Friday 3 July 2009

Weekend, December 1980: Will the Christmas Days be lonely for ABBA-singer Agnetha

After Björn and Agnetha’s divorce, the press just loved to speculate about lonely and abandoned Agnetha. This article comes from Dutch gossip magazine Weekend.
Ever since her divorce from Björn Ulvaeus, ABBA’s blonde Agnetha hasn’t found real happiness yet. Björn did, he has a new girlfriend. But Agnetha, adored by millions of men, is still roaming around solitary in her world of glitter and glamour. She and her children are celebrating Christmas with her parents.

Shortly before Christmas, ABBA threw a fabulous party in Stockholm for friends and guests. An enormous studio was reconstructed into a circus and several major attractions graced the event with their presence. The radiating centre of attention of this very expensive event were the four ABBA-members themselves. All dressed in white, the popular foursome mingled in the festivities and conversed with the guests in a relaxed manner. Only the attractive Agnetha mostly kept to herself. Only when a picture was taken of her, a sad smile came to her lips. Therefore, Agnetha looked a bit like a blonde Mona Lisa at these moments. Friends, that watched her flutter from one guest to another like an exhausted butterfly, glanced at each other with understanding. They could notice as well that Agnetha wasn’t the spontaneous, happy woman from the past anymore, after her divorce from Björn. Within the ABBA-frame, the divorce has always been dealt with in a professional manner. Björn and Agnetha seemed to be moving on as good friends. At performances, Björn makes jokes about his ex-wife and they pose together, smiling happily and with their arms around each other.
But for Agnetha, this relaxed attitude is just a charade. The very few relationships, that she has started cautiously after the divorce, seem to end due to unwanted publicity. Agnetha was first spotted with a famous Swedish ice hockey player. It didn’t take long before the young man saw his picture on the front page of all newspapers. He couldn’t go anywhere without a photographer following him. Even his achievements on the ice started to suffer. Agnetha soon watched him leave.
Of a more recent date is her friendship with a well-known character from the Swedish fashion industry, a wealthy businessman, with whom Agnetha appeared at a few parties. Again, the media rose to the bait and every friendly glance between the two was explained as an oath of eternal faithfulness. This relationship wouldn’t last long either. Not everyone likes to live in a house of glass.

Not too long ago, Agnetha was involved in a commotion concerning her persona. A photographer caught her off-guard in a Stockholm discotheque, with a cigarette in the corner of her mouth. And this happened shortly after she had collaborated on a non-smoking campaign for Swedish television, aimed at the youngsters. And this rankled a lot of Swedes and Agnetha was called to account by the media.

For the time being, Agnetha’s children are accommodated with her parents. Apart from that, a nanny sees to it that the young children are not lacking anything. Although there is nothing that can replace the love of their parents. All ABBA-members are celebrating Christmas in their domestic circle. Benny, Anni-Frid and the children, from Anni-Frid’s first marriage, are singing Christmas carols under their own Christmas tree in their cosy apartment in the Swedish capital. Björn is spending one day with his in-laws together with his girlfriend, and after that he’s taking a skiing holiday.

Agnetha is spending the holidays with her parents and children. Maybe the cheerfulness of her small children will make her forget about her loneliness for a while. But privately, she may be hoping for a miracle.

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