This article comes from Svensk Damtidning, issue 40, 1984.
On the TV-show Glädjehuset we got to see a new Frida - happier, cooler, more striking.
The divorce from Benny gave me push - now I finally dare to live my life to the fullest.
The years in London has been very good to Anni-Frid Lyngstad, 39. She radiates an inner security and is happier than she has been for years. The divorce from Benny Andersson has healed and she has established a distance to that difficult time, which meant she for the first time in her life was totally on her own.
- When I moved to London I wanted to liberate myself from the routinley life I had been living, Frida
said to Expressen's reporter Måns Invarsson. And as "a bonus" I got a push from the divorce from Benny. Natuarlly I was depressed, how do you think one feels going through a divorce from a man you love. I knew that if I stayed in Sweden I would slowly suffocate to death, because I felt that there was nothing more holding me back here.
LOVE IS IMPORTANT
Something Frida has been very protective of since the divorce is her private life. The same year that the break-up between her and Benny was a fact she told an English paper that she had met a new lifepartner. Here in Sweden the speculations started immediately and the businessman Bertil "Bobbo" Hjert was pointed out as Frida's new man. Frida herself were and still are very secretive about who is the love of her life. But she doesn't mind talking about love, how important love is to her, but that it has hurt her many times.
- Love is the most important thing in my life, I'm happy with the love I have, Frida said in an interview with a Danish reporter Kirsten Jacobsen who writes for Ekstra-Bladet. My music is all about feelings. In a way they can also be a work for mourning. For example, it took me a long time to get over a relationship I had.
- Lucky love, doesn't exist, according to me. Love is just a struggle and happiness is something you can only get to feel for fraction of a second.
So what does she think it's the most important in a man?
- He has to have warmth in his eyes and an open mind. His looks are not important, the main thing is that we can talk and discuss,
- I know I can have almost any man I want, that's why I'm so careful. I'm terribly afraid a man might only be interested in my money.
Since Frida sold her shares in ABBA's company she is now a very wealthy lady. She manages her finances herself and enjoys being financially independent.
- The money makes me independant, I can live without checking every price tag, but I wouldn't agree that money makes you happy. Money can also bring a lot of troubles.
But they can also mean freedom for Frida to buy clothes from the most exclusive fashion houses, expensive jewelery and trips all around the world. A fur coat for only SEK 150.000 Frida considers "a bargain" when "you think of how much one of these really cost."
Yes, Frida has the means to enjoy her life and she does. In London and in Paris, where she also lives every now and then, she can lead an independent, wonderful life.
- Since I don't have any small children I'm able to sleep in in the mornings, she has said. Then I write alot, watch TV and listen to the radio.
And of course she travels alot. Having her daughter Lotta, 17, in the US and her son Hans, 22 in Sweden it adds up to several long trips every year, Not to mention all the other friends she has around the world.
- I enjoy living now, I make the most of every minute for as long as I can, because you never know what tomorrow brings.
On her new LP "Shine" [released on 9/11 1984...] we get the proof that she has found a new sense of
security. One song for example "Slowly" is written by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, something she would never had agreed to have on her first solo album just after ABBA split up, two years ago.
Back then she said:
- You might think that it's hard for me to work together with Benny because of our divorce, but that is not the case. But at the same time she wanted to prove to the rest of the world that she could make it on her own.
- I'm happy I don't have a Björn and Benny song on this first album, I don't want reviewers writing that she couldn't make an interesting record without the help of her former band members' help.
Today, it's a different matter, she can indulge herself with adding a Björn and Benny song to her new LP.
- It took time to get used to working on your own, Frida admitted in an interview not long ago. But now I have found myself again and I feel strong.
I Would like to thank my dear friend Sarah Russel for the two pictures of Frida performing songs from Shine 7 September 1984.Sarah Russel has the fatanstic ABBA On TV-site.
The legendary pop group ABBA is getting its own museum in Stockholm. The pair behind this initiative are entrepreneurs Ewa Wigenheim-Westman and Ulf Westman. "It's great that someone feels like taking on our musical history and making it accessible" Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Reuss said in a joint statement. "We have a lot of confidence in Ewa and Ulf and we hope and believe that it will be a fun and groovy museum to visit."
Ewa and Ulf got the idea for ABBA the Museum when they visited the Beatles Museum in Liverpool a few years ago. Ewa initially brought up the idea with Benny Andersson, with whom she had worked previously. But it took time for her to convince the whole group. ABBA has approved the project and will make material available for the museum, but is otherwise not involved.
