and sets up Olivia Schneider (Kristina Dörfer), Lars' niece, to break the happy couple up. Ansgar has success, when Lars cheats on Nathalie with Kitty Kübler. When Nathalie sees a sex tape about Lars' cheating, she breaks up with him. Lars tries to rescue his relationship to her, but Nathalie doesn't want him back.

Since she was a teenager, Nathalie fell for Ansgar. When she returns after years as an attractive woman, Ansgar first recognizes her. After she and Lars broke up for the first time, Ansgar sees his chance and wants to be with Nathalie. But Ansgar already has a fiancée with unpredictable Tanja von Anstetten (Miriam Lahnstein), who sees Ansgar as her key into the Lahnstein family. Tanja gets really jealous and even plans to murder Nathalie, but her plan fails. After Tanja leaves town for a while, Ansgar and Nathalie get closer. They both spend a passionate night together, but Nathalie soon regrets the sex with Ansgar. But soon, Ansgar shows true feelings to Nathalie, and against all warnings, she and Ansgar become a couple. But at this time, Nathalie doesn't know that Ansgar is poisoning his own father to get to the Lahnstein fortune. To keep his good image to his father, Ansgar soon proposes to Nathalie. She refuses to say 'yes', but then she does anyway. But Ansgar begins to really care for Nathalie and regrets to have proposed to her only to look good to Johannes. When Ansgar takes the proposal back, Nathalie is really disappointed. But she doesn't give up and makes a proposal herself. Ansgar can't believe that Nathalie really loves him that much and happily says 'yes'. But Johannes is the only one who is as happy for them as they are.

Ansgar, who really loves Nathalie, hopes that she stays on his side, when she finds out about Ansgar's intrigue against Johannes. But Nathalie has a hard time dealing with that and searches for comfort by her old friend Gregor Mann (Andreas Jancke). This comfort turns out as a one-night stand and Nathalie soon gets the diagnosis that she is pregnant. Nathalie has no other choice and tells Ansgar about her night with Gregor. Ansgar is very disappointed and breaks his engagement to Nathalie. Gregor wants to be there for Nathalie and wants to be a father for the child that Nathalie is expecting, but she eventually loses the baby.

Ansgar and Nathalie's wedding. Will they ever get their real happy ending?

Meanwhile, Tanja returns with her son Hannes (then played by Daniel and Simon Kühn) and the father is no other than Ansgar. She hopes that she now has a future with Ansgar with the potential heir to the Lahnstein dynasty. But Ansgar isn't thinking about getting back with Tanja, because he still has strong feelings for Nathalie. And finally she is the one, who helps Ansgar to be a real father to his son. The former couple gets closer again and Ansgar is thinking of a family together with Hannes and Nathalie. He tells her how he fells and that he still loves her. Ansgar and Nathalie become eventually a couple again, which makes Tanja really unhappy, because she thinks that Nathalie would become Hannes' mother and she would lose her son sooner or later. For Tanja it gets even worse, when Ansgar proposes to her again. Tanja tries to break them up, before they get married, but doesn't have success. Tanja promises Nathalie right before the wedding that this would be the last happy day of her life and she should enjoy this day.

And Tanja's promise turns out to come true, when Hannes gets missing, while she was watching him, soon after the wedding. Ansgar blames Nathalie and can't cope with the loss of his son. He soon begins affairs, one of them with Olivia Schneider. Nathalie becomes an addict to alcohol and Ansgar only wants to keep Nathalie as his wife for the press and to pretend a strong family in public. But Nathalie's world more and more falls apart and she tries to win Ansgar back and fails over and over again. One day, when she is driving after she drunk a lot, Nathalie hits Charlie Schneider (Gabriele Metzger), Lars' older sister. She tells Ansgar and he covers the crime, but only to keep the name Lahnstein clean. After that, Ansgar loses any respect for Nathalie and treats her like crap. He even puts her into psychiatry, when she begins a desperate affair with Ansgar's enemy Adrian Degenhardt (Klaus Zmorek) to get back at him. Nathalie can't stop drinking and only sees one way out: She wants to kill herself by jumping from a bridge, after she realizes that Adrian only used her too. And even hold her hostage, when Nathalie finds out, that Adrian is Leonard's real father. But Lars comes to her rescue. After that, Nathalie goes to a rehab facility.

When she returns, she sees that her marriage with Ansgar is over and wants a divorce. But soon, Ansgar sees that Nathalie could help him to win back custody of Hannes, which he lost to his sister Carla. Nathalie stays strong and makes Ansgar clear that she wants this marriage to be over. When Ansgar sees how strong Nathalie is again, he realizes that he still cares about her. But she already moved on and is back together with Lars. Meanwhile, Tanja wants Ansgar to marry again, so that they both can get back custody of Hannes. But Ansgar refuses and plans his future with Nathalie. But for that, he needs to break up Nathalie's relationship with Lars first. He blackmails Lars' niece Olivia to set her uncle up with another woman. His plan works and Nathalie breaks up with Lars. But she still doesn't want to return to Ansgar, even through she has to admit that she still loves him too. Meanwhile, Tanja can't stand the fact that Ansgar is still in love with Nathalie and wants to wait for her. She sets Nathalie up for attempted murder of Kitty Kübler, after Lars cheated on Nathalie with her. While Nathalie is sitting behind bars, Ansgar tries everything to prove Nathalie's innocence. But whatever he finds, Tanja knows how to destroy it and how to keep Nathalie behind bars. For her there is only one way, how Ansgar could rescue his great love - marrying Tanja! He has no choice and agrees to help Nathalie. Once she is out of jail, she and Ansgar remain lovers and hope that Ansgar can divorce Tanja soon so that they can be together. But Tanja manages it to interfere with their relationship. Nathalie can't take Tanja's tortures anymore and breaks thing off with Ansgar. He makes several attempts to win her back - in his own special way of showing his love for Nathalie - but Nathalie tells him that she is done for good.

Tanja's hate for Nathalie begins, when she sees Nathalie as a stepmother of Hannes and fears that she would be out of her sons life. To don't let this happen, she promises Nathalie on her wedding day with Ansgar, that this would be the last happy day of her life and Tanja is proven right, when soon after the wedding Hannes gets missing, while Nathalie was watching after him. Ansgar believes that Tanja kidnapped Hannes, but he seems wrong, when Tanja commits suicide. The only thing nobody knows, Tanja really planned all this with help by Adrian and fakes her own death. She flees with Hannes and calls with Adrian from time to time and is happy how miserable Nathalie's life got. Because after Hannes went missing, Ansgar and Nathalie's marriage was fallen apart and Nathalie became an alcohol addict.

When Nathalie returns from rehab, she is shocked, when she finds out Tanja is still alive and so is Hannes. She blames Tanja for all what happened to her. But Nathalie tries to move on to have not only Tanja, but Ansgar as well out of her life. But soon, Tanja discovers Ansgar and his still strong feelings for Nathalie. Tanja plans on marrying Ansgar to get back custody of Hannes and access to the Lahnstein assets. But Ansgar refuses and wants to try to get back with Nathalie. Meanwhile, Tanja tries to interfere Nathalie's new relationship with Lars. She wants the couple to look strong and even warns them about Ansgar's plan to win Nathalie back. Tanja's plan seems to work, until it comes out that Lars was cheating on Nathalie with Kitty.

Tanja decides to use Lars' one-night stand with Kitty to get rid of Nathalie once and for all. She sets her up for attempted murder, by working together with the charming José Perez (Rolf Zacher). He pretends to be a client of the 'Lahnstein Holding' that wants to meet with Nathalie. But when they meet José pretends on a country road that the car broke down. This gives Tanja the opportunity to overrun Kitty with a person who looks a like Nathalie. It gets even more easier for Tanja, when Charlie and Elisabeth (Martina Servatius) become witnesses of the accident and are sure that Nathalie drove the car, that hit Kitty. While Kitty is lying in a coma, Nathalie gets arrested. Nobody but Ansgar believes on her innocence. He tries to find a way to get Nathalie out, but whatever he is doing, Tanja is one step ahead. However, Tanja corrupts the prison guards to give Nathalie access to alcohol. First Nathalie stays strong, but when Tanja fakes an article about the death of Kitty, Nathalie starts drinking again. She even gets to the hospital with an alcohol poisoning. Tanja gets what she wanted and now she forces Ansgar to marry her, otherwise she would make sure that Nathalie dies soon. Nathalie comes free, but Tanja tries everything to make her life a living hell. Tanja even drugs her the day of Hannes' christening to show Ansgar that Nathalie started drinking again and is not the right woman for him. Between Tanja and Nathalie dominates a bitter war until Nathalie decides to give up and let Ansgar go, when he can't manage to end his marriage with Tanja.

After she ended things with Ansgar when he wasn't able to end his marriage with Tanja, Nathalie tries to move on and finds a good new friend in the widower Matthias Brandner (Thomas Ohrner). She realizes that he still has to deal with the death of his wife Katja (Diana Frank) and tries to help him with his grief. Matthias has a newborn daughter, named Christina, and Nathalie begins to help out as a babysitter to make life easier for Matthias and his family. With time, Nathalie becomes more and more part of the Brandner family, even begins to work as a translator for the construction company Brandner Bau, owned by Matthias' cousin Arno (Konrad Krauss). While she becomes a friend of the family, Nathalie starts to realize that she develops strong feelings for Matthias. She tells Carla about it and isn't sure if Matthias is ready for a new love after such a short time of Katja's death. Carla on the other hand isn't sure if Nathalie is ready to already move into a new relationship. Nathalie decides to only be friends with Matthias for now. When she needs a new place to live the Brandners over Nathalie to move in with them on a temporarily basis. Nathalie agrees and Matthias is happy to repay Nathalie for all her help. When Nathalie could move out Arno and Matthias ask her to stay permanent. Nathalie feels happy with her newfound friends and agrees. She and Matthias grow closer together and he even defends her against Ansgar. When Nathalie's good friend gets arrested for arms trading - as a result of a scheme from Tanja and Ansgar - Matthias comforts Nathalie when she feels reminded on her own time in jail. He surprises Nathalie to spend the day with him and Christina at a baby swimming class. A day that ends with the two sharing a kiss.