Peter Holt, Viola Holt’s widower, already had a new love two weeks after her death. “Everyone deals with the great sadness of losing a partner in their own way.”
They were a real duo: Peter and Viola Holt. But after her death he moved on with his life very quickly. “Everyone deals with the great sadness of losing a partner in their own way, but he does it in a very special way. Within two weeks he already had someone else,” says Private Boss Evert Santegoeds.
New love
Evert finds it striking. “It is a story that, when you are told, you think: it must not be true. But it is true. He does not want to say much about it himself. Not because he is not proud of it, because he is very happy and everyone should know,” he says in Show news.
The new love soon came into his life. “He had already found it in the month that Viola died last year. Well after her death. On a site for widows and widowers he found this lady with whom he is very happy. Everyone has their own way of dealing with grief.”
On with life
How is that possible? Evert: “What he does say is: ‘It was over for me when I put the coffin in the oven. That was my moment of saying goodbye to Viola and I have to get on with my life.’ He emphasizes this a few times: ‘I have to get on with my life.’ Whether he does that alone or with someone else, I don’t think it matters to Viola’s children.”
How do her children feel about it then? “What was striking is that he was not present at the scattering of ashes. Last week, Viola’s daughter had organized a family gathering at sea, off the coast of Scheveningen. Viola was scattered there. He was not there, but not because he was not welcome.”
Curious
Then why wasn’t Peter there? “Because he says: ‘At that moment in the crematorium it was over for me.’ People look at it a bit strangely and you don’t hear it very often, although there are more people — especially men — who had another partner quite quickly, but this is very quickly.”
Evert concludes: “It is a special way. Especially if you know how incredibly close they always were. There were always two of them, they didn’t need anyone and then you think: if one of them falls away, the other will also completely collapse, but fortunately that is not the case in this case.”