Alexander Rybak about his unrequited love

MA: The winner of Eurovision, Alexander Rybak, became gay because of unrequited love.

AR: This is a cute story-that I’m gay all of a sudden, I fell in love with a boy…

MA: In the next hour you can watch how you can make someone fall in love with you, what to do when the subject of your desire doesn't love you, doesn't notice you and even hates you and what it means to have the one and only love for your entire life.

MA: It's 2009 and Alexander Rybak, a Norwegian with Belarusian roots, wins the Eurovision song contest.

V: The song was very catchy-simple, naïve, melodic and what’s very important -very memorable.

A: All the mothers wanted to take care of him like their own son and all the girls wanted to take care of him like a man and all the men, well they were probably supporting their mothers and wives!

A: I think his secret lies in his casual, relaxed way -he’s a simple guy.

I: Rybak makes his audience feel that they are the stars and he's just standing there with his violin.

MA: The song "Fairytale" written by the performer himself, had a record number of votes in the entire history of Eurovision.

AR: I didn’t think I would make it in the second round- I’m not a singer. I knew that I played the violin very, very well, but I was not expecting to win the competition.

MA: Simple lyrics, an unpretentious production and a very sincere smile made the 23 year old young man into a world-famous star.

MA: And only one person in the song about a fairy tale heard a lot more than just the lyrics.

MA: He sang only for her- a girl named Ingrid. He declared his love for her many times, but her heart was silent.

MA: Ingrid Berg Mehus and Alexander Rybak have known each other since they were 17. They learned to play the violin together and performed together.

MA: She was his first and at that time, only love.

AR: I’m a very romantic person- I watch a lot of Disney movies and old Soviet movies and I always like that concept of the one true love- the love of your life and no one else.

MA: They dated for a while, but Ingrid never took their relationship seriously and when she met someone else, she left Alexander with a broken heart.

AR: I suffered for many years, for 4-5 years and I cried and felt bad- I wasn’t acting very manly...

MA: His friends switched girls like gloves and tried to convince Sasha that there's no love that lasts forever.

MA: There were lots of beautiful girls around him, but the only one he needed was Ingrid.

AR: I was embarrassed that I was still thinking about her and that was it- I decided to write a song and won Eurovision.

MA: He poured his heart and soul into the song, he told the story of his life so only Ingrid could understand the true meaning of the song, not knowing at that time that the girl would do everything possible to make his victory a bitter one.

AR: It was very important for me not to share with anyone that I still loved the girl. It was, how do you say… not a triumph, but a loss for me.

MA: The audience was screaming his name, his head was spinning because of all the fame, the song meant for Ingrid was chosen as the best one.

MA: Suddenly, he receives the first congratulatory text-from her. His heart gets a glimmer of hope, the words of his song are spinning in his head: "we'll get a brand new start."

MA: But only after a few days the girl answers to the words in the hit song and makes it clear that their relationship will never continue:"I'm sure that there will not be a new beginning-it will not happen."

MA: And in confirmation to her words, she marries someone else a short time later. And Alexander Rybak understands that he's lost her forever.

Y: Well, the scandal actually happened after Alexander’s triumph, because she started blackmailing him, saying that thanks to her, he wrote this song.

Y: And after that she sold some personal photos of them to the press and was telling them some truthful, some not so truthful things- it was really quite unpleasant.

AR: I don’t know if she wanted to say this or if she had to say that she never loved me and that now she’s married and she’s got the best guy and I, well, I…

MA: The girl decided to share in Alexander's fame. She is also a professional violinist and some extra publicity would only benefit her.

Y: He didn’t expect this betrayal-this was very painful for him, because he wanted to tell their love story in a nice way and she decided to exploit this.

AR: Well, then I decided that if I won’t have the one and only girl, then I’ll have lots of them.

MA: And Alexander Rybak threw himself into the arms of other women, so he could forget about Ingrid, so she would regret that she lost someone like him.

MA: He would prove to his former love that he could live without her. A million beautiful women all over the world want to be with him.

MA: The fans are all over him. He even dedicates the song "Leave Me Alone" to a particulary persistent fan.

MA: He feels indifferent towards all these girls-they will soon annoy him, but he never has even a tiny bit of feeling towards these girls as he did towards Ingrid.

MA: He is looking for just a shadow of her in all these girls.

AR: She was really a very nice girl and I often try to find similar qualities in other girls- I don’t know how long I’ll continue doing this.

MA: But after some time, Alexander Rybak becomes so disappointed in women, that he changes his sexual orientation and becomes gay. At least these are the headlines that come from the press.

AR: I don’t oppose these kinds of people- they really do a great job dancing at my concerts.

A: I’ve never seen him with a guy and he didn’t try to flirt with me, either, so I think it’s all good with him when it comes to these things.

AR: It’s a cute story that I’m gay all of a sudden, that I fell in love with a boy-it’s all very far from the truth-I’m grateful to this kind of publicity- I would have never made this up myself!

MA:Alexander Rybak declared himself in a non-traditional sexual orientation without even knowing it. It was all about the details of the translation.

MA: The singer thinks in English and Norwegian and translates to Russian, since he left Belarus when he was only five and forgot the language a little bit.

AR: I would sometimes say that I really like a young man, because I thought it was the same as saying I like young people-but actually, it means a young guy.

AR: And also I said at a Belarusian party in Oslo: “I really love you guys”. Guys-means you all.

AR: But some Belarusians who didn’t speak English that well thought that I said “gays” and not “guys”. And there weren’t even any gay people at the party.

Y: Then they started saying that Sasha has a non-traditional orientation because he’s always talking about guys- he’s always asking guys to come to him and what about girls?

MA: There are so many women around him, but he can't seem to find the one and only among them with whom he would like to spend the rest of his life.

AR: It’s time for Sasha to get married but what’s the point- so I’m going to find my first wife and then the second wife and then maybe I’ll have children with the third wife.

AR: And I’d rather wait for the third wife so I don’t ruin the lives of the first and second wives. That’s what I think.

MA: He's 27 and he has his whole life in front of him and his unrequited love is in the past, the love that brought him so much pain and disappointment.

MA: But if it hadn't been for so much pain and suffering, he wouldn't have written such a sincere and soulful song that was felt in the hearts of millions and that made him a world star.

MA: After his amazing Eurovision triumph, he is certain of this: his life is a fairy tale and fairy tales always have a happy ending.