As ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus weds for the third time, how divorces in the group saw them split for decades ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus has wed for a third time with his partner of two years READ MORE: Third time lucky for Björn as ABBA star, 79, marries wife number 3 By Jessica Green For Mailonline Published: 11:05 BST, 23 September 2024 | Updated: 11:19 BST, 23 September 2024 e-mail View comments With a string of chart-topping hits including Dancing Queen, Waterloo and Mamma Mia, they remain one of pop music's most enduring bands - and yet for all ABBA 's career success, their love lives have been decidedly less straightforward. This week, band member Björn Ulvaeus, 79, tied the knot for a third time, after splitting from his second wife in 2022. However, his most famous marriage is no doubt his first to ABBA singing sensation Agnetha Fältskog.
After seven successful years in the group together, Agnetha and Björn were divorced in 1979 - leaving fans reeling. Just a year later, fellow band members Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson divorced. Though the group managed to keep things professional amid their relationship troubles, it quickly got too difficult to perform together and they disbanded in December 1982 after eight albums and almost 20 number-one singles.
With a string of chart-topping hits including Dancing Queen, Waterloo and Mamma Mia, they remain one of pop music's most enduring bands - and yet for all ABBA's career success, their love lives have been decidedly less straightforward They briefly reunited to launch the ABBA Voyage concert in London in 2022, an immersive experience with 'Abbatars', or augmented reality versions of the band, performing their greatest hits on stage. So, as Björn celebrates his third marriage, FEMAIL takes a look at the band's various relationships..
. ABBA's marriages and divorces Agnetha had been an angelic-looking and shy 19-year-old when she met Björn , five years her senior and who was then a member of a popular folk group. They were instantly smitten and married two years later in 1971, the year before ABBA was formed.
Two children, Linda and Peter, followed. But after seven successful years in ABBA, Agnetha and Björn were divorced in 1979 - to the horror of fans. At the time, the ABBA couple described their break-up as a 'happy divorce' but years later, Agnetha confessed she had felt 'mangled' and had needed counselling.
It was around the time of the divorce that Agnetha penned the the ABBA hit The Winner Takes It All, which is believed to have been inspired by the heartbreaking divorce. 'I'm a very much feeling person and I really tried to put my life experience and my feelings, everything, in this song,' Agnetha said of the break up song in the 2024 documentary ABBA: Against All Odds. From 1971 to 1979, Bjorn was married to his bandmate and first wife Agnetha Faltskog.
They had children Linda, 49, and Peter, 44, together This week, band member Björn Ulvaeus, 79, tied the knot for a third time, after splitting from his second wife in 2022. Pictured, ABBA in 1974 in Brighton Björn added: 'Going through divorce is difficult as anyone would know who's done it. That was of course taking up my thoughts.
But there was not one winner in the case of us.' The Winner Takes It All was featured on ABBA's wildly successful Super Trouper album in 1980. The same year they released the album, the marriage of Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson began to crumble and they decided to part ways.
'It wasn't just the music. It was also love. It was a life lived together.
Somehow all four of us,' Anni-Frid, 78, said, as Benny, 77, added, 'That was powerful. One of our best I think.' Like Agnetha and Bjorn the year before, Anni-Frid and Benny claimed theirs was a ‘happy divorce’.
In truth, she was devastated at being dumped for another woman. Following their 1980 divorce, Benny took up with Swedish TV personality Mona Norklit, to whom he has been married since 1981 and with whom he has a son, Ludwig. After a tour, they returned to the studio in 1982, but realised that with both couples divorced, it was no longer any fun being ABBA.
However, his most famous marriage is no doubt his first to ABBA singing sensation Agnetha Fältskog. After seven successful years in the group together, Agnetha and Björn were divorced in 1979 - leaving fans reeling . Pictured: Benny, Anni-Frid, Agnetha and Björn in 1974 They briefly reunited to launch the ABBA Voyage concert in London in 2022 (pictured), an immersive experience with 'Abbatars', or augmented reality versions of the band, performing their greatest hits on stage Her crushing split left Agnetha in need of therapy and in 2008, it was reported that she was left emotionally 'mangled' following the break up as reports swarmed that Björn had found a new girlfriend within a week of the split.
Agnetha, meanwhile, had a relationship with Stockholm detective Thorbjorn Brander, who had been assigned to her case after kidnap threats towards her children. Then in December 1990, Agnetha wed Thomas Sonnenfeld, a Swedish surgeon. The couple lived a peaceful life in a villa outside of Stockholm, but for heartbroken Agnetha, the marriage did not last and they divorced in 1993.
The marriage was conducted, at Agnetha's insistence, in secrecy, and became public knowledge only after it disintegrated three years later. Agnetha and her stalker In 1996, a Dutch forklift driver named Gert van der Graaf (pictured with Agnetha), set up home a quarter of a mile from Agnetha's home in Ekero, west of Stockholm In 1996, a Dutch forklift driver named Gert van der Graaf, set up home a quarter of a mile from Agnetha's home in Ekero, west of Stockholm. Graaf was 16 years Agnetha's junior when he became obsessed with the superstar and stalked her with frightening zeal until finally, when she was at the lowest ebb in her troubled life, he became her secret boyfriend.
Agnetha had bumped into Graaf while out walking on her 47th birthday, and split up with her then-boyfriend Kurt Torpling to date him. 'She had known about his obsession for years,' her biographer Brita Ahman revealed to the Mirror. 'But still she got involved with him.
' Van der Graaf's bewitchment began in 1974, when he was just eight years old and watched ABBA win the Eurovision Song Contest, staged that year in Brighton, with the catchy Waterloo. By his early teens, ABBA had disbanded but he cycled 35miles to attend one of her early solo TV performances in Holland. And when she told the studio audience she 'loved' them, he explained he felt the words were directed only at him.
He rode home convinced she had fallen for him, as he had for her. His infatuation with Agnetha, and the imagined connection they shared, caused him to immerse himself in Swedish culture, and he taught himself the language from a phrase-book so he could write doting letters to her in her native tongue. As he didn't have her address, he posted his messages to 'Anna Faltskog, Sweden', never knowing whether they reached her.
After making several desperate attempts to locate the ABBA star, he eventually moved to Sweden in 1997. He borrowed £45,000 to buy a busted wooden cabin just half a mile from Agnetha's home and found work with a local staffing agency. Soon afterwards, he claims 'by pure chance', he bumped into her as she was walking with Torpling.
Read More How ABBA popstar Agnetha Faltskog's life spiralled after Eurovision fame When he introduced himself as the long-time admirer who had left presents for her, she reportedly didn't seem displeased. 'My heart almost hurt at how beautiful she was,' he told Strage. 'She should have looked older.
She stood there in her raincoat and smelled very sweet, like perfume.' A few days later, Graaf said the popstar sent her gardener to his cabin to say she liked his letter and ask him to send more. The bizarre relationship blossomed before Graaf's eyes until the pair finally shared a kiss before 'making love'.
In 1999, when the emotionally vulnerable Agnetha ended their affair, after realising Graaf's fixation with her was an illness, he began to terrorise her and soon she was too scared to leave her home. He bombarded her with chilling letters ('shall we burn to death?' he wrote, comparing them to Romeo and Juliet), appearing suddenly at her kitchen window, and following her when she went out walking or shopping. Police later raided his cabin, which had become a shrine to her.
Graaf was convicted of harassing Agnetha, served with a restraining order and deported to Holland on two occasions, in 2000 and 2003. Yet he repeatedly broke the court ruling, and, a long-time friend revealed to the MailOnline previously, he still drives regularly to Sweden from his home in Steenwijksmoer, near the Dutch-German border, a 1,000-mile journey that takes 15 hours. The friend also chillingly said that Graaf is still 'planning' a strategy that will see him reconciled with Agnetha, now a retired grandmother of four, and thinks of nothing else.
At his 2000 trial Agnetha confessed: 'His courting of me was very intense...
in the end I couldn't resist him.' Many years later, when Swedish forensic psychiatrist Fredrik Heden examined Graaf, he diagnosed him to be suffering from erotomania, a rare psychotic condition which invokes a belief that someone – usually of a superior standing – is in love with you. Anni-Frid's Prince Anni-Frid Lyngstad with Heinrich Ruzzo Prinz Reuss von Plauen in 2006 For many years after ABBA's break-up, Anni-Frid looked for family happiness.
She briefly moved to London before settling in Switzerland where, in 1992, she married a member of one of Germany's royal houses, becoming Her Serene Highness Princess Anni-Frid of Reuss. But tragedy was never far away. In 1998, her daughter, then 30, was killed in a car crash in New York.
The following year she lost her third husband, Heinrich Ruzzo Prinz Reuss von Plauen, to cancer. For months afterwards she disappeared from public life and later spoke of how her faith in God had helped her overcome the trauma. But, in recent years, she has found contentment, living happily in the Swiss mountain resort of Zermatt with WHSmith heir Viscount Hambleden.
Björn's second wife Bjorn married second wife, music journalist Lena Kallersjo, 75, in 1981 and announced their split in 2022 (pictured in 2019) The couple met at a New Year’s party at the home of Björn’s ABBA bandmates Benny and Anni-Frid (pictured in 2003) Within a week of his separation from his first wife, Bjorn was dating Agnetha lookalike Lena Kallersjo, a Swedish TV presenter. The couple met at a New Year’s party at the home of Björn’s ABBA bandmates Benny and Anni-Frid. Two years later, in 1981, they were married - just six months after being granted a divorce from Agnetha - and he had another two children with his second wife.
In 2020, Bjorn spoke candidly about his sex life in an interview, and told the Guardian's Weekend magazine: 'I'm 75, and I can't manage more than four times a week.' In 2022, he announced his 41-year marriage to his second wife, music journalist Lena, 75, was over. In February that year, Björn and Lena, who share two daughters Emma, 42, and Anna, 38, released a joint statement confirming their split which they agreed to jointly share their £100million assets equally.
It read: 'After many wonderful and eventful years, we have decided to go our separate ways. We remain close friends and will continue to celebrate our grandchildren's birthdays and other family holidays together.' Björn's third marriage Björn made his first public appearance with now wife Christina, who is 28 years his junior, back in 2022 on a red carpet Björn tied the knot for a third time on Saturday, marrying his partner of two years - with The Great British Bake Off star Sandi Toksvig officiating the ceremony.
The Swedish singer, 79, married his Danish partner Christina Sas, 51, in Copenhagen with close friends and family in attendance. Taking to Instagram, Björn revealed his happy news by sharing a number of photos from the 'extra special' day where Christina wore a stunning khaki dress. The message on his Instagram read: 'Today on the 21st of September 2024, Björn Ulvaeus married Christina Sas from Herning, Denmark.
'They met in Nürnberg in 2021 in connection with the release of ABBA's last album Voyage and started dating in the spring of 2022. 'The wedding took place in Copenhagen in the presence of close friends and family. Sandi Toksvig, Anne Linnet and Kaya Brüel generously performed and made the evening extra special.
' For the ceremony, presenter Sandi, 66, who has been friends with Björn after the pair collaborated on Mamma Mia: The Party! in 2018 together, opted for red clergy robes. During their first public appearance together in June 2022, Björn and Christina told reporters: 'We have dated for a while and I felt like I wanted to take her to this event. So this is the first time we go out together.
' The couple met when Christina worked for ABBA's label Universal in Germany, which released their 2021 album Voyage. ABBA Share or comment on this article: As ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus weds for the third time, how divorces in the group saw them split for decades e-mail Add comment.
