STOCKHOLM - Marie Fredriksson has received the prize the Swedish magazine Tara yearly awards to women who have achieved something special in their life. This time the prize goes to Marie because "her fantastic creativity doesn't let itself be stopped by anything."

Below you will find the full interview, translated and reprinted with kind permission of Tara.

It's not that I don't like the other candidates to the Tara-award this year. It's just that very seldomnly the right people are awarded. The fact that Marie Fredriksson, after her four-year fight against cancer releases both a solo album and does a mini comeback with Roxette is admirable. The fact that, in addition, she published a book with her drawings a year ago, and even made an exhibition with these drawings is simply incredible. Her fantastic creativity doesn't let itself be stopped by anything.

I meet her at manager Marie Dimberg's office by Hötorget in Stockholm. She sits and gets make-up for the photo session when I arrive. Photographer Kristina Pohl is setting up shop in the stairwell.

She is sluggish with her movements when she says hi and then walks to the photo session. Slower. Sometimes she searches for the right words. But when she is posing, one can see she has done this a thousand times before.

The last time I met her was 14 years ago, in the middle of the worst Roxette-hype. By that time, the most frequently asked question was "have you had an affair with Per Gessle?"

While we sit on a sofa in one of the offices and drink coffee, I ask what is the most asked question nowadays, "what people tell me more often is that they are glad I made it, that I'm alive. People come to me and say this all the time. It's amazing," she says.

Marie is now 48 years old, and therefore as old as Tara's average reader. Therefore it's not that strange that we chose her, that we care about her. A lot. We have loved "Ännu doftar kärlek," danced to "The Look", cried to "It Must Have Been Love". She has been part of the soundtrack of our lives. She is one of us.

When Marie fell back home in Djursholm four years ago, and later was diagnosed with a brain tumor, many of us thought "it could have been me". And now that she is back we feel strongly inspired by her courage.

She was 44 then. Her children Oscar and Josefin were 6 and 9. Then we wondered how they would manage. We got to read in many newspapers that she was extremely protected. The only thing we got were pictures secretely taken outside of her home or on the way to the hospital. But she didn't speak, not then. "Now it's different. It's not at all the same pressure. I live a completely different life and everything is calm around me. I am actually very happy being able to say this now. But yes, four years have passed by, where did the time go?"

The tumor meant a turning point for Marie. After the operation everything became different. "I thank God I'm alive, I really do. Today I live one day at the time. Stress is nonexistant. I've learned to recognize stress and when I do I stop. I had so much stress before, a positive stress none the less, but I can't take it anymore. It's just now I feel I can relax."

Marie's treatment is finished. What goes for her now is a lot of training, since after the tumor's removal she's got problems with among other things, learning, "I have to learn new songs in a new way because I can't read, but I have a girl who helps me with this. I have found out one can learn to do things in ways differerent to the ones one is used to, and they work as good as the old ones. I am getting better at reading, but counting is still hard. Even though I would not need to learn it because I can get help from my children, for example. And I can draw, there's no damage there," explains Marie.

 

 

:o How terrible! I didn't know she couldn't read and count after the operation.

:o i never knew any of that went on :cry:

Yeah. She's been through tough times, I'm quite surprised at how well she seems to be now, recording again and doing stuff.

i knew she was very sick but its great to read how well she is doing,the press always ignore happier stories like these and rather printing the bad stuff,but i am delighted she is doing so well and so positive

Yeah, like it says in the article, she's taking one day at a time.