Shownieuws had known for years about ‘domestic violence’ through Theo Maassen

The accusations of domestic violence against comedian Theo Maassen are not new to the editors of Shownieuws. “We heard about this years ago.”

© NPO, SBS

Theo Maassen has fallen considerably from his pedestal now that he is accused of domestic violence by his wife Joyce and an ex-girlfriend. The comedian is said to have broken his wife’s nose when she searched the computer for clues to his cheating. The story is featured on the cover of Privé this week.

‘Has been going for years’

This news came as a shock to many people, but to the editors of Show news this was no surprise. “The story has been going on for some time,” says show expert Bart Ettekoven in the program on SBS 6.

Private boss Evert Santegoeds confirms: “It has been going on for years. In retrospect, it is a miracle that this remained under wraps for years.”

Bart: “We also had contact with a source at Shownieuws a number of years ago, an ex-mistress.”

A source

Why didn’t Shownieuws report this at the time? There wasn’t enough evidence, Bart said. “One source, we all know, is no source. Because you are talking about a family with children, you have to be very sure. We ultimately decided not to bring it.”

Evert now has a lot of evidence, namely a 125,000-word app conversation between Theo’s wife Joyce and his mistress Angela. “Theo’s wife has known that we have been working on this since December and has never said: ‘You are not allowed to use those apps, I just don’t want you to publish them directly.’”

Keep going

Evert complied. “We have therefore paraphrased and retold them, and that is what makes it such a special situation. That you don’t go to a lawyer and say: ‘How do you even think about confronting me with those apps?’ Apparently she didn’t mind at all that this story would finally come out.”

Is she even still with Theo? “Yes.”

And that is quite striking. According to Evert, one thing is certain: “I think this is an affair that will continue for a while.”

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