Pop Foto, May 1977: That's why Anni-Frid and Benny will never get married...

“Now, that is weird. They are not married? But they do both have children? Surely it would be more convenient if they got married? Just like Björn and Agnetha.” That’s the gossip that goes around about ABBA’s oldest couple that just refuses to get married. But don’t be mistaken... Anni-Frid and Benny have their reasons!

“I was sixteen,” says Anni-Frid Lyngstad, now 31 and world-famous, sexily dressed and ‘a woman of today’. “And nobody thought it was strange we got married. In those days, parents were still happy that their daughter was getting settled. On top of that, my husband was the son of a manufacturer and therefore a ‘good catch’. So I was playing housewife at sixteen years old. I realized I wasn’t cut out to be married, when I had my two children. I was so unhappy. I felt really bad for the children, but thankfully my husband understood and we divorced. I have my children, and Benny’s of course, with me as much as possible, because to me they are more important than ABBA. After the divorce I made myself a promise to never get married again, unless I really wanted to. The experience had been too painful!”
Benny is not in a rush to get married either. Just like Anni-Frid’s, his marriage ended in divorce and he thinks that’s a mistake you only make once.
“It doesn’t matter to us,” he thinks. “Anni-Frid and I love each other, we are faithful to each other. Besides, she always says I’m married already to my job!”
Benny and Anni-Frid met each other on Sweden’s most popular TV-show, on which Anni-Frid was a presenter and Benny performed with the Hep Stars. After the show they went out for a drink. The day after they went for a ride together in the countryside.
“I was only just sitting in the car,” remembers Anni-Frid, “when Benny started singing. I was singing along. It wasn’t until later that I discovered he had recorded the whole thing on tape.”
That ride was the start of everything Benny and Anni-Frid did together. After that day they were inseparable, privately and professionally. And if it’s up to them, it will remain that way, preferably without a marriage!