Zelmerlöw defends book after divorce and abuse allegations

Singer Måns Zelmerlöw has defended his new book about his turbulent divorce, allegations of relationship violence and his cocaine addiction, SVT reported. He said the book was not intended as an attack on his former wife.

“My children will be forced to read a flood of lies, truths and gossip about their father. I think it is important that there is something swimming against the current in that flood,” he said on the programme Skavlan & Sverige.

Last year, Zelmerlöw acknowledged in an interview with Göteborgs-Posten that he had struggled with cocaine addiction. The interview came after he and his then-wife, Ciara Janson, had filed for divorce.

Janson reported Zelmerlöw to the police for relationship violence in spring 2025. He denies the allegations. A preliminary investigation was opened but later dropped.

The couple have two children. In May 2025, Stockholm District Court ruled that the children’s home should be in England, Janson’s home country. Zelmerlöw appealed, but neither the Svea Court of Appeal nor the Supreme Court proceeded with the appeal, according to Expressen.

Zelmerlöw released the book När allt faller in September. It has been criticised as a counterattack against his former wife’s allegations.

“I think I have the right to tell my experience,” Zelmerlöw said, adding that he wanted to respond to what he considers false allegations against him.

He said media coverage in recent years had cost him both work and friends. Asked by host Fredrik Skavlan whether he had been afraid of becoming “the man playing the victim”, Zelmerlöw said he had, but added that he had not agreed to the interview to gain sympathy.

“To some extent, I have deserved this,” he said.

Comedian Mårten Andersson and former police officer and lecturer Nadim Ghazale also appeared on the programme and criticised the book.

“You might have released the book, but I don’t think it should have been this soon. I think that in a year, if you continue working on this, you will have a different version,” Andersson said.

Ghazale said that publishing a book that partly serves as a counterattack did not amount to taking responsibility in the way he would have expected.

SVT contacted Janson and her lawyer, but they did not respond. In an email to Dagens Nyheter, the lawyer said it was “remarkable that a book about private matters is published for the general public without my client having access to any of its content”.

Skavlan & Sverige is available on SVT Play from Thursday at 3pm and will be broadcast on SVT1 on Friday at 8pm.