The Third Time, and Still

Younger me had a type, and the type was: older, unavailable, and on German television. I watched the soap opera Alles was zählt—All That Matters—almost exclusively because Nina Bott was in it. The fixation wasn’t subtle. It produced some strange and fairly embarrassing episodes in my bedroom and a viewing history I have only partial control over.

I sat through films I had no earthly business watching because she was in them. Mediocre TV movies, the kind you endure for a single scene. One was called Das beste Stück—roughly "The Best Part"—in which she helps a speech therapist with a notably small penis find his way back to love and self-acceptance. I watched it on a Sunday afternoon on whatever channel aired it. Completely committed. Because Nina Bott.

She’s appeared in Playboy three times now. Yes, she’s had a breast augmentation—this is widely documented and the internet has opinions in every direction—but I can hold two thoughts at once without difficulty: she can do whatever she wants with her body, and she looks incredible. These positions are not in conflict. Three appearances in the magazine is a statement of intent. Some people build an entire story from one. She makes it a recurring engagement, and honestly, good for her.