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Greta Thunberg: A Year to Change the World: meet Greta's parents 

Find out more about the activist's family 


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April 12, 2021
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Greta Thunberg: A Year to Change the World is set to air on BBC One on Monday, but how much do we know about the famous environmentalist behind the cameras? 

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Greta, 18, is the daughter of Malena Ernman and Svant Thunberg. Malena is an opera singer, a member of The Royal Swedish Academy of Music, and even represented Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009, while Svant is an actor. Greta also has a young sister, Beata Ernman, who has followed in their mother's footsteps as a singer. 

WATCH: Greta Thunberg: A Year to Change the World trailer

Malena has been vocally supportive of the Paris Agreement against climate change and previously opened up about opting out of air travel. She has also been vocal about Greta's struggle before being diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome at the age of 12, where she stopped eating and talking. 

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Greta with her father, Svant

Speaking to the Swedish paper Expressen, she said (translated into English): "Asperger's itself is not a problem. It is rather a gift you have. The problem is that you often can not play a social game - in Greta's case, she does not like superficial things, such as talking about guys, makeup or iPhones - and how society treats those who are different, who think differently. 

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"As soon as you are not like everyone else, you end up excluded and bullied... In our case, Greta was diagnosed in time, because her body reacted so violently to the exclusion that she stopped eating." 

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Malena has performed at Eurovision

Speaking about his daughter back in 2019, Svant told the BBC: "You think she's not ordinary now because she's special, and she's very famous, and all these things. But to me she's now an ordinary child - she can do all the things like other people can. She dances around, she laughs a lot, we have a lot of fun - and she's in a very good place."

Chatting about her passion for the environment, he added that he accompanied her on her sailing expeditions rather than flying for a sweet reason. He said: "I did all these things, I knew they were the right thing to do... but I didn't do it to save the climate, I did it to save my child... I have two daughters and to be honest, they are all that matter to me. I just want them to be happy." 

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