The husband was jealous and manipulative—now he’s demanding a divorce. The Finnish cross-country skiing star is devastated: “I’ve lost everything.”

“Toni has filed for divorce,” writes Finnish cross-country skier Riitta-Liisa Roponen on her Instagram account.

“I’ve lost my best friend. I’ve lost my husband. I’ve lost my rock. I’ve lost everything when I lost you.”

Roponen is heartbroken over the breakup and says this winter has been the hardest of her life.

“I’ve shared my life and adventures with you for 22 years. And I would have loved to do it for at least as many more,” she writes.

Riitta-Liisa Roponen and her husband Toni met in the early 2000s when she joined the national team that Toni was coaching. They developed a friendship that turned into love.

In 2004, they had a child together. She was 26 at the time. Even after becoming a mother, she continued her World Cup career.

Jealous

In 2017, a book about Roponen was published, Äitinä huipulla (Fitra). In the book, her husband Toni Roponen admitted that he controlled and manipulated his wife and suffered from pathological jealousy. He is quoted directly in the book:

“I think jealousy is a healthy part of a relationship. But I admit I’ve sometimes been extremely jealous, and that I’ve also treated Ritu poorly,” says Toni Roponen.

At the same time, he acknowledges that she never gave him any reason to act the way he did.

“Ritu never gave me a reason to be jealous,” Toni Roponen said in a previous interview with the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti.

Everyday Quarreling

Riitta-Liisa Roponen opened up about her marriage in the magazine Anna in 2023. She spoke about love but admitted life wasn’t always rosy.

“We are both very spontaneous and temperamental. And when we argue, it’s usually over typical things: why someone doesn’t put dirty clothes in the laundry basket, or why someone puts empty butter containers back in the fridge.

Sometimes we talk in capital letters, but we quickly make up,” Roponen said.

The Finnish ski star debuted in the World Cup back in 1998, competed in five Olympics and nine World Championships before retiring from the World Cup in 2023 at the age of 45.

Third Finnish Ski Star in Under a Year

Roponen is the third Finnish World Cup skier to speak publicly about a breakup and divorce in the past year. In June, Krista Pärmäkoski announced that she and her husband were divorcing after ten years of marriage.

In December, sprint World Cup winner Jasmi Joensuu revealed that her husband had filed for divorce.

Also Read: Cross-country star divorces after 10 years

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