Eli Rygg

Eli Rygg was born on 22 September 1955 and grew up in Veblungsnes, a small community close to Åndalsnes in Rauma Municipality, Møre og Romsdal, on the west coast of Norway. At the age of 12 she moved with her family to Levanger in Trøndelag.

Her childhood was harder than her sunny television image suggested. She lost her mother when she was 14, an experience she said left her with a deep fear of death, and in her 2015 autobiography she wrote that she had been subjected to sexual abuse as a child. These experiences later became a driving force in her work with children.

Rygg attended folk high schools in Skogn and Inderøy in Trøndelag. She became a teenage mother to a daughter in 1973, and then trained in domestic science and childcare at Skatval. She qualified as a barnepleier (childcare worker) and worked in Stjørdal before television called. She also had a background as an environmental worker (miljøarbeider).

In 1985 the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) drafted Rygg to Oslo to present the new children's series Portveien 2. Filmed partly at a cabin in the Hjemmets Kolonihager allotment garden at Bjølsen in Oslo, the series invited the youngest viewers into a little red house full of songs, games, fairytales, nature and everyday feelings. She presented it alongside Jarl Goli and later Terje Strømdahl, with the mischievous giraffe puppet Raffen, which no one else in the house could see. NRK made 143 episodes between 1985 and 1987, including a spin-off Christmas calendar. Songs written for the series by Eyvind Skeie and Sigvald Tveit, such as Tenn lys, Morgendagens søsken and Fire elementer, became lasting Norwegian children's songs. In 1987 Se og Hør readers voted her TV personality of the year.

She went on to host Teodors julekalender and Frokost-TV on NRK1, Barn ingen hindring on NRK2 and the children's radio programme Revehiet on P4 Radio Hele Norge. She toured as a fairytale teller, including with backing from Concerts Norway (Rikskonsertene), and wrote the children's column Barnekroken for the A-pressen group for several years.

Alongside television she worked in child welfare (barnevernet), following up children and families in difficult situations, and as a family guide. She held talks and courses for children and adults, and kept working with entertainment and lectures until her last years.

Rygg recorded a long series of children's albums, including Velkommen til Portveien (1985) and Flere sanger fra Portveien (1986) with Jarl Goli, Glade jul (1985), Norske folkeeventyr (1986), Bli med til Portveien (1987) and Jul i Portveien med Eli og Terje (1988) with Terje Strømdahl, Gi barn syn: Portveiens beste (1988), Ballongen som fløy (1989) with texts by André Bjerke, Karry Kalkun og frokostfrakken (1989), Julestri og adventstid hos Eli og Teodor (1991), Rødfargen som forsvant (1994), Eli Rygg leser Peter og ulven og Tubaen Tobby (1997) and Julestemning med Eli Rygg (2000). She also took part in many other children's recordings, among them the Pulverheksa audio stories by Ingunn Aamodt, and lent her voice to a long list of audiobooks.

She made her debut as a children's author in 1998. Her books include Hvor gammel blir en bølge? (2001), about grief and dying young; Jeg sa ikke kom inn (2005, Gyldendal), about sexual abuse of children; Koppen med skår i: En bok om skilsmisse (2007, Gyldendal), about divorce; Jeg er meg! Min meg (2009, with Margrete Wiede Aasland), about the body, feelings, touch and children's right to decide over their own bodies; and her autobiography Jeg vet at man kan bli helt glad igjen: min historie (2015).

Rygg had three children: two daughters and a son. Her family named them as Leah Marie Rygg Hovland, Camilla Rygg and Marcus Benedict Rygg Kirkham. Her first daughter was born in 1973, when Rygg was a teenager. For many years she lived in Son, in Vestby on the Oslofjord.

She spoke openly about her health. In 2017 she suffered a massive heart attack, and in 2018 she told VG that her heart functioned at only around 30 percent of normal capacity. In the early 2020s she was diagnosed with serious bladder cancer (Klikk dated the diagnosis to 2021 and VG to 2022), and she described the long, tiring treatment and the rest and reflection it brought.

Children's rights, care and mental health were the thread through Rygg's life. She believed difficult subjects such as death, grief, divorce and abuse should be talked about with children in words they could understand, and she wrote books precisely on those themes. After losing her mother young she was long afraid of dying, and she said she took a course to learn not to fear death. In later interviews she repeated that we must accept that we are mortal, and that the gift of being born is that we will one day die.

At 70 she told Moss Avis that she understood she could not change the world, but wanted to help as many children as possible, something that had been on her mind all her life.

For a whole generation of Norwegians, Eli Rygg was the warm, smiling presenter of Portveien 2, remembered for her infectious laugh and her ability to talk to children on their own terms. The songs she sang on the series, especially Tenn lys and Morgendagens søsken, became lasting Norwegian children's songs.

Her later books and her candid autobiography gave her a second legacy as one of the Norwegian public figures who spoke openly about child sexual abuse, grief and self-esteem, and her work with Margrete Wiede Aasland on body boundaries was recognised with the DIXI Prize. When she died, NRK, VG, TV 2, Aftenposten and other outlets led with tributes, and her Portveien 2 colleague Terje Strømdahl called her an important presenter for children growing up.

1987: Årets TV-navn (TV personality of the year), voted by readers of Se og Hør.

2012: DIXI Prize, shared with Margrete Wiede Aasland, in part for the book Jeg er meg! Min meg, which teaches children about sexuality and sexual abuse.

Eli Rygg died in the night to Thursday 15 October 2026, aged 71, with her closest family around her, after a long illness. Her daughter Leah Marie Rygg Hovland announced the death on Facebook that morning, writing that their beloved mother, everyone's dear Eli Rygg, had fallen peacefully asleep, and that she would always live on in all the light and warmth and all the good she taught. The family asked for understanding during a difficult time and thanked the public for the warm words about her.

She had spoken publicly about bladder cancer and earlier heart problems, but the family did not give a specific cause beyond a long illness. Funeral arrangements had not been made public at the time of writing.