After around 30 years, RTL anchorman Peter Kloeppel is saying goodbye to the news business. He wants to have more time for his wife and daughter. This is what is known about both of them.
“The end of August is my last broadcast” – with these words Peter Kloeppel announced his departure from “RTL aktuell” in the “Stern” interview. The end of an era at the Cologne private broadcaster: For more than 30 years, the journalist led the news program as chief presenter. Together with sports colleague Ulrike von der Groeben, who is now also quitting. You can read here how the two commented on their farewell live on TV on Tuesday.
Peter Kloeppel told “Stern” about the reason for his departure from “RTL aktuell”: “I'll be 66 this year. That's a good thing then.” He now wants to devote himself entirely to his private life and will live mostly in the USA in the future so that he can spend more time with his wife and daughter.
Peter Kloeppel's daughter Geena is a musician in New York
The presenter has been married to the American Carol since 1993, and the two celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary last year. Peter Kloeppel met the Minnesota-born television producer in Washington DC in the early 1990s while he was working there as an RTL correspondent.
Their daughter was born in 1996. The now 27-year-old lives in New York and works as a musician under the stage name Geena Kaye. In recent years she has released several singles. On Instagram, Geena keeps her followers updated about her career.
She just announced new performances at “Pete's Candy Store”, a well-known live music bar in Brooklyn. Peter Kloeppel's daughter regularly appears on stage in her hometown. The singer often accompanies herself on the guitar.
In recent years, Peter Kloeppel has commuted between his place of work in Cologne and the USA, where his wife and daughter live. His stays there recently felt “like a pleasant relaxation pool,” the 65-year-old told “Stern”. What he is particularly looking forward to, in addition to more time with his family, is anonymity. In America he is not known as a TV person, but as “Peter from Germany” – and that's what Kloeppel wants to be now.
A TV farewell always? The 65-year-old still leaves that open. From time to time he may film projects such as the investigative series “Transilluminated”. But he no longer wants to be in front of the camera for “RTL aktuell”. In 1992, Peter Kloeppel took over the position of chief presenter there. From 2004 to 2014 he was also editor-in-chief of the private broadcaster. He is a co-founder of the RTL journalism school and has received numerous honors in his career, such as the Grimme Special Prize, the German Television Prize, the Bavarian Television Prize and the Audience Bambi.
