The last time DN was going to do an interview with Måns Zelmerlöw, nothing happened. The demands made by the artist's PR team were impossible to agree to.
At the time, his divorce had just become public. He had been accused of assault and abuse. One of Sweden's most popular entertainers was suddenly out in the cold.
Just over a year later, the situation is different. Before the interview at the publisher Bokfabriken in Malmö, no requirements have been sent over. Just an invitation and a book in the mail.
It is Måns Zelmerlöw himself who opens the door, smiling and flanked by both a press person and the publishing CEO.
He is calm, collected, but sometimes the nervousness flashes on. When we sit down at a table, the autobiography lies between us, like a lighthouse. The title is drastic: "When everything falls".
We'll get to the case shortly. First, I ask how Måns Zelmerlöw's summer was. He says that he celebrated his 40th birthday with friends at Mallis, that he hung out with his children and worked at his wine bar in Båstad. It was there that the now viral video of him, alone in a homemade DJ booth, was recorded.
In a column, DN's Kristofer Ahlström described how the film illustrated Måns Zelmerlöw's case: "You don't need to know everything about the infected conflicts surrounding Måns Zelmerlöw's private life ... to see the tragic in the scene: the descent from Melodifestival's balloon-waving ecstasy and sing-along arena audience to this exposed vulnerability."
Måns Zelmerlöw laughs and says that he doesn't usually read about himself in the media.
- It was just wonderful to stand in the garden of my own wine bar and play good music, he says.
He has just returned home from England, where the divorce has been negotiated and, according to Måns Zelmerlöw, the parties have come to an agreement. When DN contacts Ciara Janson's lawyer, she says that they do not comment on either the legal process or the book.
Måns Zelmerlöw speaks of an "enormous relief".
- Now I can turn the page.
By March 2025, that relief was far away. After the former Allsång program leader and Eurovision winner came second in the Melodifestivalen final, his frustration went straight through the window. He disappeared from the arena floor, crying, kicking things.
Then a nine-year relationship was on the way. Soon it would definitely be over. When the ex-wife turned to Instagram, shortly after the final, she had filed for divorce in England, while Måns Zelmerlöw had done the same in Sweden.
"I can no longer allow my family to live in a hostile environment and be subjected to drug abuse, emotional, physical abuse and endless infidelity," she wrote in the post, which was later deleted and replaced with the word "silenced."
A dispute soon followed over the joint children's domicile, which ended with the Stockholm district court ruling that they should live in the ex-wife's home country of England, where they primarily grew up, and not in Sweden. The district court writes in the judgment that Måns Zelmerlöw has a "close and good relationship" with the children, but also that his drug addiction plays a role in the decision. He tested positive after the final, but has, according to his own statement, not touched drugs since then. He appealed the sentence, but was rejected.
At the same time, the ex-wife reported him to the police for assault. The report was dropped without charges being brought, and Måns Zelmerlöw has consistently denied having been violent.
All this is dealt with in the book: the final and the turbulent weeks that followed. The legal process and how he opposes the verdict. The post and police report. The journey from popular to cancelled.
"When everything falls" is written like a diary.
- I had never written before. But when everything was at its worst, Lasse [Brahme, CEO of Bokfabriken, editor's note] encouraged me to start writing a diary and soon I noticed how therapeutic it was. I could close the door on episode after episode as I wrote my way through them.
Did you write the book to get some kind of redress?
- No, it started as therapy. But now I'm glad the book exists and can show my experience of the story that led to all the gossip and rumours. I hope those who were the quickest to judge me, or anyone else for that matter, think about it next time.
You return in the book to the fact that you are now doing what you previously condemned your ex for: talking about private matters in public. How do you reason there?
- I have thought a lot about it. But when our relationship became so public, it became important to get my experience out there. Last summer I wished there had been a book like this for me to read. One that could have given me hope. Because the loneliness was terrible.
You attack your ex in the book. At the same time, she has accused you of emotional abuse. How do you think about it and how will she receive this?
- I have tried to be at least as introspective as critical when I wrote. I have chosen to tell my experience, which I think I have the right to do, and then I have to respond to the attacks that have been made.
You have children together who will be able to read this in a couple of years. How do you think about it?
- The book will hopefully give them an understanding of my experience.
Did you give your ex the opportunity to read before printing?
- I have tried to seek dialogue. But we haven't got around to it yet.
Are you hoping for a response to the book?
- What I absolutely do not want is for there to be some kind of storm again. I'm closing the door on this chapter now.
DN has sought Måns Zelmerlöw's ex-wife Ciara Janson via her lawyer. The lawyer writes over email that she considers it "remarkable that a book about private affairs is published to the public without my client having access to any of the contents of the book".
Måns Zelmerlöw returns to the fact that in the book he is as critical of himself as of anyone else.
What do you regret the most?
- All relationships that have fallen apart. Everything thoughtless I did. That I never stopped and thought but just poured on.
Among other things, he writes about how he cheats, lies and takes cocaine. He also admits to hiding his children's passports.
Are you being completely truthful?
- Yes.
For example, regarding the extent of cocaine use?
- Yes. It was a party farm and a long time ago.
The infidelity is not described as clearly. How extensive was it really?
- I think you need to know about it and I take on my responsibility, my guilt. This book is already extremely private as it is and I don't want to hurt any more than I already have.
In both the book and the documents from the district court, Måns Zelmerlöw describes it as the family had a nice and stable life in Skåne, where they moved from England in the fall of 2024. That was one of the reasons why he wanted the district court to rule differently.
Yet during the same period you cheated and took drugs. Why?
- Unfortunately, challenges in the relationship meant that there was a desire to escape in me that expressed itself in that way. I wasn't happy. I didn't feel confident in myself. I had lost my true self.
How lost were you?
- Very lost. I hadn't stopped and thought once in 20 years. I realize how hard it must be to live with such a man. Who doesn't let in. Who turns to sarcasm as soon as something gets deep.
It took a while to come to that realization, he admits. At first he felt mostly despair, did not understand why everything fell at once. He could not see his own part in the case.
- It has required a year of writing, therapy and work with myself. I needed to stop and look inside, for once.
What he saw, he says, was a person who, ever since "Idol" in 2005, had been shaped by the expectations of those around him - an adjusted version of himself.
At the same time, he says that he may miss being on stage.
- It is sad that that part of my life would end this way. It was a chapter that encompassed 20 years of artistry.
Is the chapter closed?
- You should never say never. We all find what we're good at in life and I'm good at giving energy from a stage.
But he has not written the book to try to get back into the limelight, he believes. He enjoys the vineyard outside Staffanstorp. The legal proceedings are not quite over - he is on trial for receiving child support on the wrong grounds - but he is "in a good place in life". He has paid back the grant and hopes that the district court will understand that he did not cheat on purpose, he has snowballed into making plum marmalade.
- I don't know if I can or want to get back to the artist life. But I know I want to do creative things again. It's an urge I haven't felt in a year and a half.
Will you stay in Sweden?
- Yes, I think so.
Why not move to England?
- Because I lived there for nine years and spent so much time traveling back and forth. I want my children to have a happy father who can make the most of his time with them.
You say that you have started to find your "real self" back. Who is that?
- Someone who feels a lot, cries often and laughs really hard. I love my bubble in the country. I miss the friends that disappeared, but it feels good to not really know what's going on in the industry or the world that I used to be in. I have a better relationship with my kids than ever. I don't know where I'm going, but life feels exciting.
DN has sought Ciara Janson, who via her Swedish lawyer declines to comment.
