ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus, 76, and his 73-year-old wife, Lena Calersio, separated after 41 years of marriage, but vowed to “stay close friends” and continue to enjoy family holidays together.
Björn Ulvaeus and his wife Lena Kallersjö separated.
IN ABBA The 76-year-old star and his 73-year-old wife confirmed on Wednesday that they have decided to end their relationship after 41 years of marriage.
However, the couple – who share two children – vowed to “remain close friends” and continue to enjoy family holidays together after their separation.
OVER! Björn Ulvaeus, 76, and wife Lena Kallersjö, 73, separated after 41 years of marriage (Pictured together in September 2021)
In a statement provided to HuffPost United KingdomThe estranged couple shared: “After many wonderful and eventful years, we decided to separate.
“We remain close friends and will continue to celebrate our grandchildren’s birthdays and other family holidays together.”
Bjorn and Lena’s separation came just months after he began working with his ex-wife and bandmate Agneta Feltskog, 71, again when ABBA reunited to release their first album in four decades, Voyage.
Bjorn shares the children of Linda, 48, and Peter, 44, with his first wife, Agnetha, while he also shares his daughters, Emma, 40, and Anna, 35, with his second wife, Lena.
Friendship: The couple – who share two children – have vowed to “remain close friends” and continue to enjoy family holidays together after their separation (Pictured in 2001)
Agnetha was an angelic-looking and shy 19-year-old when she met Bjorn, five years her senior, who was then a member of a popular folk group.
They were instantly defeated and married two years later in 1971, the year before Abba was founded. Two children followed, Linda and Peter. But six years after the marriage, he was in deep trouble.
In 1979, at the height of Abba’s fame, they split up – to the horror of Abba fans – and at one point blew out that strong image.
Separation: The estranged couple shared a statement that reads: “After many wonderful and eventful years, we decided to separate (pictured in 2003)
Within a week of their separation, Bjorn was dating Agneta, who looked like Lena Calersio, a Swedish television presenter.
The couple met at a New Year’s party at the home of Björn’s ABBA teammates Benny Anderson and Annie-Fried Lingstad.
Two years later, in 1981, they married – just six months after divorcing Agneta – and he had two more children by his second wife.
At the time, Bjorn and Agnetha described their separation as a “happy divorce,” but the reality is different. Agnetha later admitted that she felt “confused” and needed a consultation.
The pain of separation was immortalized in the hit The Winner Takes It All, and many fans have wondered over the years if Bjorn was deliberately cruel by asking his ex-wife to sing the tragic text: “Tell me if she kisses like I kissed you?”
In 1990, Agneta married for the second time – to the divorced Swedish surgeon Thomas Sonnenfeld. The marriage was concluded, at Agnetha’s insistence, in secret and became public only after it broke up three years later.
ABBA in their heyday: Benny Anderson, Annie-Fried Lingstad, Agneta Faltskog and Bjorn Ulveus (pictured in 1974)