Meet Malou von Sivers, the woman who, despite her gentle demeanor and soft manner, has conducted many of the most exceptional and challenging interviews with some of the most influential and well-known figures of our time.
Malou was born in January 1953 in Stockholm. She is a very well-known journalist, television host and author. As a young woman she decided to become a travel guide in Greece. She sang in clubs in Athen and met a lot of interesting people.
After a few years, she felt it was time to change direction and in 1976 she applied to journalism school and was accepted.
After completing her education, she got a job at Expressen and Aftonbladet, where she remained for ten years.
After those ten years, she was offered a job by “Bonniers” to become editor-in-chief for the popular magazine Elle.
During this time, the expression “the beauty with the brain” was coined.
Malou was married (and still is) to husband Sten Haage and had one child and was now expecting their second child. At that time, it was not easy to keep a job and be pregnant, and so she was asked to quit her job. Malou then turned to the union’s lawyer and she managed to reach a settlement, as it was unlawful.
A week after, a guy called her and offered her the opportunity to launch a TV channel, while she was in the middle of her pregnancy. It was TV4, the very first major, commercial channel, that had taken notice of Malou.
This resulted in the highly appreciated program “Nyhets Morgon” (News morning) where Malou and her colleague, Bengt Magnusson, took us into the studio every early morning for seven years. For Malou, this meant getting up at three o’clock in the morning. She would never have managed it without a husband who supported her one hundred percent. She, herself, barely got more than two hours of sleep back home before it was time to get up again to pick up the children from Dagis (daycare).
As if this weren’t enough, Malou also traveled the world to meet and interview the people who left their mark on our time. To mention just a few examples, we can begin with Nelson Mandela, whom she managed to catch during his final tour as president. She had, of course, been allocated a certain time for the interview – but who would dare, or want to interrupt, a South African president who had spent twenty-seven years in prison?
That interview received tremendous attention.
Another world-famous person Malou, after much effort, managed to secure an interview with was our Swedish film director, Ingmar Bergman. Ingmar was known for refusing interviews, but together with the actor Erland Josephson, a close friend, who had many main characters in Ingmar Bergman’s films, Malou succeeded in creating an interview that became a conversation between two men, speaking about life, love, and death. At the time, Ingmar had lost his great love, Ingrid.
It is somehow amusing to note the demands Ingmar says have had before the interview-he wanted to be picked up in a limousine for the drive to the recording studio, and there had to be blackcurrant juice and Brago biscuits available-while Erland felt that a whisky and the subway would do just fine.
Malou recalls that Ingmar was both angry and nervous when they met. He was said to be something of a control freak and had difficulties letting someone else take the helm.
Ingmar with his nine children, spoke about the grief he felt after the death of his youthful love, Ingrid, and he also addressed the idea of his own death during the interview.
That interview received attention at the Cannes Film Festival, and when Ingmar passed away in 1999, Malou and Erland sat together and watched that interview again.
The interview with Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi, who for a long time was a symbol of the pro-democracy movement and was kept under house arrest for many years, became another highly publicized interview.
Securing a meeting with this woman was akin to a risky adventure.
Malou and her team met a courier in Bangkok who, with skill and cunning managed to bring them together for an interview-an assignment that was anything but easy to accomplish.
Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Aung San, who is seen as a national hero who helped Burma (today Myanmar) to independence. Aung San Suu Kyi was born June 19, 1945 in Rangoon.
She studied at University of Oxford, where she earned several degrees, among them in Politics, Economics and Philosophy. For many years she lived abroad and married her husband, Michael Aris in 1972, who was an academic and historian focusing on Tibetan culture and history.
Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest in July 1989 and she spent many years in detention between 1989 and 2010 under the Military regime in Myanmar. She was not even allowed to travel to United Kingdom to take a last farewell of her husband.
When Malou had finally succeeded with her interview, a new problem arose-how would she get the recording out of the country without it being confiscated? She had been given a secure, though rather unusual, tip on how to proceed. The best method, she was told, was to buy sanitary pads and hide the film/recording inside one of the pads-and even wear it during departure.
With her heart in her throat, she approached the security control. They searched and patted her down thoroughly but fortunately, they did not go as far as checking her underwear.
It is hardly surprising that the interview also received a great deal of attention.
Malou also had the opportunity to interview Yoko Ono, the widow of John Lennon, at her residence, The Dakota in New York. In Malou’s eyes, Yoko Ono was a wise and warm woman-quite different from how she had often been portrayed in the press.
For 16 years, Malou hosted the morning program “Malou efter tio (Malou after 10 am), where she frequently interviewed politicians and party leaders, including Ebba Busch and Olena Zelenska, the wife of president Volodymyr Zelenssky.
One could easily write an entire book about what this skilled and dynamic woman has accomplished. In recent years, however, she has written and published several books herself. Many of her novels focus on family relationships and human psychology. Her debut novel “Mitt hjärtas oro” (The unrest of my heart), is the first in a trilogy, followed by “Olycksbarnet” (The Unfortunate Son) and “En ska bort” (One Must Go). The latter is set to be adapted into a film.
As I come to the end of my account of Malou, it is worth mentioning that she has received prestigious awards such as “Kristallen” (The Crystal) and “Stora Journalistpriset” (The big Journalist Award), and has also been a popular host on “Sommar i P1” (Summer in P1).
One cannot help but wonder, if there is anything this remarkable woman cannot do.
If you would like to listen to her interview with Ingmar Bergman and Erland Josephson, it is available on Youtube, as well as her popular podds.
I had the pleasure to get to know Malou when she visited her brother, who lives in Bangkok since a couple of years. Malou joined our “Book Circle” and talked to us about her latest book, a very fun and informative evening. Now we hope that Malou soon will return to Bangkok again.
You are warmly welcome back!
