’The more I cheated, the more she spent’: Adolph Lundgren reveals shocking financial toll of first marriage

Dolph Lundgren, the Swedish action star best known for his iconic role as Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, has made a startling confession about his first marriage, revealing a dysfunctional dynamic in which his infidelity was met not with confrontation, but with ever-increasing credit card bills.

In a candid interview with journalist Graham Bensinger, the 68-year-old actor opened up about his 16-year marriage to interior designer Anette Qviberg, whom he wed in February 1994. The couple had two daughters, Ida and Greta, before divorcing in 2011.

“The more I cheated on my wife, the more she wanted to spend my money,” Lundgren confessed. According to the actor, his then-wife appeared fully aware of his extramarital affairs but chose to look the other way—as long as the bills kept getting paid. “She didn’t want to come on set or anything like that. She probably knew I was having affairs. But I don’t think she cared as long as I paid the bills or bought her a Ferrari, or whatever I bought,” he said.

The financial toll was staggering. Lundgren revealed that his wife’s monthly credit card bills reached approximately $60,000, covering everything from designer clothing to luxury vehicles. Between 1997 and 2007, his earnings plummeted by roughly 90 percent, even as household expenses continued to climb. The actor admitted that stepping away from the Hollywood spotlight during those years made it easy to lose touch with the business side of his career, leaving him increasingly out of step with his own earning power.

Lundgren described the arrangement as something close to a “monthly fee” for turning a blind eye to his infidelity—a silent deal sustained by money. He believed his wife was less interested in confronting his affairs than in maintaining a lavish lifestyle.

The marriage finally ended in 2011, but the financial consequences lingered for years. “It took me seven or eight years to get out of it, with the divorce and all the payments I had,” Lundgren revealed.

The revelations come as part of a broader, unusually vulnerable interview in which Lundgren also discussed his ongoing battle with cancer since 2015, his complicated relationship with longtime collaborator Sylvester Stallone, and the physical toll of decades performing dangerous stunts. His daughter Ida and fiancée Emma Krokdal—whom he married in 2023—also appeared in the conversation.

For an actor who built his career on playing stone-faced, unbreakable action heroes, the interview offered a rare and remarkably detailed look at just how messy life became behind closed doors during one of the most financially turbulent stretches of his career.