Ruben Van Gucht visits mother Lia in ‘The House’: “I saw comments from people who criticized how we had raised our child. I thought that was terrible”

In The house Van Gucht said earlier in the evening that he and his wife Blanka Vlasic had not opted for a classic wedding. “I have my own life in Croatia and Belgium, also relationally,” he says. But that choice was not easy to explain to his parents. This is evident from mother Lia’s visit.

It caused disagreement. “I saw life this way, and they saw life differently,” says Van Gucht. “In the end I didn’t feel 100 percent supported in how I wanted to organize my life. That has clashed with how they see life. I understand that, there was no soft start, it was suddenly: boenwith your face against the wall.”

His mother clings to her idea that life is too short to have eternal arguments. “It would kill me to no longer speak to my child for that reason. It took time, a little longer for my husband. But then I also told him that I didn’t like this. Then he also started turning.” (Read more below the photo)

Van Gucht hopes that an opening has been made to have a further conversation with his parents. “I have always said: if they want, I am always willing to explain. But if they say: ‘It’s okay the way it is’, then I’m not going to torment them and necessarily ram my story down their throats.”

Mother Lia especially has a hard time with the comments her son receives from the outside world. “At one point I read: ‘how did those parents raise their child?’ Come on, what are you saying now? I thought. That I didn’t teach my child any values? (emotional) I think it’s terrible that someone says something like that.”

“The confrontation with the outside world did not do anything good. They don’t deserve that,” said Van Gucht. (eadp)