ABBA's Agnetha and Björn's Daughter Didn't Recognize Them When They Returned Home After Eurovision in 1974
The ordeal is discussed in 'ABBA: AGAINST ALL ODDS,' which premiered on The CW on May 11
ABBA's Agnetha Fältskog and Björn Ulvaeus discuss how they balanced parenthood and superstardom in documentary ABBA: AGAINST THE ODDS
After the pair competed in and won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, they said their baby daughter Linda didn't recognize them when they returned home
The couple, who began dating in 1969 and wed in 1971, welcomed two children during their time together, and later divorced in 1980
The busy lifestyle that came with being in one of the world's biggest bands sometimes meant that Agnetha Fältskog and Björn Ulvaeus had to be away from their baby daughter Linda in the 1970s. And, at one point, that led to what Ulvaeus called a "horrible" experience where their child didn't recognize her mom and dad.
In ABBA: AGAINST THE ODDS — the new CW documentary that premiered on May 11, and explores the story of ABBA — viewers get an inside look at how Fältskog and Ulvaeus balanced parenthood and superstardom.
The pair, who began dating in 1969 and wed in 1971, welcomed two children during their time together: daughter Linda Elin, now 51, and son Peter Christian, now 47. (They divorced in 1980.)
As Fältskog explained, her earliest years of parenthood marked "a difficult time for me."
“We got our daughter in ‘73, so she was just one year old when we won in Brighton," Fältskog, now 74, said in the documentary, referring to ABBA's iconic 1974 Eurovision Song Contest victory for "Waterloo."
"So everything happened at the same time. But that often is like that, I think. You start your career at the same time you want to be a mother," she continued.
Related: ABBA's New Doc Recalls Agnetha Fältskog Being 'Talked About as a Body Part' at Height of Band's Fame
As ABBA took Eurovision by storm that year with their hit song, the now-79-year-old Ulvaeus added that the then-new parents had to be away from their baby for what he believed to be "a fortnight [or] three weeks" for the competition.
"When we came back, our daughter, she didn’t recognize us. That was a tough experience," he said, as Fältskog added: "That was horrible. She was so small.”
When asked by a reporter in the documentary if she saw a conflict between motherhood and pop fame, Fältskog said that she did. "I think so, really," she explained. "It’s hard work, and you always get them to be conscious. She wants me and ABBA wants me."
"It’s very hard to do it all," Fältskog added.
Parenthood also inspired the pair to travel separately when applicable, as the documentary also touched on one moment when ABBA was traveling by plane to Warsaw, Poland — with Fältskog already in the city after taking a flight of her own.
“When we fly, because we have a daughter who is 3-and-a-half years old, we try to fly separately when we can," Ulvaeus said in the archival '70s footage of the band.
“I’ve been flying now, very much around the world," Fältskog added in another interview. "And I’ve never liked it, and now I’m very, very scared of it."
Ingmarie Halling, who worked with ABBA as its costumes and makeup artist, elaborated on how Fältskog's fear of flying was connected to parenthood. “I’m sure other parents as well would resonate the same way," she said. "Both parents flying together. What if, what if?”
The new documentary also explores the making of the band's chart-topping hit "The Winner Takes It All," which followed Fältskog and Ulvaeus' divorce after seven years of marriage.
“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," he said.
A standout from the song's Super Trouper album in 1980, "The Winner Takes It All" also came before members Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson split too. "It wasn't just the music. It was also love. It was a life lived together. Somehow all four of us," Lyngstad, 78, said, as Andersson, 77, added, "That was powerful. One of our best I think.”
Fältskog also noted that the track had "suddenly got a bit heavy," calling it "a bit tragic."
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ABBA: AGAINST THE ODDS explores even more on the band and its iconic story, which momentarily ended when it parted ways in 1982, in the James Rogan-directed documentary.
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