Igone de Jongh has forgiven Thijs Römer after it was revealed in 2023 that he had abused three underage girls online. “That’s necessary. Because no one benefits if you don’t,” says the 45-year-old dancer.
She made those statements Sunday evening on the SBS6 program Het waren 2 fantastische dagen (Those Were 2 Fantastic Days).
De Jongh was married to Römer for four years when she announced in early 2023 that she was leaving him. In August 2023, the actor was sentenced to three months in prison, two of which were suspended, for online decency offenses with the girls.
De Jongh was “very happy” before the story of Römer’s abuse came out. “Really very happy. The children were happy. We were happy. Then my world collapsed, and I just didn’t see that coming. Everything was gone then, everything,” she says.
“Then I had a very hard time. I was very sad, very lonely. Just pain, my body really hurt. And then you think: this will never be okay again, that feeling will never go away.”
De Jongh is now in love again, although it is “still very early.” “I like that I feel something again, that I can feel something. I was really at the point where I thought: it doesn’t have to be anymore for me.”