Johan Derksen confirms that Merel Ek runs the risk of not being allowed to return to Today Inside after her pregnancy. “You have to remain realistic,” says the TV star, born in 1949.
It seemed like a joke on his part, but Johan Derksen really means it: according to him, Merel Ek is seriously at risk of losing her position at Today Inside now that she has become pregnant. He wants, as a reporter of The Telegraph asks him about it, expressly does not guarantee that she will be welcome back on the talk show after giving birth.
Place decayed
It is no secret that Johan understands pregnancy discrimination, because he ended up discussing it with her a year ago – when Merel was not yet pregnant.
Risen, place is gone, the football expert then explained to the political reporter. “A woman like that is away for six months, then others come along and do well. Then it is difficult to say to those people who are doing well when she comes back: ‘Now you have to leave again, because she is coming.’”
Merel unsure
According to Wilfred Genee, this made Merel seriously insecure. She herself said: “I now have to worry in this world that if I become pregnant, I will be replaced and you are not certain that you can come back. That already makes you anxious, that you think: when will I get pregnant, is this a good time?”
Now that she has actually become pregnant, it appears that Johan does not want to take away that uncertainty. He does not want to guarantee Merel’s job now that she is going to give birth in the spring.
Realistic
According to Johan, that’s just how it works. “Normally Merel can just come back. But you have to remain realistic,” he says in De Telegraaf.
“There will soon be another lady who will walk around The Hague instead of her. Maybe that person is so good that when Merel comes back they say: we have another place for you. That hangs over her head.”