Q. At a certain point, when the group was splitting up, Agnetha said that she did not want to tour anymore, that she wanted to be with her children. How did all that happen ? Was it a sudden decision or was it all carefully considered ?

Frida: No, there was a very long period of reflection. Benny and Björn had probably given all they had as far as ABBA was concerned. They had not as much energy to give to ABBA anymore. And then so many things had changed for us privately, Björn and Agnetha had separated. Benny and I, after 13 years we got married and only 3 years later we divorced, because Benny had met another woman. Of course all that had had a tremendous effect on us and at a certain point we noticed it was time to move on, to make a change, to find new directions in our lives. Benny and Björn had already been very keen with the idea of writing a musical. It was a natural thing to do at that point to put an end to ABBA.

Q. Was it not painful for you to leave the scene, to leave all that success behind ? Also considering ABBA did not have such a long career, merely 10 years.

Frida:  Yes, Michel, it was a very hard time. I can not speak for the other three, only for myself. I had started out in the music business when I was 13 and I had given a lot to reach that amount of success. And then, all of a sudden, everything stopped. It was hard. because we had worked so hard, tours, recording, living the life of a star, a celebrity ... and then suddenly complete silence. I am not saying that I was depressed, but it took me 3 to 4 years to give my life a positive direction again, to create my world without ABBA in it. So yes, it was all ready hard. 

Q. Alain Boublil, you have been tremendously successful with LES MISERABLES, MISS SAIGON, .... Tell me about the musical ABBACADABRA.

Alain:  I just heard the word ABBA in my head and I suddenly heard the word ABBACADABRA, and I could not believe that I hadn't come up with this earlier. So I decided to attempt and write a fairytale about a princess who was asleep in a castle. Of course the beautiful princes could only be one person, Frida. (Frida laughs) Frida accepted, in fact Stig and ABBA allowed me to rewrite the lyrics for some ABBA songs, so that they would tell a story for children. 

Q. Frida, so you played "La belle"  (the beautiful one) and sang a duet with Daniel Balavoine. How do you remember him ?

Frida:  I remember it very well because it was such a different and funny thing; I was dressed up as a princess, a sleeping beauty. Daniel was dressed as a prince. But what I remember most about Daniel was that he was such an adorable and lovely person. We had a lot of fun together doing this project.  

Q. When you had separated, Benny and Björn, and also Agnetha and you, you all did your own projects. You made solo albums ?

Frida:  Yes, I did a couple of solo albums. For the first one I had Phil Collins as a producer. And then I did another one with Steve Lillywhite. I even recorded that album in Paris. I don't remember the name of the studio. The wonderful Daniel Balavoine had written a song for it too, that was then translated into English. I listened to that song again yesterday. On the first album there was a big hit single called I Know There's Something Going On. I remember that it also became a big success in France. And then eventually I gave up my career.

Q. Tell me what happened in the following years ?

Frida:  I can not really talk about that period in such a happy way. I lost my daughter in an accident, and then I also lost my husband and it all took a very long time to find a new direction. Earlier we talked about my life after the split of ABBA, and here once again I had to start from scratch after the death of two people I had loved so much. I remained very quiet for a while, apart from the celebration of 30 years of ABBA, and the 5 year MAMMA MIA! celebrations in London maybe. But apart from that I have lived a very very quiet life, trying to find a good way of living again. And that takes time. It has to take time actually, because it is not easy finding a way out. 

Q. You have a grandson ?

Frida:  yes and I am very happy and proud about that. In fact my first grandchild is now 19 years old, he is the son of my daughter. And then I have little Elsa, who is the daughter of my son. And she is only 16 months old. 

Q. When we look back on your life it seems you have not only known happiness. You have found your father again when you were 30. There was a reunion under the weirdest of circumstances ?

Frida:  Yes, when you have lived your entire life believing that you had no father and that there were secrets that your family just did not talk about. I had only known that he had been a German soldier and that he had met my mother during the war in Narvik. And that he had returned to Germany and had died during the trip back to Germany. And then suddenly we got a phone call from someone who said that he knew my father. And then a meeting was arranged in Stockholm. I met him together with Benny and the children. It was very difficult, because he only spoke German and we needed translators. It was very strange to suddenly meet a father. 

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Jurgen Parys, Antwerp, Belgium