Matthijs de Ligt divorced long-time partner, AnneKee Molenaar, last summer, barely 12 months after marrying the model, who has now spoken about their separation
AnneKee Molenaar and Matthijs De Ligt pose during the photocall for the new Amazon Prime Video show 'All or Nothing: Juventus' premiere
AnneKee Molenaar and Matthijs de Ligt were together for eight years
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Matthijs de Ligt's ex-wife, AnneKee Molenaar, has said that facing up to her feelings about the Manchester United player before their planned wedding "was hell".
De Ligt, 27, legally married his long-term partner one week before Euro 2024 began and a day after playing for the Netherlands in a friendly against Canada. However, their wedding party in Italy, planned for a year later, never took place last summer, and they ended their eight-year relationship instead.
He is now dating another Dutch model, Amber Yuusef, confirming their relationship in June. De Ligt's ex-wife has now spoken at length about their breakup.
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Molenaar appeared on the first episode of an online interview series on YouTube with Robbert Rodenburg, titled 'Guncle'. She said: "It has been a tough year, a year with a lot of change, but also a year for which I am very grateful."
Speaking for the first time about the end of her relationship with De Ligt, the model said: "We have had a very nice time all these years, and yet last year we came to the conclusion that it is no longer there in the romantic way."
She acknowledged: "I have the feeling that people think: how can you get married and divorce a year later? But I don't regret anything. (...) I think it's very important to keep it to myself, and I really wanted it to work."
AnneKee Molenaar in the stands at a football match
AnneKee Molenaar watched Matthijs de Ligt play for the Netherlands at Euro 2024 weeks after becoming his wife
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Molenaar added: "I understand that people think: something must have happened there [before the wedding in Italy]. I hate to say it, but that's really just not the case.
She continued: "There is a lot of love between Matthijs and me; there is really a lot of love. I think the most loving thing we have done is say: 'You are going this way, and I am going that way.'"
Describing the breakup, Molenaar said: "That is really just a process of mourning. It's an abrupt change, and you're missing something, and you're sad about that. You are in pain.
"I really experienced it as something physical—just physical pain. As if I had open-heart surgery and someone was blowing against my heart. That's how fragile and vulnerable I felt."
Molenaar says she very recently started dating again. De Ligt acknowledged this summer, in response to photos of him and Yuusef together, that "Amber and I are getting to know each other better, and we would like to do that in privacy."
He also claimed that screenshots circulating, alleging she was only attracted to his fame and money, were "fake". De Ligt said: "Normally I never feel the need to respond, but I do this time. In this day and age, we know that anything can be faked, and that is the case with this screenshot as well.
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