According to Rob Goossens, Linda de Mol is still ashamed of her relationship with Jeroen Rietbergen, who is being prosecuted for rape. “He’s not in the holiday photos.”
She will never again become the celebrated TV queen of the Netherlands: Linda de Mol. There is a camp of people who believe that she should not be blamed for Jeroen Rietbergen’s misconduct, but there are also many people who blame her for simply taking him back into her arms, despite his misconduct at The Voice.
‘Linda is ashamed’
Critics are particularly bothered by the fact that Linda has refused to be held accountable in the media for years. According to Luuk Ikink, there must be an interview about her own role in the entire scandal. She lives in a castle thanks to the media, but now that it suits her she says that she does not trust the media at all.
Most importantly: Linda of course does not want to be asked any questions about her love affair with ‘dirty Jeroentje’, as her partner has been called by the men of Today Inside. “Linda is ashamed of it,” says Rob Goossens.
Business transparency
Eric de Munck, his colleague at RTL Boulevard, still thinks that Linda should give an interview. He says in the BLVD Podcast: “Look, in Linda’s case I would say: gosh, be a little more open. I think that’s a bit… Look, she doesn’t owe us anything, she’s just such a public figure…”
Even if she has an unpleasant message, someone like Linda should just go public with it, he thinks. “I think if she just says: ‘I’m with Jeroen and I support him’, that’s completely fine.”
Neighbor De Mol
Bridget Maasland understands the need for an interview. “Maybe Linda also wants to know more about this, because it obviously happened in a program by her brother, which she is also involved with. It falls under the De Mol heading.”
Rob: “Well, and she has been milking her personality, who she is, for decades. I’m using a negative word now, but of course we really enjoyed Linda de Mol as just ‘the neighbor’ for decades. And just when things got a bit more complicated, she suddenly said, ‘Hey, but I don’t owe you anything.’”
Brush away
That is true in itself, says Rob. “But then I see the family photo from the holiday on Instagram and Jeroen is not in it again. That I think again: okay, I don’t understand why you are bringing that man back, because he is not the father of your children. But why ultimately remove such a person from the holiday snaps?!”
Bridget: “But you know that yourself, you have the answer. You’re actually asking a rhetorical question. Especially with the juice channels and with everyone who nowadays just destroys someone else on social media without…”
Victims
Eric: “Well, just some nuance or some restraint.”
Bridget: “Exactly that.”
Bridget concludes: “Maybe she also takes the victims into account, because she doesn’t want to share it all with everyone.”