Somewhere over the rainbow

In the eyes of others, she is a glamorous woman who lives life of luxury with one of the world’s best paid soccer player. In her own, she is a tomboy from the country as got together with 11 years younger Zlatan Ibrahimovic. For Wellness says mother of two Helena Seger that she feels insecure at large events, feel best when she can lift heavy weights - and once considered purchasing a mummy.

We meet a wolf introduction Monday night at the Grand Hôtel and go into a secluded part of the bar. She is dressed in black - like a trashy femme fatale - in short leather jacket, jeans that sits tightly over the hips straight and boots with high, sharp heel that echo the wood floor. Only after we have sat down in each his club chair, I see her eyes. She pushes up the dark pilot goggles on his forehead and face challenging my eye. It is minutes before she’ll give his second interview - and Helena Seger looks like she is standing next to the plan and want to be with and play, but not really know what to do.

The outside world wanted to interview her ever since she started dating Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but it was only last winter that she took her first step out of the media shadow. In January she was elected as the 2010 best-dressed woman at the Elle Awards, received the award at the Grand Hôtel scene and was featured on Micah Bindefeld after party with all the celebrities and journalists.

She just wanted to go home.

“I had nothing to do there. I stood in a corner and felt totally wrong in my crazy dress and thought, ‘What am I doing here?’ We’re rubes who never go out. Sometimes Zlatan and I go out for dinner, but we never go to such events and party.”

Helena talks on as if she would like to begin the next sentence before she finished the last, with a slightly hoarse voice and dialect that tell about growing up outside of Örebro. Gala dress, which she mentions, was a couture creation worth almost half a million crowns that she was able to borrow from designing duo Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana - who she lives next to in Milan.

“There is no glamor in my life!”

It sounds glamorous - but she shakes her head.

“There is no glamor in my life! There is just something that people have gotten the idea. I am a jeans and t-shirt girl who does the cooking, folding laundry and taking care of the kids. We provide no maid, I do not want strangers taking care of my personal stuff.”

It is only in public as she appears in luxurious creations.

“On such occasions, I usually borrow a dress. I am financially smart and do not think it’s worth spending a lot of money on something that I wear during one night. Instead do I deposit some money to a relief organization in designer’s name please.”

Her words are a contrast to what I see. Her hair is like a välfönad halo around her face, she has a fur scarf by Louis Vuitton over those muscular shoulders, a belt from Dior on the athletic waist and shiny jeans from Acne over trimmed thighs. She states that she likes to express themselves with clothes.

“I have one closet to get and it is clear that I feel a little more secure of myself when I dress up myself for something special. I want to polish the surface in the same way as I enjoy driving one clean car or have that clean and tidy home, but usually I slide around in baggy jeans and Converse.”

Diamonds sparkle from her ears and cuffs, a bracelet from Hermes and one Rolex in platinum. She looks down at the watch and exclaims:

“However this is the only one I own, and this is also wrong. It shows that the clock is twenty two and it’s Wednesday!”

She laughs defiantly:

“I will not make it either.”

Born in 1970, making her 11 years older than Zlatan. Helena Seger moved to Zlatan’s hometown, Malmö, at 17. She started out working as a bartender and a model, but then got the job as a clothing shop assistant. Rapidly working her way up to shop manager, she was then hired as account manager at…