ABBA rose to fame in the 1970s after they won the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Waterloo." However, during the early days of some of the members' careers, two of them had a "horrible" experience after their daughter didn't recognize them upon returning home from the competition.
In the documentary ABBA: AGAINST THE ODDS, band members Agnetha Fältskog and Björn Ulvaeus gave fans an insight into their personal lives, especially when they were married and raising their daughter Linda.
Agnetha explained that the earliest years of parenthood were difficult for her. She gave birth in 1973, which made Linda only one year old when ABBA won the competition in Brighton in 1974.
"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 said.
The ex-couple had no choice but to leave their baby behind as they had to compete in the singing competition for "three weeks."
"When we came back, our daughter, she didn't recognize us. That was a tough experience... That was horrible. She was so small," she added.
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Reflecting on the conflict between being a mom and being a famous singer at the same time, Agnetha said, "It's hard work" and "very hard to do it all," as Linda and ABBA want her at the same time.
According to People magazine, Agnetha and Björn started dating in 1969 and married in 1971. They had two children named Linda Elin, now 51, and Peter Christian, now 47. They divorced in 1980.
In the documentary, Björn also reflected on his divorce from Agnetha after being married for a long time, saying going through a legal separation was "difficult."
"That was of course taking up my thoughts. But there was not one winner in the case of us," he added.
In 1997, Agnetha published a book titled As I Am: ABBA Before & Beyond, in which she revealed that she and her ex-husband had always told the media that it was a "happy divorce," but she noted that there are no such things as happy divorces because there were children involved.
Later on, the two other members who were also in a relationship, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, also broke up.
Fans can watch ABBA: Against the Odds on Discovery+, Discovery+ Amazon Channel, and fuboTV.
