Ibe Bogaert says Joost Klein helped her through one of the hardest periods of her life, not just as a coach on The voice van Vlaanderen but as someone who listened when she needed it most. In an interview with HLN, Bogaert said the contact with Klein felt familiar from the start, and that his quick turn during her audition marked the beginning of a bond that went far beyond the show.
Bogaert said Klein helped her not only musically but mentally, after years in which she struggled deeply. She said her mother died by suicide, that she had dark thoughts herself and that, shortly before joining the program, she spent three weeks in a psychiatric institution. When she told him her story, she said, a real conversation started. Klein, she said, is someone who lost both of his parents at a young age, and that shared experience made him easier to trust.
What Bogaert says Klein gave her most was self-confidence. She said she often felt anxiety on stage, and that he gave her tools to deal with it. Those tips now help her enjoy performing more, she said. Bogaert called him a “waanzinnig lieve en authentieke gast,” and said he recently wrote her an affirmation telling her she can sing well. She keeps the note in her car.
The exchange adds a personal layer to The voice van Vlaanderen, where coaching is often framed in terms of technique and performance. Here, the emotional weight is impossible to separate from the music. Bogaert’s comments also place Klein in a role that has come up before in the show’s orbit, including a separate row on The Voice van Vlaanderen brushed off by Mathieu Terryn, but her account is not about controversy. It is about the way one contestant says a coach helped her stay on her feet.
For Bogaert, the point appears settled. Klein was not only the man who turned his chair quickly during her audition. He was the coach she says helped her believe she belonged there.
