Overview
- Menden resumed shooting for Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten, with her first day back taking place on Thursday, June 25 and drawing emotional reunions with long-time colleagues.
- Her partner Gustav Masurek is acting as the primary caregiver at home and the couple brought their son to the set on her first day.
- To keep filming sustainable, Menden’s mother-in-law has moved temporarily to Potsdam for about a year to help care for the baby.
- The quick return prompted criticism on social media about the short maternity break and Menden publicly rejected that scrutiny by arguing unequal expectations of mothers and fathers.
- Producers are positioning her character Emily Höfer toward a stronger business arc centered on the fictional shoe label Everlasting Shoes, and Menden’s comeback reconnects a cast she has worked with for roughly 22 years.