KATELIJNE & ANDRE

An 8-year age gap

Katelijne and Andre have been together for 18 years, married for 13 of them, and have four children – two from Katelijne’s previous marriage and two together. ‘We met in 1999, shortly after my divorce,’ Katelijne says. ‘When you meet someone and there’s chemistry like that, age is irrelevant.’ André was 20 and at university; Katelijne was 28. ‘My situation was still a bit difficult and I had to go back to Belgium with my kids. That’s where the age gap came in – pragmatically it wasn’t going to work. He still had university to complete and I had two kids. So I left and we broke up.

‘But after two weeks I couldn’t help but phone André – he was so glad that I did. We realised we couldn’t be apart; we were best mates. We had a longdistance relationship for two years.’

Once André had completed his studies, he went to Belgium to be with Katelijne and the kids. ‘You have to have a certain maturity to parent kids when you’re that young. But André was always very confident and a total individualist. I never questioned the age difference. André had already made up his mind about what he wanted in a wife and mother for his children. For him, when he met me, that was it. I gave him a hard time sometimes – “You’re still a student! You still have to do your thing!” – and he kept coming back.’

Interestingly, in Katelijne’s previous marriage the age gap was 20 years, the other way around. ‘Colour, age and all that are not really factors for me; it’s about the person. Who are they? What is the attraction? He is my best friend and I like to think I’m his. It’s been a wonderful journey together.’