Magdalena Graaf
Encyclopedia
Engla Maria Magdalena Graaf (born 2 September 1975 in Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

) is a Swedish model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....

, singer, and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

. In 1998, she and her sister Hannah Graaf
Hannah Graaf
Hannah Rakel Serafia Graaf Karyd is a Swedish glamour model and singer. Graaf along with her model sister, Magdalena, formed a musical duo called The Graaf Sisters.- Early years :...

 joined together and formed the group The Graaf Sisters
The Graaf Sisters
The Graaf Sisters, or Graaf, consists of two Swedish glamour models by the name of Hannah and Magdalena Graaf. The two earned notoriety for appearing in men's magazines together. In 1998, they both gave up glamour modeling and established the a short-lived pop group named, Graaf...

, who became popular with the song "You Got What I Want Baby". She was also the wife of soccer star Magnus Hedman
Magnus Hedman
Magnus Carl Hedman is a Swedish former football goalkeeper. He played 58 matches for the Sweden national football team, and represented his country at two FIFA World Cup and two European Championship tournaments....

 and as a result has been voted the sexiest footballer's wife.

Early years

Graaf was born in Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

, but she grew up in Kungsängen
Kungsängen
Kungsängen is a locality and the seat of Upplands-Bro Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 7,367 inhabitants in 2005.- References :...

 in Stockholm County
Stockholm County
Stockholm County is a county or län on the Baltic sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stockholm is the capital of Sweden. Stockholm County is divided by the historic provinces of Uppland and Södermanland...

, to Swedish Pentecostal parents.

In her late teens, Graaf became pregnant with her son Isak. Instead of burdening or embarrassing her religious parents, she married her Finnish gangster boyfriend Jorma whom she was already living with. During this time, she was physically and emotional abused.

After Graaf was shot in the leg, she left her husband despite threats against her and her family. She eventually reported him to the proper authorities. As a result, she was placed under protective custody and given new identities. Her and her son were moved throughout Sweden but eventually settled in Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

 and was given the new names of Michaela and Ville for her son.

Her husband was eventually released from prison and he put a 50 000 SEK bounty on her and a reward for hurting her sister model, Hannah
Hannah Graaf
Hannah Rakel Serafia Graaf Karyd is a Swedish glamour model and singer. Graaf along with her model sister, Magdalena, formed a musical duo called The Graaf Sisters.- Early years :...

. After her husbands indictment, the police did little to help Graaf. She did receive some help from a policewoman who would eventually get fired for helping Graaf. To this day, Graaf has a bitter disdain for the Swedish authorities. Her plight eventually was heard by former MC gang leader who felt bad for her and decided to protect Graaf. Finally, Graaf had enough of hiding and returned home to her mother. Later her ex-husband decided to stop the harassment.

Modeling

Due to all the stress following the aftermath her ex-husbands indictment, Graaf lost a great deal of weight and suffered from lack of confidence. She underwent breast augmentation
Breast augmentation
Breast augmentation denotes the breast implant and fat-graft mammoplasty procedures for correcting the defects, and for enhancing the size, form, and feel of a woman’s breasts...

 and started an exercise regiment. Her sister Hannah, an established model, took her to her to a celebrity party where she met E-Type
E-type (musician)
Bo Martin Erik Eriksson , better known by his stage name E-Type, is a Swedish Eurodance musician.-Early years:...

 who hit on her. She claims this boosted her confidence and being seen on the party scene with her sister landed her a modeling career.

Graaf followed the footsteps of her younger sister and began glamour modeling. Graaf would often model with her sister Hannah. The two gained noterity for appearing in countless men's magazines. The controversy catapulted lesser known Graaf's career. She has appeared in the magazines Café
Café Magazine
Café Magazine is a monthly Swedish men's magazine focused on fashion, style, and culture, including articles on food, movies, fitness, sex, music, travel, sports, technology, and books. The magazine is comparable to U.S. publications such as Esquire and GQ.- History :Café debuted in May 1990,...

, Moore
Moore Magazine
Moore Magazine is Sweden's largest lifestyle portal for men on the Internet, where many thousands of visitors daily partake of the articles and advice covering everything from fashion , fitness, dating, gadgets and more...

, and Slitz
Slitz
Slitz is a Swedish men's magazine similar to Maxim or FHM.- History :Slitz was initially created in 1980 when two music magazines Schlager and Ritz merged. The magazine continued to be a music publication until 1996 when it became a men's lifestyle magazine similarly to Café...

. In 1998, Graaf appeared on three separate Café covers.

In 2004, The Graaf were looking for a come back. The sisters flew to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 and did a pictorial for FHM
FHM
FHM, originally published as For Him Magazine, is an international monthly men's lifestyle magazine.- History :The magazine began publication in 1985 in the United Kingdom under the name For Him and changed its title to FHM in 1994 when Emap Consumer Media bought the magazine, although the full For...

magazine.

Music

The Graaf sisters became a cultural phenomenon and, by 1998 both sisters gave up glamour modeling to pursue a music career. That same year, she formed a musical duo The Graaf Sisters
The Graaf Sisters
The Graaf Sisters, or Graaf, consists of two Swedish glamour models by the name of Hannah and Magdalena Graaf. The two earned notoriety for appearing in men's magazines together. In 1998, they both gave up glamour modeling and established the a short-lived pop group named, Graaf...

 with Hannah and was quickly signed to Sony BMG. The two worked with producers Christer Sandelin, Tommy Ekman, and Rob 'n' Raz. The record yielded the Swedish #1 hit "You Got (What I Want)". The duo has since been on hiatus with both women marrying and having children.

In 2002, the sisters were involved in a civil suit against Mikael Brinkstierna. Brinkstierna alleged that the sisters began working with him in 1996 and that they had a management contract in which he was entitled to 25% of all revenues from the sisters' future disc sales. After the success of their first album, Brinkstierna received no money after he allegedly spent hours helping them be a success. The sisters claim that Brinkstierna gave them nothing but money and accused him of being a crook after a similar dispute Brinkstierna had with the pop group Aqua
Aqua (band)
Aqua is a Danish dance-pop group, best known for their 1997 breakthrough single "Barbie Girl". The group formed in 1989 and achieved huge success across the globe in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The group managed to top the UK Singles Chart with their first three singles. The group released two...

.

Author

In March 2006, Graaf released her biography Det ska bli ett sant nöje att döda dig ("It is going to be a true pleasure to kill you"), where she tells about her childhood and her first, problematic marriage. The title of her book was the last thing her ex-husband Jorma said to her before she left him and fled with their son Isak.

Television

Graaf participated in the Swedish edition of Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars is the name of several international television series based on the format of the British TV series Strictly Come Dancing, which is distributed by BBC Worldwide – the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the format has been licensed to over 35 countries...

(Let's Dance) until the end of January 2009, when she was forced to quit due to a cerebral hemorrhage.

Personal life

In 1995, she gave birth to her first son, Isak, with her first husband. A year and a half after Isak's birth, Graaf left her husband in 1996. In 1999, Graaf married Swedish football goalkeeper Magnus Hedman
Magnus Hedman
Magnus Carl Hedman is a Swedish former football goalkeeper. He played 58 matches for the Sweden national football team, and represented his country at two FIFA World Cup and two European Championship tournaments....

. The couple had two sons named Lancelot (born in 2000) and Tristan (born in 2004). During their early marriage, the couple lived in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 where Hedman was playing soccer.

After Hedman's retirement the couple resided in Stockholm. In 2006, Graaf separated from Hedman after news papers reported an alleged affair with singer Linda Bengtzing
Linda Bengtzing
Linda Birgitta Bengtzing is a Swedish pop singer, famous for her participation in the fourth season of Fame Factory in Sweden and for her entries at Melodifestivalen 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2011- Biography :...

. The couple have since divorced.

Charity

The Sisters made Time Magazine
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

's List of European Heroes for their charity work. Magdalena along with Hannah have donated earnings from their modeling to aid orphanage
Orphanage
An orphanage is a residential institution devoted to the care of orphans – children whose parents are deceased or otherwise unable or unwilling to care for them...

s in Nagpur
Nagpur
Nāgpur is a city and winter capital of the state of Maharashtra, the largest city in central India and third largest city in Maharashtra after Mumbai and Pune...

 in central India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. The sisters maintain that they never have strayed too far from their Pentecostal upbringing and that their commitment for charity was inherited from their mother Linda Bergling who worked as a missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

 in Asia and Africa. Not only have the donated money to the cause but they have built two orphanages and school. Magdelena's then husband, Magnus claimed Magdalena would constantly hits up friends for donations at parties.

External links

  • Official website http://www.aftonbladet.se/noje/9807/30/graaf.html Article about the Graaf sisters success http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/kvinna/story/0,2789,793663,00.html Graaf speaking about her book.
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