Furthermore, he remembers little of that day and the period before that. By watching films and talking to family and friends, Kamerling tries to form an image of his father for his book. Some happy memories come back, something that relieves him. “The few memories I did have were not that nice. He once brought me to school barefoot and in a bathrobe, where he played the piano in the auditorium. I found that very annoying. I felt like a dick. ”
Shame
Kamerling never knew that his father was bipolar. As a child he often did not understand why his father behaved that way. “He was an idol to many people. I was ashamed of him. ”
In the book Kamerling describes how a friend of his father tells him that a lot of children wanted to stay in school because of that piano playing. That hit him. To the Volkskrant he says: “I suddenly felt very guilty because I had been angry with him for so many years because of that strange behavior. Only then did I dare to admit that he was also a very nice father. ”
The title of his book is a direct reference to the book Isa Hoes wrote about her life with Antonie Kamerling. She shared the two works on Instagram today, side by side.
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Merlijn Kamerling proud of role in video clip: ‘I was able to do something with my father’
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