Sunday 16 February 2014

Privé, 1979: Why ABBA's Agnetha Fältskog lost her lover

Millions of people in the USA, Canada and Europe are already waiting in line to get a ticket for one of ABBA's concerts during the major tour of the Swedish supergroup. There seems to be no end to the successes of the quartet, but it is costing them their personal happiness. The boyfriend of blonde Agnetha Fältskog, Lars Erik Ericsson, couldn't stand this success any longer and broke off their relationship.

ABBA's Agnetha Fältskog is alone again. Her boyfriend, ice hockey player Lars Erik Ericsson, with whom she had been living together for a couple of months in her mansion just outside Stockholm, has suddenly broken off their relationship and left the mansion.
For the twenty-nine year old singer this means the second tragedy in one year. One year ago she divorced her husband and fellow band member Björn Ulvaeus. The end of her romance with the twenty-nine year old Ericsson was too much for Agnetha. She has withdrawn from public life and for the time being - until the start of ABBA's tour next week - she stays alone in her mansion.
Friends are saying: "Agnetha adored Lars Erik. She hoped she could marry him soon, right after the world tour. She thought he would be a good father for her children, the six year old Linda and little, one year old Christian."
But Lars Erik couldn't handle his relationship with Agnetha. Although he is a well-known Swedish ice hockey player - he is playing in AIK '77 and the Swedish national team - he was still ignored by the public. All attention went to the famous singer Agnetha. When the couple appeared in public, the fans were all surrounding Agnetha, Lars Erik was just standing on the side. To them, he was just Agnetha's boyfriend, not the ice hockey star Lars Erik Ericsson. "He wasn't seen as an individual anymore, but as Agnetha's companion. He couldn't stand it any longer," according to the couple's friends.
He felt that - if he would continue with the relationship - it would go further and further. He would be seen as Mr. Fältskog and  not as Lars Erik Ericsson. "Although he still loves her very much," according to intimate friends, "he still thought it was better to make the decision to end their romance now."
But Agnetha's sadness about the fact that the man she really loved, and who would become the father of her two children, has left her, is enormous. Agnetha is planning to stop singing after ABBA's tour, she wanted to do that for Lars Erik and her children. She wanted to build a new life together with him. As a happy family. Out of the limelight and without the public.

But that same public made sure that the happiness of the blonde singer has come to an end. That's the other side of ABBA's success. It turns out that twenty million Dutch guilders in the bank and all the glamour aren't everything. The man she loved has disappeared from her life, because of her popularity. She doesn't seem to be entitled to personal happiness.
Despite the fact that Agnetha was willing to make the decision for her personal happiness with her lover Lars Erik, by quitting her career after the gigantic tour, he still chose to leave her. "He knew," according to friends, "that the pressure - even though Agnetha would quit her career - would still be too big to have a chance to be happy together. There will always be people chasing after Agnetha and he would always be seen as Agnetha's man instead of the famous Swedish ice hockey player that he actually is," according to the friends.
That's why Lars Erik has decided to leave Agnetha, alone with her two children in her immense mansion. And now that she probably still will stop singing, the void will even be greater for her. It's the downside of success. The price she has to pay means she can't be happy in love.

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