[9] Schürmann finished only third in the Miss Germany pageant, but was chosen to represent her country in London because of her better knowledge of English.

[12] Beginning with the 1960s Schürmann entered an ongoing radio and television career, primarily with the Munich-based Bayerischer Rundfunk.

[9] In 1973, Schürmann married the physician Dr. Gerhard Freund (1922–2008), who under a veil of secrecy, had fathered their daughter Alexandra in 1967.

[13] Alexandra Freund also had a successful career with the Munich broadcaster but died in 2001, aged 34, from an automobile accident when she collided with a wrong-way driver.

[7][13][9] From 2003 until her death, she was involved in an intimate relationship with Felix Raslag, CEO of a biotech company in Munich, who was 35 years her junior.