Sylvie Françoise Meis (born 13 April 1978), known for sometime as Sylvie van der Vaart, is a Dutch television personality and model based in Germany.

Career

Netherlands

Born in

Breda Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...

, Netherlands, Meis is partly of

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

origin. She graduated from the University of West Brabant (). Aged 18, she decided that she wanted to be a model and was cast for various shoots by casting agencies. After becoming interested in television, she gained popularity through assignments at FoxKids and music station TMF. She hosts several events at TMF, such as presenting the annual TMF-awards, and conducting interviews with international artists such as

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...

and

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Frequently referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and fas ...

. In addition, she features in video clips and the Dutch TV series ''Costa''. She also introduced the ''Pure by Sylvie'' jewellery line to the Dutch market. Thereafter, she hosted the 2008

FIFA World Player of the Year The FIFA World Player of the Year was an association football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA, between 1991 and 2015 at the FIFA World Player Gala. Coaches and captains of international teams and media representative ...

award ceremony. After being elected the Netherlands' Sexiest Female in 2003, she started a relationship with then

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

footballer

Rafael van der Vaart Rafael Ferdinand van der Vaart (; born 11 February 1983) is a Dutch former professional association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Van der Vaart began his career at AFC Ajax, Ajax's Ajax Youth Academy, youth academ ...

. Due in part to the fame from their individual careers, they soon became the Netherlands' most famous "football couple". Their fame grew after their marriage on 10 June 2005 and live coverage of the wedding on SBS6, a Dutch television channel, with the broadcast gaining high ratings in the Netherlands; Sylvie took Rafael's last name, van der Vaart.

Germany

Meis and her then husband moved to Germany when he left Ajax to play for

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

football club

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

. After her husband's 2008 transfer to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, the van der Vaarts moved to Spain. Between 2008 and 2011, she was a judge on ''

Das Supertalent ''Das Supertalent'' (''Germany's Got Talent'', ''Got Talent Germany)'' is a German talent show, part of the internationally successful ''Got Talent franchise'', presented by Victoria Swarovski and Knossi. Just like in all other versions of th ...

'', the German version of Simon Cowell's ''

Got Talent ''Got Talent'' is a British talent show TV format conceived and owned by Simon Cowell's Syco Entertainment. It has spawned spin-offs in over 60 countries, in what is now referred to as the 'Got Talent' format, similar to that described by Frema ...

'' series. In 2010 she took part in the third season of the German equivalent of

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (commonly referred to as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly Ballroom dance, ballroom and Latin dance, Latin dance. Each couple is ...

, called '' Let's Dance''. On 17 April 2010, Meis replaced the usual ''

Deutschland sucht den Superstar ''Deutschland sucht den Superstar'' (''DSDS''; "Germany is looking for the Superstar") is a German reality talent show. Part of the ''Idol'' franchise, it was created by British media mogul Simon Fuller as a spin-off from the British show ''P ...

'' judge Nina Eichinger for the final of the 7th season, after the latter was stuck in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

following flight restrictions as a result of the

2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull Between March and June 2010 a series of Volcano, volcanic events at Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland caused Air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption, enormous disruption to air travel across Western Europe. The disruptions st ...

. Between 2011 and 2017 Meis has been hosting the show ''Let's Dance'' together with Daniel Hartwich. In 2018 she was replaced by former participant Viktoria Swarovski and instead returned to ''Das Supertalent'' as a judge. Following in the footsteps of famous entertainers such as

Johannes Heesters Johan Marius Nicolaas Heesters (5 December 1903 – 24 December 2011), known professionally as Johannes Heesters, was a Dutch-German actor of stage, television and film, as well as a vocalist of numerous recordings and performer on the conce ...

Linda de Mol Linda Margaretha de Mol (born 8 July 1964) is a Dutch television presenter and actress in the Netherlands and Germany. She is the sister of TV-producer and Endemol co-founder John de Mol, and has frequently appeared in productions of his. She ...

and Rudi Carell, Meis is one of the most successful Dutch personalities active in Germany.

Personal life

upMeis in 2010 Meis is of partly

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

descent, her father being Dutch-Indonesian, her mother being Belgian. Meis was in a relationship with footballer

from 2003. On 10 June 2005, the couple married, and on 28 May 2006, their son Damián Rafael was born. Some of the media described the couple as the "new Beckhams" but both of them denied the claims saying that they prefer to just live a normal life. Their son Damián signed for the

youth team in September 2023. On 16 June 2009, she announced that she had been diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

and had undergone surgery in May 2009. She finished post-op

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

and has been cancer-free since. In the mid-2009,

wanted to sell Rafael van der Vaart, but he decided to stay in Madrid because Sylvie was undergoing cancer treatments there. In 2010, Meis admitted to having cheated on her husband, stating that van der Vaart found out through emails that she was having an affair with a

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, or simply KLM (an abbreviation for their official name Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. , ),

airline pilot which she believed was the beginning of the end of their marriage. On 2 January 2013, Meis acknowledged their separation after he had struck her in front of their guests. Their divorce was finalized in December 2013. On 12 April 2017, she became engaged to Charbel Aouad but the couple separated in October 2017. From 2020 to June 2023, Meis was married to Niclas Castello. Meis is fluent in English, Dutch, and German.

Filmography

Television and media appearances

Meis has made several television appearances worldwide, including: *

Fox Kids Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized in all caps) was an American children's programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channels. Originally a j ...

(1999–2002, presenter) * MTV Netherlands (2003, VJ) *

TMF Nederland TMF (abbreviation of The Music Factory) was a 24-hour music channel operated by Viacom International Media Networks in the Netherlands. The channel was previously in every standard TV package, but it ceased operating on 1 September 2011. The chan ...

(2003–2004, VJ) * ''

'' (2008–2011, 2018, judge) * '' Let's Dance'' (2010, participant) * ''Let's Dance'' (2011–2017, presenter) * ''Wedden dat ik het kan'' (2016, presenter)

Awards

* 2003: The Netherlands' Sexiest Female * 2011: Media Women of the Year * 2012:

Bayerischer Fernsehpreis The Bavarian TV Awards (German: Bayerischer Fernsehpreis) is an award presented by the government of Bavaria, Germany since 1989. The prize symbol is the "Blue Panther", a figure from the Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory. The prize money is €10, ...

(together with Daniel Hartwich)

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Meis, Sylvie 1978 births Living people People from Breda Dutch people of Indonesian descent Dutch people of Belgian descent Dutch television actresses Dutch female models Dutch expatriates in Germany RTL Group people