“It was a terribly frustrating time,” Frida quote

I for one am wondering what happened to the original article posts ? I thought they were interesting and it was forty years ago after all so where is the harm in seeing them now ? If they have been moved that's ok :-)
I will admit that back in the 70s-80s all we had was TV news, magazines and newspapers - so sure, things got invented and/or embellished along the way - but that is still happening now. It is just more instantly identifiable as rubbish !

I want to clarify, I’m not posting gossip and tabloid articles to be liked or not liked by anyone; the truth is that during 10-year active period of ABBA, and specially during divorces, the press (tabloids and weekly gossip magazines) were the only source of news about ABBA, and 90 % were about their private lives. The post that I made is to make a point that even “Bright Lights, Dark Shadows”, regarded as the best biography of ABBA, regarding the divorces was almost 100% percent based on fake interviews and gossip tabloids, like this one from Frida in “News of the World”, the truth is that Carls Magnus Palm didn’t have any personal inside information about Frida and Benny divorce, and he used gossip tabloids as his source of information , and the two mains sources were UK tabloids, “News of the World” and “Daily Mirror”, he did that because this was the only information available: tabloids and weekly gossip magazines.
Here the post again:
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In BLDS right after the filming of TWTIA promo clip, Carl Magnus Palm describes the relationship between Benny and Frida becoming uneasy and their passion slowly ebbing way and they started to grow a part:
------------------------extract for BLDS -------------------

When the promo clip for ‘The Winner Takes It All’ was made, Benny and Frida were on a boating holiday along the Swedish coast, making it quite convenient for them to stop over in Marstrand for a day. To the outside world it certainly looked like smooth sailing in the relationship: Benny was as calm and steady as ever, Frida had finally found inner peace. They were not the Abba couple who had marital problems to be explored in the group’s music.
Lately, though, Benny and Frida were feeling uneasy about their relationship. There was a growing lack of commitment to their marriage, a feeling that they were staying together out of old habit. Their earlier, passionate conflicts had put a special slant on their involvement together. Bosse Norling remembered a row that took place on one of Abba’s tours. “Frida got so mad that she scratched Benny on the face. He came in to me and said, ‘I can’t take this.’” A room at another hotel was arranged for Benny that night, and the morning after everything was fine again. “With a little make-up no-one could notice the scratch marks on his face.”
Neither of them missed those incidents, but perhaps some of the spark went out of their marriage as they reached this equilibrium. There was also this now monumental project in which both were involved and which seemed to engulf everything else: Abba. Where did Benny-and-Frida end and Abba start? They weren’t so sure anymore, and as the group became ever-bigger, obscuring everything in its wake, it was harder than ever to catch sight of their relationship as husband and wife.
They began to grow apart, the passion that had brought them together now slowly ebbing away. “It was a terribly frustrating time,” recalled Frida. “We both wanted something else and yet, as members of the group, we had to present a happy, united front to the public.” The image of the fun-loving, night-clubbing couple, snapped by the gossip weeklies with some regularity, hid a truth with more shades to it. “It got to the point,” Frida revealed, “where we forced ourselves to go out every evening just because we couldn’t stand to be alone at home together.” But, yet, neither was prepared to take that final, decisive step out of the relationship.
--------------------------------News of the World----------------------------------------------
News of the World – 1982-09-26
RICH, HAPPY AND ALONE AT LAST
Once pop music's most perfect foursome and still worth as much to Sweden as the Volvo car company, Abba might still sing in harmony but Frida is the first to go solo on record. In Paris this week to promote her new album, she tells why a career of her own has become so important to her
As their marriage crumbled, Abba's Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson found themselves trapped into living a lie for the benefit of the group's image.
"It was a terribly frustrating time," said Frida, as she prefers to be known, recalling the two years leading up to their separation. "We both wanted something else and yet, as members of the group, we had to present a happy, united front to the public. It got to the point where we forced ourselves to go out every evening just because we couldn't stand to be alone at home together. Life was extremely hectic. The day after Benny finally left me it hit the headlines, and I didn't go out for a week – l couldn't take it. But when the fuss died down it was actually a relief that we no longer had to keep up any pretence."
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In the above text there are two statements from Frida recalling problems in their relationship:
----------------------------Extract from BLDS-----------------------------------------------------

“It was a terribly frustrating time,” recalled Frida. “We both wanted something else and yet, as members of the group, we had to present a happy, united front to the public.” The image of the fun-loving, night-clubbing couple, snapped by the gossip weeklies with some regularity, hid a truth with more shades to it. “It got to the point,” Frida revealed, “where we forced ourselves to go out every evening just because we couldn’t stand to be alone at home together.”

The source for those statements from Frida were in an article from October, 26 of 1982 (1 year and half after Benny and Frida separation) on the UK “News of the World”, I will post the first page of the article:
--------------------------------News of the World----------------------------------------------
News of the World – 1982-09-26
RICH, HAPPY AND ALONE AT LAST
Once pop music's most perfect foursome and still worth as much to Sweden as the Volvo car company, Abba might still sing in harmony but Frida is the first to go solo on record. In Paris this week to promote her new album, she tells why a career of her own has become so important to her
As their marriage crumbled, Abba's Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson found themselves trapped into living a lie for the benefit of the group's image.
"It was a terribly frustrating time," said Frida, as she prefers to be known, recalling the two years leading up to their separation. "We both wanted something else and yet, as members of the group, we had to present a happy, united front to the public. It got to the point where we forced ourselves to go out every evening just because we couldn't stand to be alone at home together. Life was extremely hectic. The day after Benny finally left me it hit the headlines, and I didn't go out for a week – l couldn't take it. But when the fuss died down it was actually a relief that we no longer had to keep up any pretence."
Dark-haired Frida was explaining how it is that Abba has benefitted in many ways from the double divorce within the group -first Bjorn and blonde Agnetha and then herself and the bearded Benny. It was generally assumed that the foursome's professional togetherness could not long survive such traumatic personal upheavals. But Frida tall, statuesque and quietly -spoken with a clipped Scandinavian accent- insists that their working relationship is better than ever before now that they are leading separate private lives. "Once you are not involved emotionally it is much easier to work together." she said. "It becomes easier to concentrate. Everything is more efficient because there is none of the blah-blah-blah-you just do your job and then go home. You don't get on each other's nerves when you don't see each other all the time.
"We have all remained very friendly. The break-ups caused no lasting bitterness and there hasn't been any embarrassment about new relationships. I still like Benny very much-he is a nice person. But our marriage didn't work out and the best thing to do was to split up. There are no hard feelings."
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Here the text from this article with Frida statements that are in BLDS
--------------------------------------News of the World----------------------------------
"It was a terribly frustrating time," said Frida, as she prefers to be known, recalling the two years leading up to their separation. "We both wanted something else and yet, as members of the group, we had to present a happy, united front to the public. It got to the point where we forced ourselves to go out every evening just because we couldn't stand to be alone at home together
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You can see that Carl Magnus omitted a very important detail from the original article, “said Frida, as she prefers to be known, recalling the two years leading up to their separation”, he just writes “Frida recalled”, then Fridas statement fits his narrative, Benny and Frida started to have problems lately, not In the 2 years leading up to the separation. But this whole thing is not important, because Frida never said those words, this interview is made-up, typical gossip tabloid from “News of the World”. There are many things proving this in this article (I’ll post the full article at end), but just one line proves that this interview is fake: “, Abba might still sing in harmony but Frida is the first to go solo on record. In Paris this week to promote her new album, she tells why a career of her own has become so important to her”. “In Paris this week to promote her album” line is not true, Frida was in Stockholm on the week of September, 26 and then in Netherlands October, 1st and in Paris October, 5th, in another words the journalist Michael Cable never interviewed Frida, because she was not in Paris, what is in BLDS is Frida’s made-up statement (fake) created by “News of the world”.
---------------------Full article “News of the World”----------------------------

Frida, flanked by Bjorn and Agnetha with ex-husband Benny,
meets foxy fan Basil Brush. "I'm happy on my own," she insists

News of the World – 1982-09-26
RICH, HAPPY AND ALONE AT LAST
Once pop music's most perfect foursome and still worth as much to Sweden as the Volvo car company, Abba might still sing in harmony but Frida is the first to go solo on record. In Paris this week to promote her new album, she tells why a career of her own has become so important to her
As their marriage crumbled, Abba's Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson found themselves trapped into living a lie for the benefit of the group's image.
"It was a terribly frustrating time," said Frida, as she prefers to be known, recalling the two years leading up to their separation. "We both wanted something else and yet, as members of the group, we had to present a happy, united front to the public. It got to the point where we forced ourselves to go out every evening just because we couldn't stand to be alone at home together. Life was extremely hectic. The day after Benny finally left me it hit the headlines, and I didn't go out for a week – l couldn't take it. But when the fuss died down it was actually a relief that we no longer had to keep up any pretence."
Dark-haired Frida was explaining how it is that Abba has benefitted in many ways from the double divorce within the group -first Bjorn and blonde Agnetha and then herself and the bearded Benny. It was generally assumed that the foursome's professional togetherness could not long survive such traumatic personal upheavals. But Frida tall, statuesque and quietly -spoken with a clipped Scandinavian accent- insists that their working relationship is better than ever before now that they are leading separate private lives. "Once you are not involved emotionally it is much easier to work together." she said. "It becomes easier to concentrate. Everything is more efficient because there is none of the blah-blah-blah-you just do your job and then go home. You don't get on each other's nerves when you don't see each other all the time.
"We have all remained very friendly. The break-ups caused no lasting bitterness and there hasn't been any embarrassment about new relationships. I still like Benny very much-he is a nice person. But our marriage didn't work out and the best thing to do was to split up. There are no hard feelings."
Speculation that Abba would soon disband, leaving the individual members free to pursue separate careers as well as separate private lives, increased with the news that Agnetha was preparing to make her acting debut as the star of a full-length Swedish film, that Bjorn and Benny were collaborating with Tim Rice on a musical that would not feature Abba as performers and that Frida was to release a solo album.
"I know there have been a lot of rumors-but at the moment we are all happy to keep going." she said, pointing out that the group-which celebrates its 10th anniversary in November with a double album of previous hits -has already started work on a new album to be released next year. She even hinted at the possibility of a world tour which, if it happened, would be an unexpected bonus for Abba fans who have been starved of opportunities to see the group live. Since rocketting to international stardom overnight with their 1974 Eurovision winner Waterloo Abba have only twice gone on the road-the last time was in 1978/79.
"It's so boring," explained 36-year-old Frida, pulling a face. "It's nice to be on stage but the travelling, the airports and the change of hotel rooms every day it's exhausting. It is true that we can afford to make things easier for ourselves-but apart from the discomfort we have families and we don't like to be away from the children any more than absolutely necessary." "Maybe we are a bit lazy", she added. "I get a lot of letters from fans asking when we are going to do some more concerts and although I always write back saying I hope they are satisfied with seeing us on TV I myself would like to do one more big world tour. It would be very nice.” In the meantime she has been busy promoting her solo album of which she is fiercely proud. Abba is obviously a hard act to follow but she has refused to let this intimidate her. "It didn't bother me at all." she said defiantly. "I deliberately set out to get away from the Abba sound because there was obviously, no point in doing the same kind of thing that we do with the group. "When you have been with a group for a long time it is nerve-wracking to do something on your own. But I can stand up 100 percent for what I have done. I really love the album -l like every song on it -so it doesn't matter what people write or say about it as far as I am concerned."
The album has been produced by British rock star Phil Collins of Genesis. Frida insisted on him and him only after falling in love with his solo album Face Values."I liked it so much-l must have listened to it almost every day for eight months," she said. "In particular, his arrangements and his drum sound impressed me. When it came up that I was going to do a solo album my first thought was to have him as my producer. Without him I wouldn't have gone ahead -I wanted him that much." Such quiet but stubborn determination is typical of a lady who
has very definite ideas about where her priorities lie. Singing is what matters most to her-ever since her first amateur talent contest at the age of 10. The enjoyment she gets from it means more to her, she claims, than all the fame and fortune.
As Bjorn commented last year- the group no longer has any financial reason to keep going. With over 175 million records sold, world-wide profits rivalling those of the giant Volvo car company and declared personal fortunes that make them richer than the King of Sweden, the Abba stars each a millionaire at least twice over, could each afford to go on living right royally for the rest of their lives without ever singing another note.
Frida recoils from that very idea. "I don't think I could live without singing," she said. "It is the most important thing in my life. I enjoy it so much-it really is a passion with me."
Although she takes a close interest in how the group's millions are invested she has never really got used to the idea of all that money. "I feel we are not part of it-it's like reading about somebody else when I see articles about how much we are worth.' She also insists that she doesn't have an outrageously extravagant lifestyle. Her home is a penthouse flat in Stockholm, she drives a Maserati, dresses expensively and likes to travel a lot. But she added: "I don't have that many luxuries. You can't do more than eat, drink and have a good life." She agrees that she gets tremendous professional satisfaction out of Abba's phenomenal success but at the same time gives every sign of being a genuinely reluctant star.
On the set of her videos she was polite, friendly and co-operative with no hint of superstar tantrums. Characteristically, one of the things she likes most about living in Sweden is the easy-going attitude of the public towards celebrities. "People never bother us-we are left in peace," she explained. "I can go out shopping in Stockholm without being mobbed in the street or embarrassed in any way. People recognize me but they don't make a big fuss. That's nice - a great bonus." It is one of the main reasons why she can't imagine moving to England or America even for tax reasons, as has been suggested. "Tax is not a problem -we have invested wisely." she said. "People talk about the great pressures of superstardom -but I can't say that has ever been a problem for us. It's not difficult to stay ordinary. "If you think of yourself as being above other people then maybe it gets to you but I don't believe we've ever looked on ourselves in that way. We all have children and a family life and that helps to keep your feet on the ground." Frida spends a lot of time with her children by her first marriage -a 15-year-old daughter and a giant of a 19-year-old son who towers over her. "Both of them are interested in music and my son works in the business as a sound engineer-but neither of them are very great fans of Abba," she said with a smile. "My daughter has very good taste and likes all kinds of music and my son is a heavy metal rock fan." Since she split with Benny there has been no special man in her life-and she likes it that way. "I choose to be alone," she said. "I need to lead my own life. Being on my own, getting strength and finding new interests and new friends is wonderful. I have never had that kind of freedom before. I was 15 when I met my first husband and very soon after that marriage ended I met Benny, so continuously for a long time I have always been involved in a relationship. The possibility of getting married yet again is not something I have been thinking about. I am happy with the way things are now. "I'm really enjoying my new life."
Michael Cable

Yes, some of us have made up our minds about the likes of the News of the World and Daily Star. If this site wants to turn itself into something like the National Enquirer, with salacious gossip then there's nothing I can fo about it.

Presentation-wise it's always best to break things up into paragraphs. As for likes,sure they are nice but lose validity from people who can't back up their reasons or never post anything worthwhile themselves.

Marco's contributions are only dated muck-rackung articles. Nothing about the music at all. Just because something is in the public domain doesn't mean you have to dredge it up from the bottom of the barrel.

It's a shame ABBA Chat is turning into ABBA Gossip - but that's a judgement call that's not mine to make. Marco seems like a bot.

I don’t think he’s a bot. The disclaimer at the beginning of his last post, which was presumably a response to yours, suggests he’s real. Also, he has actually registered properly in the last day or so. They are very long posts though. Kudos to anyone that actually reads them all.

I’d say it was gossip if it was something recent, but this is historical. It says much more about tabloid/red-top journalism then than it ever could about ABBA.

(The other post you commented on, johnny, clearly was a bot. I’ve banned and deleted them along with the post. Only just checked the forum today so hadn’t seen it sooner. I delete any member that doesn’t post, and simply registers and never appears to be online again since registering.)