Steam must have come out of my ears when Caroline van der Plas was watching Today Inside last night. That’s where the woman she loathes was: Marcia Nieuwenhuis.
Caroline van der Plas is undeniably an interesting political phenomenon. As a regional journalist, Marcia Nieuwenhuis has witnessed her rise up close and has now written a book about the politician. A biography in which all facets of her life are discussed, including matters from her private life.
Caroline is furious
There is one thing that Caroline is really angry about: Marcia has also written a chapter about the divorce with her first husband, who is also the father of her children. And she’s not a bit of a savage. No, she’s really in a state of dismay. There is hardly a pitchfork in Marcia’s windshield.
Marcia was in last night Today Inside. She defends herself: “It is a journalistic book also about her life. It would be very strange to leave out a whole part of her life. I think it also says something about who she is. She is very fighting spirit, very combative and that is reflected in her. That can also have enormous advantages in politics.”
Assaulted
Wilfred Genee reads a response from Caroline: “My children and I explicitly told her that she assaulted our private lives. My children do not want their father in their lives and have valid reasons for this. They said no to Marcia. Yet Marcia did not respect our wishes. That is an assault on our lives.”
She continues: “My children and I are in no way authorizing this book. She knows very well how we feel and is extremely disappointed that she could not muster the integrity to leave this part out. She is now making money off the back of my family’s suffering.”
‘That hurts’
How does Marcia respond to that? Like this: “That’s painful. I understand that too. I understand the emotion, you know. A contested divorce is not pretty. At the same time it is also true: every house has its cross. I also once made a book about people with double lives. Everyone has something in their family. It is also reality.”
Johan Derksen thinks Caroline shouldn’t be so mean. “It’s now becoming a bit pathetic: my son is having such a hard time with it, but something has definitely happened, because that father is apparently no longer allowed to see those children.”
Most famous woman
Caroline must be a big girl, Johan thinks. “Caroline has become the most famous woman in the Netherlands, sits at every talk show table and then you know that these types of publications are possible.”
He concludes: “She shouldn’t make a fuss about this, because a journalist has no interest in those kinds of private considerations. Then you’re just a bad journalist. As a journalist you have to reveal and the facts have to be correct.”