Celebrity
The past few years have not been easy for Igone. After her divorce, she initially threw herself into her work, but then decided it was time to face her emotions. She tells Beau Monde about this tumultuous period in her life.
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After a turbulent time, Igone de Jongh back in balance. It was a turbulent and difficult time, but now the best ballerina in the Netherlands has completely regained her zest for life. In the latest Beautiful World she talks about it openly.
Processing feelings
“It has been a turbulent and difficult time, but we are a year further and I feel good, strong and solid,” Igone begins. She is used to working hard, especially when things are difficult in her private life. After a complicated time, in which she divorced Thijs Römershe threw herself completely into her own show last winter, with which she traveled the entire country. Although that does not mean that she completely put her feelings aside. “It is not that I did not process anything during that busy period. I felt an awful lot of sadness,” she says. “You cannot switch off feelings, but the stage is an outlet. A sacred space where you can be someone else.”
But of course sadness doesn’t magically disappear. “I played an emotional performance in which I could express a lot, but when you come home late at night, you’re still alone. That’s the harsh reality.”
Take it easy
In the period that followed, the ballerina decided to take a break and face her emotions. “Saying goodbye to a relationship or the sadness about it doesn’t go away in a certain period of time. I’ve learned that it goes in waves. Sometimes I wake up and feel pretty good, but then something happens a little later and I have a bad moment. Still, I feel – I dare say it out loud – very good compared to last year.”
Despite everything, she still looks back on her relationship with love. “We loved each other very much and had fantastic years,” she says. “What happened was bad and sad, and I would have preferred it to be different, but now, a year later, I have made peace with it and I think it has brought me closer to myself. It was forced, but it was a good lesson. A hard one, but a beautiful one.”
Support
How did she get through the past year? “By dancing a lot and being with friends,” Igone shares. “I was also lucky that I quickly found a house where the children and I feel at home. I deliberately sought out solitude there.”
“I heard from friends that sadness lasts longer if you keep postponing it. So I really went for it. It was scary, but also necessary. I have many loving people around me who are always there for me, but they don’t feel that sadness. Only you do.”
Enjoy life
Fortunately, Igone could count on a lot of support from her inner circle. She names her father as one of her most important pillars of support. “We are very close and he is there for me every moment of the day. Besides that, of course, my lovely children and I have lovely girlfriends who are very close to me.”
“Grief comes in phases. For a long time I wanted to lock myself away and didn’t feel like doing anything, and now I’m entering a phase where I can enjoy going out for dinner, visiting museums and sitting in the pub again. I have that zest for life back.”
This article is a fragment of an extensive interview with Igone from the latest Beau Monde. In stores from tomorrow, Wednesday 4 September!
Interview: Anne Tonen | Photos: Stef Nagel | Styling: Angela Kuperus | Make-up: Angelique Woudenberg
