Hitkrant, 1982: Frida's divorce doesn't endanger ABBA

“Sweden had become a real madhouse for me,” ABBA’s red-haired singer Frida sighs. “Everything I did was being closely watched by everyone. A real private life had become impossible for me. You could say that I escaped from Sweden to England. Fortunately, among others, my good friend Phil Collins accommodated me understandingly.”

Frida managed to sell her shares in the ABBA-empire, just before they started to go down spectacularly on the stock market. As a matter of fact, she’s now the richest member of the famous quartet, although the other members still don’t have anything to complain either. So, she’s a shrewd business-woman?
“I’ve been asked that question more often,” Frida smiles, “but that’s not how it is at all. I just left Sweden head-over-heels because life had become unbearable for me over there. After my divorce from Benny, I haven’t had one minute of peace and quiet. That’s when I decided to sell my shares in the ABBA-company as well, because otherwise I would have been forced to travel back and forth. So that’s it, I was just lucky!”
She’s now clearly avoiding public attention and has gone into hiding in England on a secret address. Why?
“For the past few years I’ve lived in a house of glass,” she says. “Especially during the time of my divorce from Benny, it was awful. We had enough problems as it was, also because we stayed together as long as possible because we didn’t want to damage ABBA’s image. When a lot of people started to interfere with our business as well, it obviously turned into a hell. At my new residence I’ve finally found peace.”
Phil Collins has divorced his wife recently as well, and he accommodated Frida especially well when she arrived in England. Could Phil be more than just a friend?
“Certainly not,” Frida answers. “He helped me a great deal with the recordings of ‘Something’s Going On’, but he’s definitely not more than a good friend and a respected colleague. I can tell you that my new love is a French business-man, who I’ve met in Paris. But I really can’t reveal his name. He wouldn’t have a moment of peace if I did!”
Doesn’t Frida think that ABBA is slowly falling apart, now the members of the group have grown apart artistically, emotionally, as well as financially?
“Up ‘til now we’ve been sufficiently professional to overcome all problems, and I think that will remain this way in the future. We will probably not tour again together, but records of the complete ABBA are a definite possibility. The fact that I’m divorced from Benny or have my money in a different bank doesn’t mean that I couldn’t work with him any longer.”