Agnetha's breakdown, the new lonely life outside ABBA broke her.

I find that it's very difficult to find old articles about Agnetha that are positive. So many are just focusing on her being alone, abandoned, sad etc. Going through many magazines and clippings I'm quite surprised that these negative articles started so early. But I'll keep digging. Anyway here's an example from VeckoRevyn 17 October 1979.

Agnetha got sick from missing her children
It wasn't only air sickness and stomach problem that broke Agnetha down i America. A large part of it was the fact that she felt lonely and no longer a "real" part of the group. And the longing for her children.

What was it that really happened to Agnetha Fältskog, over there in America? Air sickness, stomach flu and high fever were reported. Agnetha had simply become ill by many different reasons, so sick she had a breakdown which led ABBA to cancel their concert in Washington.
     But all of us who have followed the tour closely, couldn't ignore what we saw, something was very wrong with Agnetha Fältskog, even before the horrendous plane flight between Los Angeles and Washington D.C.
     Agnetha was serious, gloomy. She suffered in silence, from the very first day in Edmonton, Canada until her total breakdown in Washington D.C. 20 days later.
     At first she had big problems with the time difference between Europe and the US. Then she started to miss her children, who were at home in Sweden, so badly . Agnetha became a loner on this tour. When the rest of the group rented a yacht to go sunbathing on for a day, Agnetha stayed at the hotel pool. Alone.
     This was the first big tour in two years. Two years that has meant a lot of changes in her life. Agnetha Fältskog divorced Björn Ulvaeus, several young men has been pointed out as "Agnetha's new man". In an interview in VeckoRevyn in May this year she said the following:
     - ABBA was brought together by love. Björn and I was in love. And so were Benny and Anni-Frid. We were all in love and happy. Not at least when we were recording our music, when we were working together.
     That was not the case in America. It wasn't the "in love" ABBA who crossed the American continent. Agnetha stated from the start that the only thing she really thought of and cared about was her children, Christian, 2 and Linda, 6.
     - The children mean everything to me. My stomach hurts when I see other children playing in the pool, when my children are so far away. I missed them terribly, so intense. I just can't be away from them for this many days, that's just how it is.
     After a few days in America the first sign of Agnetha not coping appeared. One night she broke down and cried. But that incident was kept quiet. Nothing was allowed to ruin this the most important concert tour in the band's history.
     But the story came out when they were in Los Angeles. Agnetha was fragile, she had had a nervous breakdown. But now at least, she got to see her daughter Linda again who had travelled there from Sweden with Lena Källersjö (Björn's girlfriend), Stikkan Anderson and his wife Gudrun and other family members.
     In Los Angeles Agnetha could live a "family life" again. She lived in an apartment hotel. Linda spent the nights in Björn Ulvaeus and Lena Källersjö's hotel room and her days with her mother Agnetha. And then came the problems with Agnetha's flying. Flying, this horrible way of transporting yourself from city to city is just hell for someone, like Agnetha, who suffers from a terrible fear of flying.
     Back in May, when VeckoRevyn interviewed Agnetha about flying she said:
     - The more I fly, the more anxious I get. I think it's challenging higher powers and I always say a prayer just before start or landing. I would prefer to stay on the ground. But we have had to fly a lot in our line of work. I quite enjoyed it in the beginning. Then I wanted to come home to my children, put a pair of jeans on and take care of the daily chores.
     Now all of that happened at one time, her fear of flying, not having her children with her, and she is no longer Björn Ulvaeus' wife. Agnetha talks about the divorce:
     - Björn and I lived together for 10 years. We were together for 3 years before we were married and then we were married for 7 years. But then it crumbled. We developed into two completely diffent kind of people. I didn't feel free, I felt trapped. We just ran out of love and started annoying each other, and we argued. Finally we made the decision and got a divorce and moved away from each other. And with doing so, Agnetha felt that she wasn't as much of a part of ABBA as she had been before. I wanted to get away from it all. The islands in the Stockholm Archipelargo she no longer visits. The other three are still there during the summer. The big question now is how much ABBA will matter for Agnetha in the future. She has already stated that when Linda starts school next year, Agnetha will be a stay at home mom. And nothing can make her change that decision. Not even the biggest, best, most profitable ABBA tour ever.