Veronica and Keyennu have only been dating for a while, but already got to know each other in 2017 in a shoe store in Amsterdam. “That’s where I first saw Veronica. I already knew her from TV and really liked her,” says Keyennu, who normally prefers to stay in the background, openly about their meeting. “We ended up talking through social media (…) I’ve never been out and rarely go to parties, so social media is useful for me to meet someone.”
“He responded to some messages and then I started following him back”, a Veronica in love adds. “I came out of a relationship of eight years, so I had no idea how dating worked. And I wasn’t ready for it at all (…) I was quite curt in the beginning, yes. But after a while we appeared to have a common interest in music. I started to wonder: who is he anyway?”
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Eventually it goes from DMing, to WhatsApp and then old-fashioned calling before the spark flies. Veronica remembers it well: “The first time on the phone immediately took an hour and a half. It was so intense.”
“It immediately felt like we’d known each other for years,” Keyennu recalls. “She is very sweet, caring and has positive plans for her future. I think it is important that someone knows where she wants to go in life.”
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Just before their first date, Veronica discovers that her crush is a lot younger. Although she thinks it ‘really impossible’ at first, Keyennu encourages her to get to know him first. “I soon noticed that I could learn a lot from him, because he looks at things soberly,” said the presenter. “I am often a bit more hysterical. He is composed, has control; that is a very nice energy. And when I saw him for the first time, I immediately knew: this is completely my type.”
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Although Veronica and Keyennu have now accepted the age difference, not everyone is equally open minded. For example, Veronica says she regularly receives comments like: ‘I loathe women who take advantage of young, naive men’, ‘God will punish you’ and ‘golddigger’. Although she is used to criticism as a celebrity, she has never experienced this: “It is so sad that people think that as an older woman you benefit from a young man. Or that he would not be able to I didn’t force him to be with me or anything (…) I actually had no idea it’s such a taboo.”
It LINDA. holiday book will be in stores on Wednesday 23 June.
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