Elena Vaenga - biography, photo, personal life of the singer. Ivan Matvienko - producer and ex-husband of Vaenga Vaenga's husband Roman Sadyrbaev

Many of those whom we are used to seeing on the TV screen or on the stage have made a lot of efforts to become the center of everyone's attention. And one of these purposeful individuals who managed to achieve fame and recognition was Elena Vaenga.

Her stage name is known not only to the domestic audience, but also abroad. Strong, beautiful and incredibly talented, from childhood she amazed her parents and other people from her environment with her abilities. This bright and eccentric performer of the modern stage can be treated differently, but most of the public does not leave Elena indifferent, touches the nerve, provokes emotions.

Therefore, the biography of Elena Vaenga, in particular her work and personal life, is of great interest to her person. It is to her, who got to the top of the stellar musical Olympus, that we decided to dedicate today's article.

The childhood of a charismatic singer

The star of the singer, whose fame was brought by the repertoire in the chanson genre, lit up very early. Her acting and singing talent manifested itself when little Lena was about three years old. The little girl was just beginning to learn dancing and playing the piano, which was quite easy for her.

Elena Vaenga was born in Severomorsk in the winter of 1977 (the exact date of birth is 01/27/1977). But now we know the singer under a pseudonym, and at birth the girl received her father's surname. Thus, the real name of the famous chanson performer is Elena Vladimirovna Khruleva. Her nationality is Russian.

The girl's father, Vladimir Khrulev, worked as an engineer at a local shipyard. Mother was a chemist by profession. Despite the fact that Elena Vladimirovna's paternal grandparents were city dwellers, the indigenous inhabitants of St. Petersburg, the baby's parents decided to set off to explore the northern expanses and went to the Murmansk region. Later, when Vaenga grows up, she will even write a song dedicated to her native North and her father (her name is “Papa, draw!”).

In addition to Elena, the family had two more children: the eldest daughter, Inna (by father, Elena's half-sister) and the youngest, Tatyana. Parents brought up all the girls in strictness and from childhood tried to instill in them the habit of order and discipline. Therefore, the little ones had practically no time for idleness - each of their days was scheduled literally by the minute, it began with morning exercises and necessarily included extracurricular activities and household chores.

First steps to glory

Already at the age of three, Elena Vaenga, whose biography and personal life are presented here, began to dance and could repeat any melody played by her father on the piano, thereby demonstrating perfect pitch. And at the age of nine, Lenochka had already written the text of her first song. It was then that the parents decided to seriously engage in the development of their daughter's creative talent and enrolled her in a music school.

Since that time, the future winner of the Golden Gramophone award and popularly beloved singer Elena Vaenga began to diligently, step by step, lay the foundations of her musical career. She wrote poems and performed them herself at various competitions in order to gain precious experience and learn the basics of stagecraft. Without graduating from high school, the future Russian pop star Elena Vaenga (Khruleva) decided to go to the northern capital to enter a music university.

But the promising and talented singer Elena Vaenga did not manage to enter the institute the first time due to the lack of a certificate of secondary education. Therefore, instead of a university, the girl was forced to go back to school in order to finish her last grade. Then she applied for the piano department of the Rimsky-Korsakov Music College in St. Petersburg, from which she graduated with a diploma of a teacher and accompanist.

After completing her studies, Elena began teaching at a music school, while doing vocals. But on this Elena Vaenga, the latest news from whose life is now constantly covered in the media, decided not to stop. Soon Elena Vladimirovna, at that moment already a married woman, applied to the Theater Academy in St. Petersburg, successfully entered there, but studied for only two months.

The fact is that the girl preferred the career of a singer to her childhood dream of becoming an actress, because one of the well-known metropolitan producers became interested in Elena's composing experiments and invited her to Moscow. So, after two months of training at the Theater Academy in St. Petersburg, Elena Vaenga, the future owner of the Golden Gramophone, leaves to record her first album.

Bitter experience and the taste of victory

However, having no experience in show business, Vaenga entered into a very unfavorable contract for herself. Producer Stepan Razin, who invited our heroine to the capital, of course, helped Elena record her first album. But his demands proved too much for the aspiring pop star, who was behind the scenes of the music industry for the first time. She ran away from her producer and returned to St. Petersburg.

To compensate for the damage, Razin resold all the songs of Elena Vaenga. So, the text and music of the composition "The Bride" went to A. Marshal, the song "Thin Twig" - to the girls from "Shooter", the words of the song "My Favorite" - to the pop group "Ladybug", etc.

This turn was very unexpected for Elena Vaenga. She did not want to prove her authorship through the courts, but she was very disappointed in show business and even decided that this area of ​​\u200b\u200bcreativity was not for her. But the music attracted Elena, which the husband of our heroine noticed every day. He persuaded the promising performer to try his hand at the music scene again.

So, in 2003, thanks to the incredible efforts of Elena Khruleva and the powerful support of her husband, the collection of compositions “Portrait” was released. On the eve of its release, the girl decides to take a creative pseudonym, and therefore the new disc did not indicate Elena's real name - Khruleva, but the pseudonym - Vaenga. The performer, on the advice of her mother, decided to use as a stage name the name of the Vaenga River, which flows near the hometown of the heroine of our story.

The record attracted the attention of the musical public of St. Petersburg, but did not go beyond the city on the Neva. Despite this, the promising performer was noticed by the organizers of concert tours and festivals, who began to invite singer Elena Vaenga to participate in musical events, and news from the world of show business increasingly began to repeat her name.

And two years later, she was able to release her new album, which included 23 author's compositions by Elena Vaenga, among which the listeners especially appreciated the songs "Smoke", "Cities", "Airport", "Absinthe" and the composition, the name of which gave the name to the entire album , - "White bird".

This disc proved to be more successful. Vaenga got her first fans, her songs began to take high places in the charts. Mega-popularity came to Elena Khruleva in 2011, after the release of the performer's collection in DVD format, although before that the discography of the Russian celebrity was replenished with new albums four times (in 2006, twice in 2007 and back in 2008). In addition, five clips were shot - the pop star stopped at this number, since she does not favor such a format for presenting her musical creativity.

In total, the discography of the popular pop singer Elena Vaenga includes 10 collections with her author's compositions. A list of them, as well as release dates, can be found on the Wikipedia page. Currently, the pop star continues to create and delight his fans with new programs, touring throughout Russia and abroad.

Under the gun: private life

The press tirelessly discusses the creative activities of Elena Vaenga, as well as her personal life. And she, by the way, began to take shape successfully for the heroine of our article back in 1995, when an eighteen-year-old student Elena met her future husband (civilian) - Ivan Matvienko.

Despite the age of the man (he is twenty years older than Elena Vaenga), as well as his belonging to the gypsy family, their relationship was happy and long-lasting. Elena Vaenga (Khruleva) and Ivan Matvienko lived together for more than fifteen years. He was for her not only a lover and true friend, but also the main sponsor.

However, Elena Vaenga, whose children did not appear in this union, at some point considered her long-term romance with Matvienko to be a hopeless relationship. And because the famous performer decided to leave her husband. This event gave rise to a lot of gossip around our heroine. And since there were no comments on this matter, Elena Vaenga's personal life was under the gun of paparazzi cameras.

The singer was credited with numerous novels with different men. One of them was in 2012 Mikhail Blinov, a childhood friend and personal driver of the star. But these rumors were denied even by the ex-husband of Elena Vaenga - Matvienko. Later, after about 2 years, Elena Vaenga and Mikhail Bublik performed in the New Year's "light" together, performing the impromptu song "What We Have Done." After the appearance of this duet, many considered them a couple.

In fact, at that time Elena Vaenga was in a romantic relationship, but did not advertise them. Only after some time it became known that the singer had an affair with a colleague - a drummer from her group. Elena Vaenga, for whom the family had never been in the first place before, began to devote more time to her lover, Roman Sadyrbaev.

In the summer of 2012, Elena Vaenga gave birth to his son. The boy, who was born on August 10, 2012 in one of the St. Petersburg maternity hospitals, received the original Russian name Ivan. But the wedding of Elena Vaenga, with all the honors and the official part, took place only four years later - in September 2016.

The current husband of the famous pop singer Vaenga is touring with his wife, while Elena's parents are raising their son. The singer is trying to arrange a joint annual vacation for the whole family in Cyprus. Sometimes Elena Vaenga, her son and beloved husband Roman Sadyrbaev go on concert tours with the whole family.

Not so often Elena Vaenga gives interviews. Usually in them she does not comment on her personal life. Sometimes fresh photos of Elena Vaenga are published in the media, in which her little son is also present. Now she leads an active concert activity, traveling all over the country. The singer constantly lives in a prestigious house on the Fontanka embankment (in St. Petersburg). By the way, the neighbor of the national pop star, who lives on the floor below, is her former civil husband Matvienko.

In the past few years, Elena Vaenga has maintained an excellent physical shape. Before the wedding, she lost a lot of weight, which caused a storm of enthusiastic emotions from her fans. Despite her age (this year the singer celebrated her 41st birthday), Vaenga looks just great. Author: Elena Suvorova

Many will probably be surprised that Elena Vaenga, whose biography will be the topic for consideration in this article, gained the love of millions of listeners without the help of any producers and fabulous sums invested in development. In order to become popular, and perhaps, in the near future, the second after Alla Borisovna, Elena needed only one thing - talent. The biography of Elena Vaenga is full of interesting facts and unexpected twists of fate. Fans will certainly be interested to know about the life of their idol.

Biography of Elena Vaenga: from birth, not like everyone else

Even the singer was born in special romantic conditions: on a dead dark night, in a small town of five thousand inhabitants, located on the shores of the Arctic Ocean. It happened in 1977, on January 27th. Elena's parents were shipbuilding engineers at that time, but they realized very early that the child would not follow in their footsteps. The girl at an early age showed her talent for music. One day my father played a simple melody on the piano. But such was it for a person who knows the notes and at least somehow plays a musical instrument, and Elena, being a three-year-old girl, repeated it with ease. At the age of six, Lena began attending a music school, and since then music has become her life - she gave her 12 hours of her time every day. The talented girl wrote her first music at the age of nine, and at eleven the first author's song appeared. As a teenager, she became a "volley" to create her works, participated in all kinds of competitions, which, according to her, did not help her in terms of promotion, but gave invaluable experience of being on stage.

Biography of Elena Vaenga:

When Elena was a high school student, her parents seriously thought about her higher musical education and decided to send her daughter to St. Petersburg, to her grandmother, to enter the Music College. Rimsky-Korsakov. But, as it turned out, Elena's preparation was very weak for such an educational institution, and she failed the solfeggio exam. She stayed for another year at her native music school, re-learned the most difficult subject - solfeggio, and in 1994 she finally became a student.

The biography of Elena Vaenga describes another side of her talent. After graduating from the music school, the singer decided to realize another of her childhood dreams - to become an actress. And she entered the theater academy in St. Petersburg. But after three months she dropped out of school and went to Moscow, where she was invited to record an album. She could not refuse such a tempting offer, but when she saw the world of Russian show business from the inside, she was very disappointed. As it turned out, Moscow producers did not need Vaenga, they needed her songs, which were given to other performers.

Biography of Elena Vaenga: gaining fame

The singer returned to St. Petersburg and decided to continue "becoming an actress", she entered the acting department of the Baltic Institute of Economics, Law and Politics. Having plunged into the world of the theater, she imperceptibly established a musical career. She recorded the first album, went on her first tour around the country. And here they are - nationwide love and recognition!

Elena Vaenga: biography. Husband, children

The singer got married early, at the age of 18. Her life partner is Ivan Matvienko, who accidentally gave her a ride when Elena was in a hurry somewhere. For full-fledged female happiness, Elena lacks only the baby, whom she has long dreamed of.

Elena Vaenga got married. The singer has already appeared in a wedding dress, and also shared a photo of wedding rings and her husband.

Popular singer Elena Vaenga got married on September 30. The chanson star and her lover decided to tie their fates in one of the registry offices of St. Petersburg.

As the journalists managed to find out, the musician from her group Roman Sadyrbaev became the chosen one of Vaenga. They preferred not to advertise their relationship, arguing that happiness loves silence. However, emotions in front of the registry office covered Elena with her head.

"I know. Very, very close people know what is happening to me. Girlish state. Life, of course, is not sugar honey, but at times it is simply incredibly cool! - the singer wrote on the eve of the ceremony in her microblog. – I think that I am a good person if I am loved by kind, good hearted people... And care and help... I feel care as if about a child or a sister... Tomorrow... Tomorrow I will hug everyone and will cry from happiness... Eh... Life is beautiful... Lord. Thanks".

The holiday turned out to be double. On September 30, Vaenga's grandmother turned 90 years old. “I will cry tomorrow. My grandmother Nadezhda Georgievna is 90 years old. Probably, after the birth of my son, this is the most significant event in my life, - Elena admitted. - She survived. We survived. Already now I bow low at the feet of the girls for their titanic help in preparation. Julia, Ksyu, Mashulya, thank you! So much love, care, attention and kindness. I felt like a family and a close person. Tomorrow we will congratulate our grandmother. The gifts are ready. Waiting for tomorrow. 90... I'm crying again. Who is with me tomorrow, I wait and hug.

They say that it was from her now husband Roman that the artist gave birth to a son in August 2012. By a mysterious coincidence, shortly before the birth of the child, Vaenga broke up with Ivan Matvienko, with whom she had been living in an unregistered marriage for 16 years. Interestingly, she named her son Ivan. However, when asked who his father was, Elena did not give an answer.

A year later, with a small media, they learned the secret of the singer. The chanson star first published a photo of Sadyrbaev on Instagram. She commented on the picture briefly: “And dad with a sword.” Why did Elena decide to change her principle and still posted a picture with her beloved? Is she expecting her second child? Such thoughts are also suggested by the photo that the singer recently published. Not even the picture itself, but the caption to it. Vaenga posted an image of a little girl and signed it like this: “#want.”

Note that the singer has repeatedly published a photo of a man, calling him "dad". That's just the face of this "dad" was never seen. Fans all wondered: who does she mean - her father or the father of little Vanya?

Ivan Ivanovich Matvienko is a Russian producer and ex-husband of the popular singer Elena Vaenga (Khruleva). In the past, he was involved in the development of her career. The couple is currently divorced.

Meeting your future wife

It happened rather unexpectedly. At that moment, Ivan was already a wealthy person. And Elena was barely eighteen. Matvienko then traveled in his own convertible around St. Petersburg. Suddenly, a girl ran out into the road and waved her hand. Ivan braked sharply, otherwise she would have fallen under the wheels. It turned out that the girl just wanted to be picked up. Elena, dressed in a light blouse and a short skirt, immediately liked Matvienko. Well, long hair (almost to the knees) only enhanced her charm. On the way, Ivan asked Khruleva about her occupation. The beauty replied that she was studying vocals at the Rimsky-Korsakov School. And Matvienko's whole family was musical, and he himself played the guitar since childhood. In general, topics for communication were found very quickly. They exchanged phone numbers and agreed to meet the next day.

When Ivan came for her, the girl took the guitar, the young people went to Matvienko's friend. Elena sang to the guys, and the future producer fell in love with her. But the ensuing Romance was not to the taste of Khruleva's strict father. After a family quarrel, Elena moved to live with Ivan.

difficult period

At that time, the situation in the country was quite difficult. To feed his family, the future producer had to look for a new job, as the profession of a watchmaker brought him almost nothing. Soon Ivan Matvienko was engaged in driving cars from abroad. This work was very dangerous. All the money earned went to the development of his wife's career - the girl needed to pay for the studios and buy costumes.

At that time, Khruleva could not boast of much fame. Although her performances were often marked by various certificates of honor and diplomas. Elena had almost no time for household chores. Also, regular moving did not add comfort - the hero of this article also had to sell his apartment.

New profession

At a certain stage, Ivan Matvienko decided to take his wife's career seriously and declared himself Elena's official producer. And the first step was to change the pseudonym. Ivan's wife decided to take the surname Vaenga, in honor of the river near which she was born. And then the newly minted producer had a hard time - he lacked the connections necessary in this profession. Therefore, for some time, Elena collaborated with the gypsy team "Cabriolet". I had to perform at small concert venues in front of several dozen people.

Career Development

In 1998, Ivan Matvienko took his wife's professional recording to the Russian Chanson radio station in St. Petersburg. The station management decided to give Vaenga some airtime in the Night Taxi program and did not fail - the listeners really liked Elena's singing. Over time, Ivan's wife became popular and completely immersed herself in show business. For this reason, Vaenga had to sacrifice her personal life and rarely see her husband. Most of the tours and concerts required the regular presence of Elena in Moscow. The singer firmly settled in the capital's hotels. Although Vaenga did not manage to conquer Moscow immediately - the artist's first attempt ended in failure. Khruleva returned to St. Petersburg to "lick her wounds." But Ivan Matvienko convinced his wife to make a second attempt. This time, Elena managed to gain a foothold in the capital.

Parting

Constant traveling affected the relationship between Matvienko and Vaenga. For some time, Ivan tried to distract himself by promoting his talented sister, Raisa Otradnaya. But the producer could not completely get rid of sad thoughts. Now the spouses had enough money to live on - Vaenga received quite substantial fees for performances. It was rumored that the singer's seasonal income had long exceeded the $1 million mark. And Ivan Ivanovich Matvienko forgot about his turbulent past associated with driving cars. Now he spent a lot of time at home watching TV. The spouses were very upset by the forced separation, especially Ivan Matvienko. Vaenga's husband just left home before the singer's next birthday.

Divorce

In 2011, Elena divorced her husband. For a year, she carefully concealed this fact from the general public. But in the end, everything became known. It is worth noting that Elena Vaenga and Ivan Matvienko, whose biography was published in many media, managed to maintain warm friendly relations.

“When Ivan grows up a little, I hope he will live with me. While he is under the supervision of his grandparents, he has a great room there, ”says Elena Vaenga, who invited 7D correspondents to her new apartment in the center of St. Petersburg.

Elena, how long ago did you get this apartment in the center of St. Petersburg?

Three years ago, but all this time I finished it. I was helped by a designer and my friend, an honored builder of Russia, but without false modesty I will say: I completely did the repair myself.

I personally went to the store for any screw and nut, picking up every little thing. And then not everything is ready: I ​​can’t find simple black chairs for the dining room and a TV cabinet. Furniture in the “Hermitage” style is sold everywhere - “expensive and rich”. And I love high-tech, clear lines, discreet colors. As they say, "kvadratish, praktish, gut." I believe that the situation in the apartment is a complete reflection of the human character. At my house, everything should be smooth, simple, closed, cleaned inside. Nothing should be left outside, with rare exceptions. Unless flowers, photographs, books… The inner world should be richer than what is outside!

- Why did you choose this particular apartment?

Uncle Vanya lives on the floor below - that's what I call Ivan Matvienko (producer of the singer. - Approx. ed.). Now Matvienko and I joke that it remains only to cut through the stairs in order to visit each other. Maybe one day we will do this ... Even the Christmas trees we had this year were “related”. Mine is all in white and red balls - “for girls”, and for Uncle Vanya, Victoria and I (administrator of the singer. - Approx. ed.) dressed up a Christmas tree in blue colors - “for a boy”. Even in Uncle Vanya's apartment, there are paintings that he paints himself. Recently finished a painting with a horse. And he called her Vaenga! As they say, "do not part with your loved ones" ...

- So you are still not strangers to each other?

Our relationship is so complicated that it is impossible to explain in a nutshell. How much they made up about us!

And explain why I took it. But if it does not help, you will have to use weapons. Or put it on the table and say: "You are not worthy of me hitting you." They say that I am an iron lady with a tough character. They also call me a militant Christian. Indeed, I am very sharp and uncompromising in matters of faith, Motherland, parents and family traditional foundations of my nationality. Perhaps my character is dominated by qualities usually characteristic of men. It's all about parenting. My childhood passed according to a clear schedule. It's the girl's! I can't even imagine my son in such a situation now. Time was distributed by minutes, the schedule lay on the table under glass. At six in the morning, getting up, jogging in any weather, upon returning - shower, breakfast, school, lunch, cleaning, lessons, music, artist or skiing.

Only when I was sick could I sit back, but otherwise my “I don’t want” or “I can’t” didn’t bother anyone. Did you pay a fine? Vacuum the apartment or wash the dishes out of turn. Did you excel in something? Well done, so you will not vacuum and wash the dishes out of turn. Yes, it looks like an army, but I am very grateful to my dad for the harsh upbringing. Vanya's parents are not happy with this, but, on the other hand, he is still a year and a half old. My mother, a very religious person, takes her grandson to church and gives him communion. While the baby does not understand how to be baptized, he looks at his grandmother and also diligently touches his forehead and shoulders with his finger. Grandmother kisses the icon, and he stretches. It is very sad that I myself do not have enough time for this, but what should I do if I am the only breadwinner? And I’m still lucky, but imagine what it’s like for women who raise three people alone, plow in four shifts at the factory?

Everyone wants to be aristocrats with billions in accounts, so that mom and dad are constantly at home, and 25 children are fed, dressed and taught. But in my situation, it remains either to shed tears, or to work for days! Therefore, I do not dare to take the baby from the orphanage, although such thoughts are often visited. But to adopt a child and shove it to grandparents - what is it? We must first fix the current situation.

- By the way, why is there no nursery in your apartment?

Because the son lives with his grandparents. Vanya has a great room there. He knows the new housing as "mom's office." It was the same for me as a child. When dad - still in Vyuzhnoye - started doing business, he practically moved to a neighboring apartment.

And through the balcony he went home for lunch, then returned back to his “office” and worked. Apparently, children imitate their parents. But I hope that when Ivan grows up a little, he will live with me. And now my son is generally in Cyprus, where I sent him to spend the winter with my parents. You know, I discovered that Cyprus is an island of Russians. Because there are many of our women with strollers: mothers, grandmothers, sisters, governesses. There is an opinion that going to Cyprus for the winter is terribly expensive, but this is not so. Even now, a joke has appeared on the Internet: I calculated how much it costs to dress a child for the winter, and decided that it would be cheaper to send him to Thailand. I know that many people rent out their apartments in Moscow or St. Petersburg and use this money to rent a house in warm countries, and they still have money to live on.

Of course, I was worried: how could it be, Vanechka is far away, in another country, without a mother. She reproached herself, even cried at night for the first time. But at the end of December I came to visit them: my mother and I were swimming in the sea, and my son was sitting on the shore in some swimming trunks and sorting through the pebbles. And my heart was relieved, because such conditions cannot be compared with winter St. Petersburg! “You, son, swim further with your grandparents, and your mother flew to Novosibirsk to work hard!” I told him goodbye.

- Can't you take a child with you on tour?

Sometimes it works out. Soon I will go on tour to Israel, so Vanya and my parents will go with me. But basically, until spring, they will stay in Cyprus, visiting my friend Inna.

She settled there with her family a long time ago and this year invited my parents and Vanechka to stay with her. Grandparents do not leave Vanya a single step, they strictly monitor the diet and sleep. My dad himself cooks soups for his grandson: potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, sometimes fish. And no concentrates or canned food! I am immensely grateful to him, because he, like my mother, literally disappeared in Van. Of course, my father wants to relax, go to a cafe or just drink a glass of beer on the beach, but he does not allow himself this. I arrive: "Dad, mom, let's go to a restaurant in the evening!" And they answered me: “In no case, Vanyusha should go to bed exactly at one o'clock, and before that there is still a lot of things to do.” Until lights out, the child can even stand on his head, but go to bed - right on schedule. And I'm not even trying to break this system somehow, because so far my son has only two bosses - grandparents, who are busy with him, play, feed, read fairy tales, sing lullabies.

Especially the grandmother. You need to hear how the son says: "Baba." Not “mom”, not “dad”, not “grandfather”, it is the grandmother who is the most important person for him. They cannot live without each other, even Vanya prefers to sleep not in mine, but in grandma's room. Although she repeats to him every day: “Vanya, mom and dad love you very much, and only they are the most important people in life!”

- And you yourself did not want to stay with your son at sea?

I would be happy to spend the whole winter with my family by the sea, but work does not let go. I came to them before the New Year to celebrate Christmas together - on December 25, as is customary in Cyprus. She brought excellent gifts for everyone: bed linen from Ivanovo, butter from Vologda, and a whole suitcase of Christmas decorations.

I love decorating a live, fluffy Christmas tree... There are a lot of Christmas tree markets around the city, and traders, not having time to sell all the trees, often just throw away the extra ones. And my heart bleeds from such barbarity! She collected abandoned Christmas trees and distributed them to everyone in a row. She pestered her driver: “Did you put up a Christmas tree? How so, artificial?! Here is a living one for you, dress up for a child! What can we say about how I went to great lengths for the first Christmas tree in Vanya's life. I collected twenty handmade wooden dolls in national costumes, Baba Yaga, Father Frost, Snow Maiden. I was looking for these jewelry throughout Russia: in Ivanovo, and in Pereslavl-Zalessky, and in Kostroma, and they were quite inexpensive, an average of 200 rubles apiece. And at the Cypriot Christmas market, I bought him a red-nosed deer Rudolf - the head of Santa Claus's team.

I wanted to buy another bunch of gifts, but there was not enough money for the rest. The fact is that I went to the market with a bank card, and they only accept cash, which I have - four euros. I want to try mulled wine, buy something, I hold out my card everywhere, and the sellers just shake their heads. I go to the horror room and ask how much it costs. They tell me: “Four euros. Cash." Sorry, I say, it's too expensive for me. And she left. I told my friends later, we laughed so hard! She lived, four euros is dear to me ... Finally, I reached the rows with toys, and among them was Rudolf. The deer turned out to be heavy, because the paws are stuffed with sand and weigh a kilogram and a half, but I liked him extremely. Almost without hope, I hold out my card, and the seller nods in agreement: “Come on!”

And so she left the fair without mulled wine, but with Rudolf. In the evening I put a toy under the door of Vanya's room, I wake up in the morning and hear: tsok-tsok-tsok all over the house. The son has found a gift and is dragging it behind him, his paws are beating on the floor. Now they are inseparable from the deer.

- And you, therefore, returned to working days ...

From Cyprus, I immediately flew to Novosibirsk for a concert, then home, to St. Petersburg, to prepare for the New Year. I was going to celebrate the holiday with my beloved grandmother - Nadezhda Georgievna, the widow of Rear Admiral of the Northern Fleet. Like any officer's wife, she followed him throughout the Soviet Union. She said: “Lena, in the Baltic States we lived in a wooden house.

There is a cradle on the floor, in which your mother is snoring, and I am afraid to put my foot down from the bed, because there are rats running around. But they can even climb into a crib! To this day, when going to a restaurant with me, my grandmother winds curlers at night, and she doesn’t even go to the store without lipstick. This is our difference: she is a real lady, but I can’t say the same about myself. Grandmother constantly teaches either me or my mother: “Comb your hair! You can't walk around like that!" Another grandmother is an experienced winemaker, and she will not refuse good wine even at her 88 years old. So, I really wanted to sit on New Year's Eve with my grandmother, because for her it is especially important. Even in Cyprus, I made a wish to the local Santa Claus: “Darling, make sure that I sit at home with my Nadezhda Georgievna under the chimes!” Then she told this story in the program "Evening Urgant", and Vanya jokingly turned to the audience: "Do not invite Vaenga to your corporate parties!"

No, they still called and offered a concert, and very far from St. Petersburg. It would seem, give up and stay at home! But the parents and the grandmother herself did not allow. Dad, a man of the old school, scolded me sternly: “It can be seen that you didn’t live badly! I forgot how it is when there are no tours and no one invites you to concerts? And now you're popular, so what can you buck? Like, I don’t want to sing, I want Olivier and a Christmas tree? You provide for the family, so, dear, got up and went to work! And the grandmother added: “Lena, together we can sit on the first day. At 88, I don’t need your Olivier and champagne at midnight!” At the airport, I almost whimpered! The customs officer, checking my passport, smiled: “You are lucky, this year there are very few artists working on holidays.” And I almost begged: “Here, don’t let me in, leave me at home!”

But in the end, I'm glad I went to that concert, because it's always good on stage, I'm doing what I love. Yes, and I returned already on January 1 at ten in the morning and immediately went shopping with my director. I looked at the prices and admitted: yes, it’s good that I worked.

How important is money to you in general?

Do not think that money is the main thing and for the sake of them I will give up everything. I just knew from childhood what “necessary” means. “Whether I want or not,” explained mom and dad, “you will tell your husband when you get married. In the meantime, you only have duties.

- And how do you relax?

I love watching horror films. This is absolutely my genre! But melodrama is hard to bear. A touching ending - and my eyes are wet. Maybe it's because I'm trying to somehow try these stories on myself? After all, my personal life is complicated, very complicated, and popularity has played a cruel joke on me. I recently had dinner at a restaurant with a man, so five people came up for autographs, and some woman filmed me all evening on the phone from the next table. Naturally, after that my friend said: “I won’t go anywhere else with you, this is crazy!” Thank you, unknown woman, for spoiling the relationship!

- Are you not one of those artists who willingly sign autographs?

I will never refuse an autograph to people on the street, in a store, but why bother at dinner when the girl is alone with her boyfriend?

I myself will not even approach people I know in such a situation. For example, I have known Maxim Galkin for a long time, but I won’t rush to him with a shout of “Hello!” When he is busy with other things. Alexander Rosenbaum is another matter: we have been friends for so long that Alexander Yakovlevich will also threaten me with his fist if I do not say hello. But people have a different logic: Vaenga is having dinner with a man - this is certainly either a lover or the father of her son, you need to take a closer look and write on the Internet. Previously, such rumors and interference in my personal life upset me, made me angry, but now I have become more tolerant. I will wait a very long time before throwing myself into a fight. The other day I had a big fight with a friend who for three years climbed into my personal life in the most shameless way. Tried the details, gave advice about and without.

I braced myself, braced myself, but finally told her everything on the phone. And how she said it! Those who were nearby turned pale, and her friend barely squeaked: "Lena, I'm afraid of you ..." So don't bring me up! I'm not afraid to tell people the truth in person, to hack off the shoulder, although after the birth of my son I became more diplomatic, even hypocritical. I am silent, instead of yelling, I smile when I want to rush with my fists. Because the maternal instinct suggests that in this way it will be better to protect your child.

- To be honest, it's hard to imagine you being reserved and diplomatic...

Yes, I am a noisy, energetic, charismatic, emotionally unbalanced person. (Laughs.) No wonder my friends called me Lenenergo.

One person told me: my main problem is that I'm used to it - the world revolves around me. Yes, it's probably bad quality! Sometimes I call at three in the morning: “We went to the photo site.” And for some reason no one will ever answer: “Elena Vladimirovna, look at your watch, please. When the morning comes, then I'll do it." No, everyone tolerates me. Although, if they answered like that, I would immediately apologize and hang up. At the same time, everyone knows that you can call me at three in the morning and say: “Lena, I have a problem” - and I will instantly rush to help. I don't care if it's night or day. If a person calls, then it is necessary. That's why no one refuses me, I guess...