Margriet Hermans, the singer, television host, and politician who became one of the most recognisable faces in Flanders across four decades of public life, died on 3 June 2026 at the age of 72, shortly after being diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. A performer who reinvented herself again and again, she leaves behind a career that spanned the stage, the studio, and the Belgian Senate.
Born Margareta Maria Josepha Hermans in Turnhout on 17 March 1954, she first broke through as a singer in 1987, finding success in both Flanders and the Netherlands. That same era saw her chase the international spotlight, taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest pre-selections three times, and her song “Een Vriend” earned her the Radio 2 Summer Hit honour in 1987.
If the late 1980s made her a singer, the 1990s made her an icon. From 1989 to 1997 she hosted her own popular talk show, simply titled “Margriet,” where she welcomed national and international stars, and for years afterward she remained a fixture on Flemish panel programmes. Her place in popular culture was sealed in 1993, when a celebrity comic based on her life was drawn by Erik Vancoillie.
Hermans was never content to stay in a single lane. Alongside her media career she was politically active for many years, moving through several parties before settling with the Open VLD, since renamed Anders. In 2007 she was elected to the Belgian Senate, where she served until 2011, and that same year she was created a Knight by Royal Decree in recognition of her contributions to public life.
Remarkably, her story still had another act in it. After a quieter spell out of the spotlight, Hermans enjoyed an unexpected revival as a singer in 2022 with the hit “Lekker Blijven Hangen,” which earned her a second Radio 2 Summer Hit award, 35 years after her first. The following year, in 2023, she was inducted into the Radio 2 Hall of Fame, a fitting tribute to a voice that had stayed with Flemish audiences for a lifetime.
In May 2026, it was publicly announced that she was suffering from a neuroendocrine tumour, and all her planned performances were cancelled. She died by euthanasia on 3 June 2026. As her daughter Celien reflected, even in her final chapter Hermans remained entirely herself, taking her life into her own hands to the very end, just as she always had.
She is survived by her daughter and by the generations of fans who knew her as a singer, a host, and a familiar friend on the screen. Few public figures manage to be so many things to so many people; Margriet Hermans was a star who never stopped surprising the country that loved her.