Melanie van Wijk is co-owner of Maison PR (a PR agency in Amsterdam). Recently, I had a glass of wine with her and thought: I think this woman is full of guilty pleasures. I wanted to know more about that, so yesterday I was on the phone and indeed; full of guilty pleasures.
Which song in your playlist cannot stand the light of day?
“Haha this is really very bad, but what makes me very, very happy is blasting Dolly Parton in the car and singing along intensely. And I also love doing that with songs by Abba. Of course, only when no one else is around.”
Do you have an embarrassing hobby?
“Well, you know what I really love to do – no wait, I actually can’t tell you that. It can’t stand the light of day, it’s really quite dirty actually. Okay, wait I’ll tell you but you must not write it down. Do you promise?” [disclaimer, I know it by now, readers take my word for it, you really don’t want to know.]
What do you secretly do when you're home alone?
“Yes, that’s also a bit of a hobby actually. When I’m home alone, I lie in my bed and watch those terrible series on YouTube. The Real Housewives and such, hours on end while stuffing myself with those Haribo bears. My husband is quite a foodie and he always likes to confront me with the fact that those things are made from goat hooves or something horrible. But those series, oh I love them so much. And I watch them all, from Orange County to New York. I really know everything about those women, it’s actually quite sad but I enjoy it immensely.”
Do you have a celebrity crush?
“Yeah, of course, I have a lot. I’m currently totally hooked on that guy from Suits, Harvey Spector in the series and Gabriel Macht in real life. He’s really a deal closer and I love him. Unbelievable. Actually, my husband also finds him very sexy so that’s okay.”
What is your craziest trait?
“Hmm I think I eat so healthily and don’t exercise. But I’m blessed with good genes so I don’t gain weight. During lunch, they all have salads and quinoa and there I am with a shawarma sandwich. While I’m not even hungover!”
What is your most expensive mistake?
“I once bought a skirt from Stella McCartney, a super tight one made of some leather-like material. Very, very tight and really super cool. At a party, I wore it once and then someone came up to me, looked at me for a moment and said: ‘Well, how nice, congratulations!“ You understand, I never wore that skirt again.”
Do you have a strange ritual?
“Well, my look of the day is often also my look of the night. As in; at the end of the day, I’m so incredibly tired that I just lie down in bed with my clothes on. I’m just too tired to change and I only do that in the middle of the night or something, when I wake up because I’m too warm. I always text Linda (Botter, her partner at Maison PR) with ‘Look Lin! I have an incredibly nice look of the night on!’
What do you secretly enjoy immensely?
“When I go on vacation, I always buy a whole stack of magazines. All very responsible professional literature. Um. And in between, I always include a Hello/Okay/Privé/Weekend, those ridiculous ‘news’ that are completely made up, then I’m really completely stretched out.”
