His Dutch is fine, just a strong accent, which only shows the richness and versatility of our small language
. VTM subtitled it online, maybe that is easier? Though I imagine a Walloon channel will broadcast and subtitle it in French soon?
Continued.
Wendy: the day I could not hide it any more, to the public, I asked the father± how do I do this? Being the child of a famous father and a famous mother is already bad enough. And then we decided to keep it between us.
Clément: yes, I think that is very good, that my mother didn't tell it. She didn't need to. I told her: it was not necessary!
News item from 2000: 'the Flemish showbizz has another mother-to-be. Wendy van Wanten is pregnant. She told that herself tonight at a party of her fanclub last night in the casino of Middelkerke. Wendy already is four months pregnant. She expects her child in the summer. Out of respect for her private life she asks not to search for the father. He needs to announce himself. And that mysterious announcement alone is enoguh to start speculations about the paternity.'
Now, Wendy: at that moment I thought it was the best way to say: look, I am pregnant but I don't want to give further explanations about it. But I could not assess, or I was too naive, that it would only lead to more noise. In hindsight it would have been better if I hadn't said anything. So... but look, I am here now to say it.
tv shows a clip of Clément's echo. They watch it together on a tablet.
Clément: did you ever show these images to him?
Wendy: Yes! He was fully involved during the pregnancy. Absolutely.
Clément; and what did he think?
Wendy: he thought it impressive, that a living creature was wiggling in the belly of a woman. he was very concerned about it. He... he looked at it, I showed him the images. And yes... it was something normal. But he was also busy with a lot of other things. But I felt interest and warmth until the end of my pregnancy. He was abroad.. and then he became a little bit aloof. Because he also didn't know how... how do we deal with all this?
Clément: it was a complicated situation.
Wendy: it was a complicated period. For him as well. He was also still searching in life. But at a certain moment I told him that it couldn't go on like this. Also not for him. He needed to build his life. He received a dotation, he would hve to get married... and I said, in full conviction: I am going to do this on my own.
Interviewer: did you feel hurt somehow? That you were thinking: I am going to be doing this alone?
Wendy: Yes, but I always knew that this [the relationship] would never get a sequel. And I never had that ambition, to put myself in the spotlights in that way. From love something beautiful started. So I did my duty as a mother and looked for support around me. And I received that support.
My manager also thought it was a miracle. Danny [Dewaele] immediately was there to help me and support me. I knew he would and that made me feel strong, that I was not alone. But of cours,e he was not the father. i don't know.... we didn't talk much about it, with Laurent, how the future would be.
Interviewer: did Laurent not find that strange? You lived together with a man. He was not your partner. Didn't he find it strange?
Wendy: yes, sometimes he found it strange that somebody else was living in my house, a man, who also was my manager, who lived as part of the family. But that was a different kind of relationship. i din't have the same relationship with him as I had with Danny. So I explained that to him. Danny always respected me and I knew I could always count on him and I would never leave him alone.
Gossip magazine from 2000 is shown, with the headline: Laurent: no comment.
Wendy: from the moment I announced that I was pregnant that question stayed [who is the father], even though I explicitely asked not to have to clarify it. I have tried to protect it, with my eternal sentense: no comment. But it was to protect my son.
Clément and Wendy look at a tablet with tabloids, this one in french, quoting wendy saying she expected a baby from Prince Laurent.
Wendy: those are not my words, I never said that. So many articles were written that at a certain point I didn't think of it anymore. Another article, in Dutch; Wendy; Look, here it also says 'Wendy: no comment'. I didn't participate in that. The press had a great treat with this all those years, due to the fact that I never said who the father was. That wasn't always easy for me. Because of course I had my emotions and I wanted the best for you. And we also both ahd the right not to comment about it.
Clément: yes of course, of course.
Wendy: I didn't really know what to do. I couldn;t do it right. If I had said it... and now I didn't say it ... but if I had said it, maybe ...
Clément: the fact is: you couldn't know.
Wendy: ... maybe I also couldn't continue my carreer.. and I needed a source of income so I needed to work, to raise you...
Clément: you were in a way caught between two fires. You were thinking about this and about that. And at one point you don't see a way out and then....
Wendy: but you aleviated all my pain. Laughs.
Clément, laughs: aaah.
Wendy: Clément was supposed to be born on August 1st, but he stayed there [laughs]. So yes, it took a long time. I had to walk a lot, so he would drop. But it was all suppsoed to be the natural way, giving birth under water... but he didn't want to come out! [laughs].
Video recording of pregnant Wendy and manager walking to a room in the hospital.
More clips from her private archive. Clément as he was just born.
Wendy: laughs: you were a lovely baby, no?
Clément unimpressed yeah... smiles.
Etc.
More baby images.
Clément: my first name, well that is also something special, Clément. The house of my father is named villa Clémentine. I don't know if that was done on purpose, you have to ask my mother, Smiles... but these are all these small things, that move together to one, if you understand what I mean.
Interviewer: did you agree on the name or did you pick it yourself?
Wendy: I chose the name, well because.. villa Clémentine, Clément... And he never made a problem out of it, he never said anything about it. So well...
Interviewer: would it have been easier if you had named him Jan or Pieter?
Wendy: Maybe yes....but that was due to the connection, because of the emotions, that it was an obvious name. I was looking for a name, and I didn't have to look far. [Laughs] And Clémentine I already thought a beautiful name for a girl, but then Clément I found beautiful too. And I looked it up, the meaning of the name is mild, good-natured, so it was a good choice.
Interviewer: did you tell Laurent anything [about the birth]?
Wendy: Yes, on the day [of birth] the 16th of August I called him and told him all went well and Clément was born. He said: I am happy all went well, but keep things very discreet. And that is what I did.
News item from 2000 about the birth, commenting on speculations with clips of what they claim was her bodyguard standing in front of her hospital room.
Clément: wow, that is shocking, you were there with a bodyguard...?
Wendy: no...but that was not true. That was Danny, he was my manager, my confidant, my friend.
Another newsclip of a few months later: a new song of Wendy, about the baby and calling it 'Prinsenkind' [princes child]. Between the lines the item suggests that Wendy chose the topic due to the press attention.
Wendy now: that was the thing, that they said I was the one planning all this and making a mystery out of it. And the logical follow-up for that, as I led my life as a singer, that i made a song about you. My small miracle. But actually it is a big miracle. Laughs
Show aricles about 'her' prinsenkind (princes child, expression in Dutch to show affectionally refer to a child, not used often in The Netherlands, not sure about Flanders).
Wendy: you an interpret it the way you want, but we all refer to our 'prinsenkind', our little prince or little princess. Of course I need to pay attention how all this...
Clément: he chuckles and smiles to his mother: if that is really the case you are not supposed to say it perhaps...
Wendy: well... that is true.But I don't know... if you have to wonder with each word that you can interpret it differently, than that is not living. And OK well, it can be linked. you are a princes child.
Clément: it is really weird to think about it, and I find it difficult to say about myself. I find that really difficult, i would never say that about myself. And now I still doubt if I am really that, you understand? I am really somebody who really is down to earth. If you are normal, I am normal too.
The start to watch a photo album together of his early years.
She shows a photo of him in his room as a baby: that is the furniture that I picked, together with your father.
Clément: I think it is special (strange) that nobody noticed that [picking furniture together]
Wendy: yes, it's ture, but well... in those days there were no mobile phones with cameras.
Photo of him as a baby
Clément: well... if I resemble you or my father at this stage, well that is difficult to say. I should see both your baby photos to compare.
Photo of the him as a baby with a christmas tree and an enormous teddy bear.
Clément: that one I recognise. He gave me that bear, no?
Wendy: exactly, and we still have it, no? But well, of course you did not know wwho gave it to you.
Clément: no, i didn't know.
Wendy; so in a way he was also there a little bit.
Clément sigh; yes.
More photos, baby Clément with a booklet
Clément: it was because of that that I received these books in French? To learn French.
Wendy laughs: yes, yes of course.
Clément: these are all dots that you are connecting now. Why, why in French?
Wendy start to examine if he still know the meaning of the words in French on the booklet, he does. they laugh together.
Clément: these are all things, even when they are so small, that you think, actually in a way he was always there. Even when I didn't notice.
Wendy appologetically: I tried to raise you bilingual, but my language is Dutch, so...it stayed at that.
More photos of him in a stroller, at villa Clementine.
Wendy: that was also at your father's home. You don't remember that probably?
Clément: I don't remember. And these other photos as well?
Wendy: yes, in the garden. ... Here, your first steps...
Clément: that probably means that he took these photos.
Wendy: yes, of course! That was a big moment, that you could walk.
More photos: also of Laurent [without baby] in a chair, same interior as baby photos.
Wendy: he loved doing that, making photos.
Clément: it is super weird, that I was there at that age.
Wendy: and that you don't remember it.
Clément: And that I don't remember, and that it all went passed me... and at one point it was ripped apart.
Wendy: yes well, well.... but that was a decision for...
Clément: yes, for a good thing...
Wendy: yes, for the both of us.
Clément: How was my father with me?
Wendy: well, he enjoyed it, he took photos, and he loved to see you. But more was not possible. He was busy building his life, going into a different direction. But it wasn't his intention... that he didn't want to see you.
Clément alone: you can't chose yourself as a baby when you are born. I think that every child wants to see his parents, to know: who put me on earth? Who gave me life?
teaser for next episode: clip of the Belgian RF in the early 90s, all members of the family in a garden, must be after Baudouins passing as he is not there. Jean and JC are.
Clément: it means my uncle is King of Belgium [for the title affectionados: I know it is 'of the Belgians']. Or to see your grandfather's face on the coin of 1 Euro. Well, those are things you get confronted with on a daily basis.
-
At one point, I get a number pushed into my hands, and I am thinking.. this is really his number! This is really...! You understand?!
-
Until at a moment that I was there, standing in front of a door. And I announced myself.. And who opened the door? My father!
---
That is it for today, they left us with a great cliff hanger.
There will be another episode but I do not know when.
All in all, Laurent is lucky. It could have been much worse. Wendy has not said a negative word about him and speaks about him with warmth, respect and understanding, which is great for her son too. She seems honest and sincere for the most part and she [and her current partner] raised a nice kid. The son is mild and good-natured indeed, she can be proud of him. I hope they can make things work for them.
