Igone de Jongh has been heavily played by Thijs Römer: only after the hearing of the assault case against him did the scales fall from her eyes, Yvonne Coldeweijer knows. “She’s shocked.”
It has surprised many people that Igone de Jongh was suddenly spotted holding hands with Thijs Römer again last month. Does our ballerina have so little trouble with the sexual offenses he has committed against underage girls? Only after the hearing in this lawsuit did the realization come that he had played her, says Yvonne Coldeweijer.
Two weeks in shock
Yvonne understands that Igone didn’t drop him right away. “The moment you hear something very shocking, something you never expected, then a process starts,” she says in her podcast The Juice Show.
It seems that Thijs downplayed the case in private circles, but his rancidities saw the light of day in court. “I think Igone barely functioned for a week or two after that lawsuit. She has heard and seen and felt things she never saw coming. (…) Thijs has of course manipulated that.”
‘No longer works’
It’s terrible for Igone, Yvonne thinks. “That girl has to recover from that, of course, she can’t even function anymore. He was also traveling for work I think afterwards. So that one, you see, that one went into survival mode. And what happens afterwards, over time? Then it starts to sink in and all kinds of emotions come into play.”
Emotions like anger and being hurt. “Then you come to a point where you realize it all. Then you have a conversation in which he also confesses things about affairs. Like: then I’m rid of that, then you now know everything. Which is really f * cking bullshit, by the way. It is, of course, just a manipulation tactic.”
Even divorce
What manipulation tactics? “From: If I mention two out of ten things, you think I’m being very honest, because I’m confessing two. And the other eight, you don’t know them. Anyway, the ease with which he confessed this was so shocking. She’s just so angry about nothing being what it seems. She wants to finalize the divorce this month.”
She decides: “She has been playing, say. She also thought: what kind of person is this?! It’s not at all what I thought. What?! You know, that takes a while. And that realization comes with many other questions at the same time: what about this? Then what about this? I see it more as a kind of realization moment…”