A gossip article from Dutch magazine Story about Björn and Agnetha’s then recent divorce.
The ABBA fans were in shock when they heard the news about Agnetha and Björn’s separation. Would this mean the end of ABBA? And how was this possible? Didn’t Agnetha and Björn have a son only one year ago? The ABBA couple told Story what was the reason for Christian’s birth...
What no one had ever expected, did actually happen. Barely one year after the birth of their son, ABBA’s Björn and Agnetha decided to get a divorce. As it turns out now, the birth of Christian was their last attempt to patch things up.
“Actually, we started to grow apart from the moment that we got married, which is now seven years ago,” says Björn, the male half of the ABBA couple that was considered as the ideal couple by the admiring outer world. A couple of weeks ago, the news about their divorce came – and this is no exaggeration – like a bolt from the blue. “Last summer, we came to the conclusion that it was better to separate, despite the birth of our son Christian.”
The divorce has been finalized – before and after the first sensational reports – rather silently. Especially since Björn and Agnetha initially denied that there was ‘someone else’ in their lives. It wasn’t until the dust from the announcement had settled that it turned out that Agnetha actually did have a lover, the 33-year-old Haken Lonnback. However, this psychiatrist, with whom the blonde ABBA star tried to find a cure for her depressions, can hardly be seen as the instigator of the ‘evil’. He can rather be considered as the last straw.
“When we got married in 1971,” Björn explains, “we were extremely romantic and madly in love. But that soon passed. The successes with ABBA managed to keep us together for several years after that, but oh well, it may sound strange, even success can turn into a routine.”
Agnetha and Björn both realized that their marriage wasn’t very good. Because of that, they managed to keep talking about the matter. During one of these talks between the spouses, the thought of a second child (daughter Linda is six years old) came up. Björn: “Obviously we didn’t think that a son or a daughter would be able to simply solve the problems that we had. It was more like ‘do you remember the good times we had when Linda was born’. Hoping that we could experience that happy occasion once again, we made our decision.”
To no avail. Little Christian was of course welcomed with love, but the baby wasn’t able to make its estranged parents feel happy in their marriage again.
It’s striking that even ABBA manager Stig Anderson wasn’t aware of the impending divorce. Only Anni-Frid and Benny, the other ABBA half, knew what was going on. “That’s hardly surprising,” says Björn, “because they are regularly in our company twenty four hours a day. Then it’s hard to keep a secret. Especially a secret like this. Even if we wouldn’t discuss the matter, they would still notice.”
For that matter, the divorce won’t have any consequences for ABBA’s continued existence. Björn: “Of course we have thought about that. But our divorce doesn’t have to have any consequences for the group. We separated without any arguments. If such a thing as a happy divorce exists, then ours is one of them.”
And the children? Björn: “Indeed, that was the most difficult part of the whole matter. Obviously, Christian doesn’t realize anything yet, but Linda is six years old and she understands very well what’s going on. We’ve had some difficult times before we were able to tell her. And when we finally did – it had to happen eventually – we ended up crying, all three of us...”
The ‘fairytale’ is over. Agnetha and Björn will go their separate ways from now on. Of course the children won’t be lacking anything. But still, they will probably be the only ones who won’t benefit from the divorce. In the end, nothing can replace parental love...
The ABBA fans were in shock when they heard the news about Agnetha and Björn’s separation. Would this mean the end of ABBA? And how was this possible? Didn’t Agnetha and Björn have a son only one year ago? The ABBA couple told Story what was the reason for Christian’s birth...What no one had ever expected, did actually happen. Barely one year after the birth of their son, ABBA’s Björn and Agnetha decided to get a divorce. As it turns out now, the birth of Christian was their last attempt to patch things up.“Actually, we started to grow apart from the moment that we got married, which is now seven years ago,” says Björn, the male half of the ABBA couple that was considered as the ideal couple by the admiring outer world. A couple of weeks ago, the news about their divorce came – and this is no exaggeration – like a bolt from the blue. “Last summer, we came to the conclusion that it was better to separate, despite the birth of our son Christian.”
The divorce has been finalized – before and after the first sensational reports – rather silently. Especially since Björn and Agnetha initially denied that there was ‘someone else’ in their lives. It wasn’t until the dust from the announcement had settled that it turned out that Agnetha actually did have a lover, the 33-year-old Haken Lonnback. However, this psychiatrist, with whom the blonde ABBA star tried to find a cure for her depressions, can hardly be seen as the instigator of the ‘evil’. He can rather be considered as the last straw.
“When we got married in 1971,” Björn explains, “we were extremely romantic and madly in love. But that soon passed. The successes with ABBA managed to keep us together for several years after that, but oh well, it may sound strange, even success can turn into a routine.”
Agnetha and Björn both realized that their marriage wasn’t very good. Because of that, they managed to keep talking about the matter. During one of these talks between the spouses, the thought of a second child (daughter Linda is six years old) came up. Björn: “Obviously we didn’t think that a son or a daughter would be able to simply solve the problems that we had. It was more like ‘do you remember the good times we had when Linda was born’. Hoping that we could experience that happy occasion once again, we made our decision.”To no avail. Little Christian was of course welcomed with love, but the baby wasn’t able to make its estranged parents feel happy in their marriage again.
It’s striking that even ABBA manager Stig Anderson wasn’t aware of the impending divorce. Only Anni-Frid and Benny, the other ABBA half, knew what was going on. “That’s hardly surprising,” says Björn, “because they are regularly in our company twenty four hours a day. Then it’s hard to keep a secret. Especially a secret like this. Even if we wouldn’t discuss the matter, they would still notice.”
For that matter, the divorce won’t have any consequences for ABBA’s continued existence. Björn: “Of course we have thought about that. But our divorce doesn’t have to have any consequences for the group. We separated without any arguments. If such a thing as a happy divorce exists, then ours is one of them.”
And the children? Björn: “Indeed, that was the most difficult part of the whole matter. Obviously, Christian doesn’t realize anything yet, but Linda is six years old and she understands very well what’s going on. We’ve had some difficult times before we were able to tell her. And when we finally did – it had to happen eventually – we ended up crying, all three of us...”
The ‘fairytale’ is over. Agnetha and Björn will go their separate ways from now on. Of course the children won’t be lacking anything. But still, they will probably be the only ones who won’t benefit from the divorce. In the end, nothing can replace parental love...
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