benefits scandal. In the House, Simons has criticized the cabinet's strategy to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that stricter measures such as longer and more stringent lockdowns were required to contain the virus. She filed a motion in July 2021 in which she argued that the cabinet's strategy of "letting [the virus] run wild in a controlled way" had led to 30,000 deaths. No other parties in the House supported her motion, and Prime Minister Mark Rutte called the accusation "brazen and uncivilized". Another motion by Simons, which called for an investigation into establishing a constitutional court in the Netherlands, was adopted by the House. On several occasions, the media reported on clashes between Simons and fellow politicians. Renske Leijten asked Simons in October 2021 whether she considered her to be a racist as a result of online comments directed at Leijten by BIJ1 members, and Ockje Tellegen rebuked Simons while chairing a legislative meeting a month later, when Simons wanted to address comments that she described as intimidating. House Speaker Vera Bergkamp later defended Tellegen's actions in a letter after Simons had filed a complaint. Following a 2022 riot in Staphorst against anti- protestors, Simons denounced the police's handling and asked Minister of Justice and Security Dilan Yeşilgöz why she resisted a broad investigation into racism in the police force. In turn, Yeşilgöz criticized Simons's description of police officers using unwarranted violence against citizens. Simons received the Ally Award from queer lifestyle magazine Winq in 2022. Personal life Simons has two children. Her son, Salvatore, was born in 1992, when she was 21 years old. Simons has described the father and her then boyfriend as abusive and depressed. She has told that he stalked her after the end of their three-year relationship, and he died about a year after the birth of their child. According to Simons, the police reported an unknown cause of death, but she believes that it was a suicide. Her second child, Levi, was born in 1996, shortly before Simons's father died by suicide. From late 1998 to 1999, Simons lived in London with her British boxer boyfriend and two children while still working in the Netherlands. She moved to Duivendrecht, situated close to Amsterdam, in 2001 after having spent the intermittent time in Diemen. She married entrepreneur Frank van Hoorn in early 2003 in Costa Rica. Simons wrote a book about the household, consisting