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Woman Power Desk, Delhi Magazine: Ksenia Anatolyevna Sobchak is a journalist, blogger, politician, head of several media projects – “Caution, Sobchak” on YouTube, “Caution, News” and “Bloody Lady” on Telegram.
Ksenia Anatolyevna Sobchak is the daughter of the mayor of Leningrad Anatoly Sobchak, a Russian journalist, TV and radio presenter, actress, former member of the Coordination Council of the Russian Opposition (2012−2013). He is a popular character in the media covering show business and social life. She was a presidential candidate in the 2018 elections, finishing fourth with 1.68% of the vote.
Ksenia Sobchak was born in St. Petersburg on November 5, 1981 in the family of the first mayor of St. Petersburg Anatoly Sobchak and historian Lyudmila Narusova . Ksenia’s parents got married in 1980. She has Polish, Ukrainian, Czech, Jewish and Russian roots.
She was a lively and outspoken child who didn’t shy away from expressing herself. Viktor Zolotov made sure she stayed out of trouble and later became the head of the Russian Guard. She was baptized in 1993, with Father Gury from the Alexander Nevsky Lavra as her godfather.
As a kid, Ksenia Sobchak learned ballet at the Mariinsky Theater and art at the Hermitage. She finished school at the University of Herzen.
Her dad, Anatoly Sobchak, was a politician during perestroika and the first mayor of St. Petersburg. He faced difficulties during Yeltsin’s later years, hiding in friends’ dachas and in France. He played a significant role in Ksenia’s life.
Ksenia’s mom, Lyudmila Narusova, has been in the Federation Council since 2002. She’s the president of the St. Petersburg Public Foundation of Anatoly Sobchak and actively involved in human rights. She hosted the TV program “Freedom of Speech” and served as a State Duma deputy from 1996 to 1999. Since 2006, Narusova has led the Federation Council commission on information policy.
In 1998, Ksenia entered the Faculty of International Relations at St. Petersburg State University. She moved to Moscow in 2001, switched to the Faculty of International Relations at MGIMO, and earned a bachelor’s degree in 2002. She pursued a master’s program at MGIMO’s Faculty of Political Science starting in 2002.
Scandals and Criticism Surrounding Ksenia Sobchak
Ksenia Sobchak has faced increasing fame, media attention, and hype, portraying herself as a “socialite.” This has fueled her inclination towards public provocations, resulting in regular scandals.
In the fall of 2010, she engaged in a heated verbal altercation with renowned TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov during the filming of the “Girls” television program. The most intense part of the exchange, where Solovyov criticized Sobchak for her use of unfamiliar words and questioned her fashion expertise, was edited out.
Media criticism has frequently targeted Ksenia Sobchak for her involvement in television projects, especially “Dom-2,” which she hosted until 2012. The program has been criticized for embodying vulgarity and contributing to the moral decline promoted by modern liberal TV.
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Nikita Mikhalkov also criticized Sobchak in the Besogon TV program in 2014, describing her thinking as “petty-bourgeois.” Sobchak responded with a letter published on the Snob portal.
In the summer of 2016, while pregnant, Sobchak caused a scandal on a flight from St. Petersburg to Moscow due to a delayed departure. She swore at the flight attendant, blaming her for the delay, and threatened to handle the situation differently.
Social media posts by Sobchak often trigger controversies. In April 2015, a photo of her in church vestments with a false beard led to an investigation into insulting religious feelings, though this information was later refuted.
While she earns money from advertising on social networks, there have been reports suggesting potential tax evasion.
In 2020, Sobchak was removed from a flight at Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport for refusing to fasten her seatbelt until takeoff.
In June 2020, Sobchak and her film crew were attacked at the Sredneuralsky Convent in the Sverdlovsk region. She mentioned filing lawsuits and restoring erased materials related to the incident.
The fall of 2021 saw Sobchak involved in a car accident in Sochi, where a passenger was killed. The driver causing the accident was placed under house arrest, and Sobchak, who left the scene hastily, was questioned in Moscow as a witness.
Personal Life of Ksenia Sobchak
She first started a relationship at the age of eighteen. She said that this was necessary simply to escape from her parents.
Sobchak’s first young man was an entrepreneur, chairman of the board of directors of the Phoenix-Holding energy company Vyacheslav Leibman , whom she met in St. Petersburg in 1999, after entering MGIMO. The couple broke up after Sobchak suspected Leibman of having an affair with Anastasia Volochkova .
In 2001, Sobchak had an affair with the owner of the Radisson Slavyanskaya hotel, Umar Dzhabrailov , who is 23 years older than the woman. According to rumors, this was a winning PR relationship for Dzhabrailov.
In the summer of 2005, Sobchak canceled her wedding with American businessman Alexander Shusterovich. Later, she had relationships with ex-deputy of the State Duma Sergei Kapkov and politician Ilya Yashin. On February 1, 2013, she married Maxim Vitorgan , who is 9 years older than the socialite and has already been married twice.
Maxim Vitorgan, a renowned theater and film actor and the son of Soviet cinema star Emmanuel Vitorgan, is known for his independent work in films like “Radio Day,” “Election Day,” and “What Else Men Talk About.” He has also participated in comedy shows and recently starred in the film “Yana and Yanko.” Ksenia Sobchak, Vitorgan’s wife, revealed experiencing a near nervous breakdown while watching an intimate scene involving her husband and Olesya Sudzilovskaya on the big screen during a film screening. Despite this, she found solace in the fact that Sudzilovskaya resembled her beloved Robin Wright in the movie.
Ksenia Sobchak and Maxim Vitorgan have occasionally collaborated, notably in the 2015 play “Marriage” at the Theater of Nations. Sobchak, during her last month of pregnancy, posed nude for the cover of Tatler magazine, reminiscent of Demi Moore’s famous pregnancy shoot. She gave birth to a son named Plato in November 2015. The choice of the name sparked suggestions from Burger King to name the child “Kingo” for a monetary reward, and Sobchak considered naming him Anatoly after her late father. Ultimately, the child was named Plato, and Sobchak announced a change to her surname as Vitorgan-Sobchak to honor her grandfather Platon.
In 2018, Leningrad leader Sergei Shnurov commented on rumors about Sobchak’s potential separation from Maxim Vitorgan in a poem. Sobchak responded with strong language, criticizing those who speculated about her personal life.
In January 2022, news surfaced about a physical altercation between Maxim Vitorgan and director Konstantin Bogomolov, resulting in Bogomolov suffering a broken nose. Ksenia Sobchak did not directly comment on the incident but mentioned “large-scale problems” following the altercation.
Later, in March 2022, Ksenia Sobchak and Maxim Vitorgan announced their separation on social media. They clarified that they had been living separately for some time and were co-parenting their child. Subsequently, Sobchak married Konstantin Bogomolov in September 2019. The wedding, held at Petrovsky Passage shopping complex in Moscow, was reported to cost at least 16 million rubles. The couple arrived at the Griboyedovsky registry office in a hearse with the inscription “Till death do us part.”
In February 2020, Sobchak attracted attention with a nude photo alongside singer Glukoza and Yana Raskovalova, taken on the seashore, covering each other’s bare breasts with their hands.
The photo sparked both admiration and controversy among users.
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Ksenia Sobchak got interested in politics while working at GQ, but it became more serious in the 2000s. She voted for Putin in her first election, thinking it was the right choice. In December 2011, she supported protests against election falsification and took part in rallies. She didn’t join the “March of Millions” in May 2012. She and Navalny were detained in May 2012 during protests in Moscow. Her apartment was searched in June as part of an investigation, and money was confiscated but later returned.
In October 2012, she joined the Coordination Council of the Opposition, suggesting a move away from anti-Putin slogans and demanding reforms. The council ended a year later.
In 2017, Sobchak announced her participation in the presidential elections, running for the Civil Initiative party. She got 1.68% of the votes and took fourth place. She mentioned in an interview that the number of votes had no relation to her or her campaign. In 2019, she expressed willingness to go into politics again if she sees an opportunity. She worked on the development of the “Party of Changes” with Dmitry Gudkov.
In 2020, Sobchak became a member of the political council of the “Civil Initiative” party. In 2022, she was offered to head the party list in the Barnaul City Duma elections but declined due to being busy. After the party congress in March 2023, she was not included in the governing bodies of the “Civil Initiative.”
Films with Ksenia Sobchak
- 2004 – “Thieves and Prostitutes” – journalist-psychologist;
- 2007 – “Mad” – Margarita Lyamkina;
- 2007 – “The Best Film” – prostitute;
- 2008 – “Beauty requires…” – Ilma Peterson;
- 2008 – “Nobody Knows About Sex 2” – Arabella;
- 2008 – “Hitler is kaput!” — Eva Braun;
- 2008 – “Europe-Asia” – Ksyusha Sobchak;
- 2008 – “Artifact” – swearing;
- 2009 – “Golden Key” – Malvina;
- 2011 — “Moskva.ru”;
- 2012 – “A Short Course in a Happy Life” – Nadya;
- 2012 – “Rzhevsky against Napoleon” – Madame Ksyu-Ksyu;
- 2013 – “A Romance with Cocaine” – Sonya;
- 2013 – “Corporate Party”;
- 2017 — “Myths”;
- 2020 – “257 reasons to live” – Ksenia Sobchak;
- 2020 – “Project “Anna Nikolaevna” – talk show host;
- 2020 – “Number One” – Miroslava;
- 2020 – “A Good Person” – Larisa Veresh;
- 2020 – “Safe communications” – Natalya Petrovna;
- 2020 – “Love” – Ksenia Sobchak;
- 2021 – “Hook”.