Background
After the divorce, Mette-Marit grew up with her mother, stepfather, and siblings, while visiting her father regularly on weekends.
After the divorce, Mette-Marit grew up with her mother, stepfather, and siblings, while visiting her father regularly on weekends.
He and Mette-Marit"s mother Marit Tjessem divorced in 1984. Høiby worked for several years as a journalist in a local newspaper and as a small-scale advertiser and publisher in his hometown. By the time his daughter"s relationship to the Crown Prince was publicly known, he had retired from working and was receiving a disability pension.
The national tabloids and especially the gossip magazine Se og Hør printed several stories where he gave interviews and was presented in less-than-flattering situations.
"En helt vanlig dag på jobben" ("Just another day at the office"), a book published by former Se og Hør journalist Håvard Melnæs, who knew Høiby personally, reveals that Høiby was being paid up to 400,000 Norwegian krone a year by the magazine to appear in articles, and for sharing private pictures and information about his daughter"s childhood. The magazine even purchased a mobile phone for him (he couldn"t afford one himself) and paid his phone bills as a bonus for his "services".
The couple divorced after three months. At their wedding, folk singer Sputnik was best manitoba
The magazine and other tabloids have been criticized for taking advantage of a man who seemed to have a less than sound judgment on what kind of articles to participate in.
In his book Melnæs reveals that as Høiby had financial problems, he could not afford to say "no" to any suggestions from Se og Hør. On 25 August 2006 Høiby told Se og Hør that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer and he died on 21 March 2007, aged 70. In his younger days, he participated in athletics.
He represented the club Kristiansands IF.