For actress Jette van der Meij (71) it is bittersweet that she is closing her television son in her arms again. “Reinout has always said that he would come out if I would take the light. He held a word. It touches me that he wanted to do this, this is so big for me. He is now adult, he was only 19 years old when he started.”
After 35 years, Van der Meij says goodbye to Laura Selmhorst, the character who, since the very first episode in 1990, formed the heart and conscience of the soap. “Laura loved, lost, cried and laughed. She felt as a family for many viewers,” says the actress.
Even RTL program director Peter van der Vorst did not keep it dry during the viewing of the anniversary episode during the reunification between mother and son. “And then I even see it for the second time.” Van der Meij also shed a tear in the room. “I had already seen it in the assembly … but this is very special.”
Jette van der Meij: ‘Farewell GTST feels very double’
She jokes that she will now be free for the first time in 35 years on Monday. “No scripts that I have to read. Delicious. But it feels twice of course.”
Fans can prepare for a rollercoaster of emotions. Not only does Reinout return once, Katja Schuurman, Lieke van Lexmond and many other trusted heads also do the many plagued Meerdijk again.