Former Abba singer Agnetha Fältskog said she needed to hide away from fame and that her fear of flying was the reason many people branded her a recluse after the Swedish supergroup broke up over 30 years ago
“I was the black sheep of Abba. The others were more social. I didn’t like to go out or party," Fältskog says. "But it wasn’t as dramatic a story as was painted. I was not in hiding, but I did go away and hide from that life because I needed it.
"I was very tired after the whole Abba period. I needed a break from it as it had been so consuming. There were a couple of years when I did not listen to Abba music at all — I simply couldn’t."
In an interview with The Sun ahead of the release of A, her first album in nine years, the 63-year-old also talks about why her fear of flying meant she was ended up being branded a recluse after Abba's split in 1982.
Her phobia began when the band were touring the US in 1979. They were on board a jet that once belonged to billionaire aviator Howard Hughes when they were hit by a tornado and had to make an emergency landing in New Hampshire.
“It stopped me flying. I try not think of it as it was terrifying," she says. "The pilot failed to land at the first attempt but then we landed at the second try.
“I already had a fear, but this event was the turning point. There have been so many years I did not fly and Björn and Benny and Frida travelled more. There were photos of the three without me and I was called the recluse.
“I had to have therapy for my fear, it’s getting better but it takes a long time. I can fly now for two or three hours but no more. I made it here to London, a city I love and which I’ve missed visiting.
“It was bad before, so that terrible flight didn’t make it better. It was a terrible thing to go through and I try not to think about it.”
