Piritta Hagman opens up about her family life with Niklas Hagman – “Really painful sometimes”

A top athlete the life of a spouse is more than glamor and privileges.

The mother of three knows that Piritta Hagmanwho lived with her family for years the everyday life of an NHL player’s wife in North America. Hagman’s, 45, current relationship is strongly colored by top sports.

Piritta Hagman, 45, known for TV and her work as a physiotherapist, is a former top ice hockey player by Niklas Hagman44, ex-wife.

Pirita’s current life partner is the 37-year-old head coach of the Finnish national basketball team Lassi Tuoviwho coaches the Yokohama B-Corsairs team playing in the Japanese league at the club team level.

Hagman’s own career can easily take a back seat when things are largely done on the terms of the spouse’s sports career.

He reminds us that often, behind the great achievements of professional sports, there are a lot of ordinary everyday life and normal life challenges, as well as extremely touching and human stories.

Niklas Hagman played as an NHL professional in five different clubs, so the family circle and the people around him changed quite a lot.

“You have to get used to it, that when you build a social circle around something, it changes at some point. That was perhaps the hardest thing for me in that lifestyle,” Hagman thinks.

“It was always a great sadness, that leaving. You were attached to people and certain places and then we left again. I always missed people, and leaving for the next city was always painful,” continues Hagman, who has lived NHL life in Florida, Texas, and Canada’s Ontario, among other places.

Hagman says that he rarely lets people near him, but when he does, he would like to never let them go.

“That’s why that lifestyle was really hard for many. It’s really painful sometimes. In that, you may inadvertently become cautious about how much you dare to let yourself get attached to others.”

As a mother, she felt a strong concern for her children as well.

“When the children are very small, moving is easier for them. And it depends a lot on the child’s personality. And the same, of course, with adults – people experience this in so many different ways.”

Hagman emphasizes that the coin has both sides in this matter as well.

“Of course, I also consider independence and moving to be a great asset and strength. Looking back, I’m extremely grateful that I got to see all those incredible cities, live in them, and get that life experience in its entirety.”

In the NHL, game trips are long, and spouses may be away from home for long periods.

“There is no such thing as a so-called normal life in which a man comes home every night. You have to grow up quite independent, and of course that’s not only a bad thing. In any case, I learned to run the huusholli on my own quite quickly,” says Hagman.

Did you experience loneliness?

“I’ve actually always been okay with being alone. As a person, I like to be alone sometimes. So I didn’t find this issue so heavy.”

“In hindsight, I have realized that it was difficult for me, for example, that my friends were able to celebrate their children’s birthdays in Finland together with their relatives and friends. I missed that the children’s grandparents would have been close, and the children would have been able to grow up together with their own friends year after year.”

Hagman however, says that the family was comforted by the moments spent together in Finland remotely.

“For example, I cooked Christmas dishes while talking to my mother via video link on the computer. And my mother also read Evening Tales to the child via the laptop.”

Hagman says that over the years, he too has often been asked about a reality TV series that would show the lives of the spouses of elite athletes.

This plan has not come true, but now Hagman has started to make a podcast on the topic together Kia Salinin with.

Kia Salin, 34, who hosts the podcast with Hagman, is the captain of the Finnish national basketball team Sasu Salinin33, wife. Kia has also lived abroad for long periods because of her spouse’s sports career.

Idea the podcast started to smolder when Hagman met Salini, who worked in the financial sector, a couple of years ago. They exchanged thoughts about life alongside a top athlete.

“Kia had had the idea of ​​a podcast brewing. Then he asked if I would be interested in doing a podcast about this topic as his partner. That’s where it started,” says Hagman.

Having started in mid-September Behind everything -podcast features, among others, an NHL hockey player by Mikael Granlund32, ex-wife Emmi Granlund and hurdler Reetta Hurskeen29, basketball player partner Topias Palmia28.

Hagman’s in my opinion, a podcast is exactly the right tool for opening up the topic, because the guests can freely share their experiences and perspectives in their own voice and tone of voice without editing.

“The content is exactly what they want to tell. Then Kia and I, as presenters, of course have a very strong experience base on the topic in the discussion. We also share a lot of our personal experiences in the episodes.”

According to Pirita, both Niklas Hagman and Lassi Tuovi have had a positive attitude towards making the podcast.

“Nikke sent me congratulations on the new podcast and said it was great.”

“Fortunately, he has always trusted my judgment. In the entirety of the podcast, of course, to some extent, he is also mentioned, but I am not telling about Nike’s life, but they are my story and memories. In the whole podcast, we talk specifically about the athletes’ partners and those people back there – not about the athletes,” emphasizes Hagman.

Hagman says that he is now happily in a relationship with basketball coach Tuov. Love abounds, even though the man works mainly in Japan.

“It just so happened that I am again with a man who is passionate about sports. However, I have to say that you can’t plan something like this.”

“Once upon a time, I did not choose my husband on the basis that he is an athlete. I chose him because of who he was as a man. And I haven’t expected a “sportsman” either, but of course it’s always about the person and their personality,” says Hagman.

Hagman’s and the name of Salin’s podcast is Behind everything. Is this perhaps a reference to Mati and Tepo singing and VP Lehton to put into words Behind everything is a woman – to a hit song?

“Kia and I only realized afterwards that the song with that name comes to mind! But yes, we also have men as guests!”