Kerstin Richter

Kerstin Richter is a fictional character of the German soap opera Verbotene Liebe (Forbidden Love). The character was introduced by Julia Haacke on June 5, 1997. She remained on recurring basis until August 27, 1997. After fourteen years, Haacke returned as Kerstin from August 19, 2011 to August 31, 2011. She reappeared again in February 2012 for a few episodes. The character also appears in the second tie-in book, "Der Sehnsucht entfliehen", which tells the "lost years" between Jan and Julia, was published in 2012 and is set in late 1997.

Kerstin is introduced as a friend of Susanne Brandner. On her birthday party Kerstin meets Susanne's brother Jan and falls for him on first sight. Jan mourns the disappearance of his twin-sister Julia von Anstetten, who he was trying to find for months. Giving up hope to find her, Jan starts a relationship with Kerstin. But she soon has to realizes that Jan and Julia share more than a sibling bond. As Kerstin by mistakes opens a letter for Jan, she's shocked to read that Julia is alive and wants Jan to follow her to Spain, where she's living now. Kerstin wants Jan to make up his mind and confronts him with Julia being alive and well. Jan wants to visit Julia, but realizes that his love for her is beyond all hope. He returns into Kerstin's arms, who is about to start a new life in Paris. Jan decides to go with her and start over.

In Paris, Jan realizes that his love for Julia is stronger and will never go away. Feeling that he never can love another woman like he loves his sister, he breaks up with Kerstin. After the breakup, Kerstin finds out that she's pregnant with Jan's child, but decides to keep this to herself. While Jan becomes a priest, Kerstin raises their daughter Leonie all on her own.

As a seventeen-year-old Leonie wants to know more about her father and Kerstin isn't willing to give her the answers, Leonie tries to find him and locates Jan on the Spanish island Mallorca. She's flying to Jan to finally get answers about his disappearance and is confronted by him not even knowing that he has a daughter. Kerstin travels after her daughter and wants to prevent Leonie having a relationship with Jan. Seeing him after all those years sets her pain free and Jan realizes how hurt Kerstin must have been over the breakup all those years ago. As Kerstin wants to leave with Leonie, Jan's mother Clarissa von Anstetten threatens her to allow Jan and Leonie a normal father-daughter relationship, otherwise Kerstin would know what she's capable of. Kerstin realizes in the end that Jan has really interest in getting to know Leonie and agrees that she can stay a while with him.

Kerstin returns a few months later to Düsseldorf, where Leonie followed Timo Mendes, Julia's teenaged son, to after he found out the truth about his father's murder. Leonie got in a terrible accident and Kerstin is concerned for her. She makes arrangements to take her daughter back to Paris, but Leonie wants to stay in Düsseldorf with Timo, who finally has become her boyfriend. Kerstin tries to support the relationship and offers Timo to visit every time he wants since Paris is only a few hours away. But when Kerstin realizes how happy Leonie is in Düsseldorf with her new group of friends, she agrees to let her daughter stay. Leonie is over the moon and mother and daughter are left on good terms.