Linda de Mol is turning 60 – and can look back on a long and successful career. In the 1990s, the Dutchwoman was also a star in Germany with the show “Dream Wedding”. She sent couples into marital bliss in front of up to eleven million viewers. Giant cakes, champagne and cute lovebirds were just as much a part of the show as Linda’s sweet “Meisje” accent.
De Mol caused a sensation with the Dutch counterpart to the US series “Desperate Housewives”, the soap “Gooische Vrouwen”, in which she played a leading role. Episodes of her show “Ik hou van Holland” (I love Holland) with prominent Dutch people were also repeatedly successful.
In Germany, love for de Mol cooled off some time ago. In 2008, she hosted a one-off new edition of “Traumhochzeit” (formerly on RTL) for ZDF, with rather moderate success. The big comeback never came. In her home country, however, she was considered the most successful and best-paid entertainer and talk show host for many years, the Dutch Oprah Winfrey.
Linda de Mol after separation: “I tore pictures off the wall while crying”
But it’s not just great TV shows that have made the entertainer, who was born in the media city of Hilversum near Amsterdam, talk of the town. Her private life has also often attracted more public interest than she would have liked, even if she herself has occasionally made it a topic of discussion.
In 1995, after four years of marriage, de Mol divorced jeweler Fred Reuter. Her relationship with television director Sander Vahle, with whom she has two children, lasted until 2007. 16 years later, she described how painful this separation was in her magazine: “I tore pictures off the wall while I cried.”
Vahle was followed in 2008 by musician Jeroen Rietbergen, who is seven years younger than her. The equally dramatic end of this relationship came in early 2022 in the wake of one of the biggest scandals in the history of Dutch television. Rietbergen and other participants in the casting show “The Voice of Holland” were accused of sexual assault and abuse of power.
Transparency note: Der stern is part of RTL Deutschland.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
