André celebrated his 75th birthday last weekend not only in the presence of a select group of friends, but also with his new love by his side. The spark has jumped with dancer Fernando Reyes, an old acquaintance of André. André, who admits that he does not like to be alone, now confesses Private on that he was afraid that the public would find it ‘too soon’.
On the other hand, André is aware that he and Fernando no longer have all the time to enjoy each other. “Precisely Fernando – whom I have known for so long, who knows a lot about me and who even knew my parents – is the best thing that could have happened to me under the circumstances. I think we can be very happy together, hopefully many years that are still given to us.”
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Martin Elferink, André’s husband, died in January 2020 from the effects of cancer, which caused great grief for the beloved presenter. “Martin remains my great love, that will never change and Fernando knows that too. That feeling will never change. He can live with that. Because of course all that mourning has not yet been processed. But I am also not someone who can be alone for a long time. We still know each other from the time when I was in a long relationship with Wim van der Pluym, who also passed away, when he was already a family friend of ours, “says André.
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Although André and Fernando had lost touch, they reconnected after Martin died. Fernando: “I read in the newspaper that André had lost his husband. Then I sent him a message of condolence, but in the thousands of messages he received, and with all the grief, he did not see it. And then died shortly followed by Corrie van Gorp, whom I knew well from the dance world and who once advised me to orientate myself on Spanish dance.Through her I ended up in Madrid and later in Mallorca, where I have lived for 35 years. Then I sent another message and that kind of reestablished contact: ‘Are you ever here?’ André asked, and: ‘If you’re in Amsterdam, come by then.’ We did that. And again, and again. It just clicked, we also celebrated New Year’s Eve together and yes, we noticed that we wanted to be together more and more.”
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