Albert Verlinde understands that despite everything, Linda de Mol is back in bed with Jeroen Rietbergen. “She’s in her late fifties. Then you don’t want to start over again.”
Linda de Mol’s decision to simply stay with Jeroen Rietbergen, despite the fact that he is being prosecuted for rape, is not understood by everyone. But what does Albert Verlinde think about that? Wilfred Genee asks him about it BNR News Radio: “Do you understand that Linda de Mol is in a relationship with Jeroen Rietbergen again? Do you understand that?”
Albert texts Linda
Albert reacts uncomfortably. After all, he has again taken mercy on his cheating guy, although there were of course no possible criminal offenses with Onno Hoes. “Hehe. I think I know why you’re asking the question, but I… Yeah, you know, it’s her life, right? We can all agree on that, but it’s about you.”
And in this case it’s about Linda. “It’s about your happiness and if you think that person has not damaged you for life so much that you never want to see them again or that you no longer want to live together, then isn’t it up to you to do it? I also texted Linda sometimes and said: ‘Do your own thing, whatever people think.’”
‘Thank you’
Wilfred is curious about Linda’s reaction to such a text. “Does she respond to that?”
Albert: “Yes. “Thank you,” she says. Yes Yes.”
Wilfred: “And do you understand that some people don’t understand? That they say: so much has happened? In your situation… A lot has also happened with Onno.”
Albert: “Yes, now that is something different of course.”
Wilfred: “Yes. There was nothing criminal about it. He was just loose at that moment, so to speak.”
‘Linda is 59!’
That’s right, says Albert. “We simply had a relationship crisis at that time. But that had nothing to do with what became the first national #MeToo affair in the Netherlands. That is the case with Linda, but I assume that they have both gone to therapy and discovered that they are not willing to split up.”
He points out that Linda is also quite old. “That’s possible, isn’t it? It’s also something for Linda. Maybe I’m getting a little older and a little more affable, but what will Linda be? Late fifties, something like that? Do you want to start over again? Or do you think: no, I know what I have, I love that man.”
Scratches
Wilfred adds: “There are some scratches, but…”
Albert: “Yes, there are some scratches, but I don’t feel like starting over. Of course that’s possible, right? I think it is admirable that she says: ‘The world is figuring it out, I am me, he is he, it’s all about the children and if we think it can go on, then it can go on.’”
Wilfred: “But the fact that there is still a criminal case going on, that of course makes it spicy, right?”
Spicy
Albert does not agree with that. “Yes, but you can also find everything about that, you know? From: we accept that criminal case and you have a guy who has been convicted, I find that very annoying and we will get through it, or he will be acquitted and then it will still be stupid and shitty what he did, but then you don’t get that extra punishment.”
No hearing date has yet been scheduled in the Rietbergen case. By the way, Linda has already been advised against appearing at court hand in hand with Jeroen.