Glamial was allowed to look inside the former X Factor jury member.
She now works behind the scenes, but Stacey Rookhuizen is still the same feisty blonde as she was in her X Factor days. Glamial visits the 37-year-old at home in Amsterdam and talks to her about television, fashion, art and interior design.
Still known
Between 2009 and 2018, Stacey Rookhuizen was an indispensable part of the Dutch television. She was a jury member in X Factor and The next pop talent, presented Project Catwalk, won 71° North, shone in Ranking the stars, Strictly come dancing and The most dangerous roads in the world. Stacey: “I haven’t been on television for six years, but I am still approached on the street every day. “You’re from Idols or The Voice, right?” – apparently everyone is confusing all talent shows. ‘Yes,’ I say, ‘It’s me, Jerney Kaagman.’ Or: ‘I was that sour judge on X Factor.’
“I’m now in the phase where people know me from somewhere, but don’t know where,” says Stacey. “Sometimes I have very awkward conversations. “I understand. I also sometimes meet people in my neighborhood who I think I know, but then it turns out I only know them from television. I greet them, they greet me.” Mockingly: “All celebrities wave at each other. They’re like skippers or Harley Davidson riders, haha.”
Love for art
Stacey decorated her loft-like home herself. “I didn’t think about it very hard, but I did try my best,” she says. “In general, I find Dutch furnishings quite boring. So gray, as if you forgot to turn on a color filter. It’s not all that difficult. A little color, a little art, a little personality. Making choices,” she says. “The walls are deliberately cream and not so white that it hurts your eyes when the sun shines on them.”
Stacey also loves art. “Art is a must, it makes you happier, that has been proven.” She also has several pieces. Etchings by Dutch artists such as Aat Veldhoen and Joop Moesman. But also an object with a middle finger by the Italian creative Maurizio Cattelan. Stacey: “He makes hysterical and somewhat provocative art. After I saw an exhibition of his in the New York Guggenheim Museum, I had to have something of his. The object rotates. When you turn it on, you hear ‘raindrops keep falling around my head’. The piece suits me. I take other people into account, but I live my own life. Hence that finger. Fuck it, I’ll just do it!”
Speaking of art and New York… If Stacey could save one thing from her home in the event of a fire, it would be a work of art from the big apple. “If there is enough time, my New York painting by Robert Vorstman. It just doesn’t fit in the elevator. But hey, you can’t use it in case of fire.”
Shit on Twitter
Stacey is a born entrepreneur. At the age of sixteen she already had her own record label. Later she organized festivals and concerts and had her own jewelry line. “In 2016 I started the company that I still have today, Bombilate Media. After seven years of television, it was a conscious choice to work (increasingly) behind the scenes,” she looks back. “The first year at John de Mol as a program developer, then for myself. I don’t want to be on anyone’s payroll, I am devoted to my freedom.”
Her screen career happened to Stacey. “I didn’t go looking for fame. Some people really want to be famous, I don’t understand why. X Factor and Project Catwalk were part-time jobs. I was active in the music industry and was asked to participate in a casting for the role of a jury member. Then I was chosen and started rolling one ball after another. And then it’s flash forward and you’ve worked in the circus for seven years. It was crazy, I had a really good time, but after two times I love Holland and three times The boys against the girls I was done.”
She also thought it was a thing to be constantly under a magnifying glass. “On X Factor I was one of four judges in the room, but at home there were 2.5 million judges judging me. All those opinions… The more people say that you should be yourself, the less you know who you are.” Stacey feels that the TV world has become tougher. “Twitter used to be a thing – we called it shit on Twitter. But now, with all the social media, you are bombarded from all sides by people who give their (hard) opinions. I think that makes the existence of today’s celebrity difficult.”
In the latest Glamial, Stacey Rookhuizen tells more about television, fashion, art and interior and you will find more photos of her home in Amsterdam. Now in store!
Text: Sandra ten Brink | Photos: Mike van den Toorn | Styling: Martine Reurings | Make-up: Bart Brom
