Kathleen Warners, who has worked for BnnVara almost all her life – in recent years as head of entertainment -, gave her son Peter Pannekoek a lonely childhood. “Sad.”
This weekend there is a long interview with Peter Pannekoek in the Mezzathe weekend supplement of the AD. It turned out to be a fairly boring interview, without any juicy news, but the comedian does complain about his somewhat abandoned youth. His parents divorced and he was left with his mother, who spent more time on VARA than her own child.
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The fact that Peter’s mother worked for years as head of entertainment at VARA was disadvantageous for the comedian, because that broadcaster is the cabaret broadcaster, but he still studiously avoided it. “I wish my mother all the happiness at work, but the day she retires cannot come soon enough,” he said in 2019. A year later it became reality.
Some more free time would also have been nice for Peter in his younger years, because as an only child and parents who were very busy with work, he was quite lonely. “I grew up as an only child and did not come from a Christmas advertising family,” he says in the magazine. “Everyone kind of lived in their own room, went their own way.”
‘Sounds sad’
The divorce of his mother Kathleen Warners from his father Jop Pannekoek, who was a television director and worked with celebrities such as Freek de Jonge and Youp van ‘t Hek, did not change much in the family’s soloist attitude.
“Yes, even after the divorce, because my mother also worked behind the scenes in TV, full-time. It may sound sad, but it was okay. I internalized that freedom – I still do well with that. My childhood was fine.”
Twelve years
His father wasn’t there much for Peter either. “I was twelve when my parents divorced, after which I saw my father less. He left for Amsterdam, I stayed with my mother in Hilversum.”
The comedian was only seventeen when his father died. “When he died, not much changed on a day-to-day basis; I didn’t speak to him much anyway,” he says. “In fact, I only know Jop as an entity, not as a person – I have never been able to have a beer with him.”
‘I’m sorry!’
At one point Peter interrupts the interview about his lonely childhood. “Sorry, is my rambling about this really interesting to anyone?”
He concludes: “To be honest: I find these kinds of themes and analyzes difficult. Especially because I definitely don’t want to sound like I’m complaining about my youth. I didn’t grow up in poverty, I’ve had a lot of opportunities.”