SKATING... ON THE COUCH
The Mystery of the divorce of Averbuch and Lobacheva analyzed.
Translation of an article by Andrey and Anna Veligzhanin printed in the Russian Language newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda on November 15, 2007.
The famous couple of Lobacheva and Averbuch was always considered one of the most beautiful and romantic. Bright, successful and in love, Ilja and Irina amazed their admirers and caused jealousy among their colleagues. The news about their divorce shook up a lot of them. What really happened?
The first opinion - it was just a PR move.
For the cast of the TV show, “The Ice Period,” the news became a sensation as much as to all other admirers. They stated that just a week ago they could observe how tenderly Ilja was taking care of Irina. Their son visited with them at the stage and Ilja was especially nice with him and Irina.
Sometimes Irina was upset when Ilja paid a little too much attention to other women, but it was accepted in bohemian, artistic society and there was nothing to worry about. Even if they quarreled sometimes, no one thought that they would divorce. These comments brought up the possibility that divorce was a tax dodge, a PR, or a financial move. It is known that sometimes couples, where husbands do not want to make public their income, are getting divorced and shifting the assets to the wives who would also pay less tax. There were rumors that Ilja wanted to enter politics and would want to keep his income, which was estimated to be about $2 Million annually, private.
Their ice show production company was established by Ilja and Irina together. Their previous show – "Stars on Ice," shown on Channel One of Russian TV was seen in more that 50 cities. Ilja feels very good in the role of entrepreneur. At the end of May he presented to the public a new gymnastics show – "The Flight of Time" by Olympic champion Alexey Nemov. He was a producer of the show at the celebration of Tarasova’s birthday. Currently he is in charge of the show – "The Ice Period." He pays a lot of attention to PR and advertising. And that is why professional PR people are saying that the divorce is a PR move to attract more attention to the show. It is especially possible since Ilja is easily giving information of their divorce to the press.
Serious people in show business think that the divorce is a result of financial disagreements between Ilja and Irina. It is possible that Ilja wants to have the profitable company only to himself and to produce ice shows without his wife. He would just need to have her shares to be in complete control of the company, since he has all of the key positions for himself already.
Not long ago Irina confessed that she was tired of her work which did not leave her any time for regular life. She said: “I thought that when we leave the big sport it will be easier, but it became more difficult. When Ilja and I were in big sport we went to bed and got up together, we did everything together and we were happy. Now we communicate mostly by the phone. If I could have another child over the phone I would have one.” To her close friend she commented that Ilja is obsessed with the “gold rush.” That he does not want to think about anything else but his business and is not available to his family.
But some people are thinking that she may be in on the PR project together with Ilja. She did not wait for the end of the "Ice Period Show" when she could avoid public scrutiny, but rather announced about their divorce under the fire of reporters with their cameras trained on her. That event also coincided with a decrease of interest in the show and some people even started talking about the excessive length of the show. The news about the divorce brought back interest to the show.
The second opinion - the “Big Star” status went to Ilja’s head.
Among the figure skaters Ilja is known as a person with a complicated character. He became more arrogant, especially as he reached stardom status. He is tough, ambitious, and powerful, while also capable of tenderness and care. At the beginning of their family life, Ilja and Irina looked happy and even very much alike in appearance and by their characters. Probably that was why, as someone said, they were always competing for leadership in their duet.
In public Ilja was always a leader and Irina was kindly letting him lead, but at home she took the initiative in her hands. Their household was solely on her and sometimes she reproached him for that. They quarreled a lot, but soon made up because they loved each other. From the outside, quiet and beautiful Irina was a second fiddle in their duet. But in reality Irina is a person with an iron rod in her spine. She was the one who decided to get a divorce. She wrote in the divorce application that they had separate households for the last few months and lived like roommates. They saw each other very rarely and mostly because of their son. Actually the birth of their son was supposed to cement the marriage, when there was a beginning of the break in their relations. After the first ice project the fame and the money went to Ilja’s head. He was often invited to the parties of the stars without his wife. He started living “high on the hog” as a bohemian and was loving it.
It is well know that at the parties of the stars there are a lot of temptations including attractive women like butterflies gravitating to the rich and famous. Ilja was often seen in expensive clubs surrounded by exited female admirers. At the same time Irina continued to treat him as a regular husband and not as a star. And regardless of the advice of her friends after 15 years of living together, she was not ready to place him on a pedestal. She assumed that their relations were based on constructive criticism, irony and trust. She felt that she was also worth something in this life. It was said that Averbuch was telling Irina that she was lucky to have him for a husband since he provided her with her status in life. But she did not want to be obedient and submissive, considering it to be wrong. She considers herself an open, straight and strict person in her own right. It was also mentioned that lately the character of Ilja - the “ice king” was changing which irritated Irina. It seemed that being called by his coworkers a genius, he lost the sense of reality. At the same time Irina was not visible. In the first project she did not skate well with a singer called Sitkin and was voted off the the ice at the very beginning of the competition. She observed the program from the sideline. Averbuch was angry with Irina and Sitkin, but could not change the outcome. It was said that at that time their relations became tense. After completion of the first project Ilja went with the winners on a world tour. Irina did not go. May be the artistic competition burned their relations?
These days Irina is busy with her business – coaching children at the figure skating school. It seems that the TV show caused the separation of the couple, they meet only on weekends when they are going with their son to the park.
The third opinion – Ilja was very easily falling in love.
The womanizing of Ilja is legendary. He changed his infatuations very so often. Lately Irina had more reasons for jealousy and she did not hide that she was insulted. There were even gossips that he had a child with another skater and that he had romances with many women. But it was possible that all these gossips were started as to break them up by their enemies.
Irina was visibly suffering. When recently she gave an interview to a TV channel she looked unhappy. Answering the question of what was it that people should learn, she thought for a while, leveling her head and then answered: “One needs to learn how to forgive.”
Opinion of a psychologist
Success of the husband is dangerous for the family.
A psychologist who consults “starry” couples, and was observing the lives of VIP people told this newspaper the following:
“As soon as the husband becomes rich and famous, he stops being a person as he used to be before in every aspect. At first it takes a form of revaluation of his persona and a fight for increased status in society. His character turns nasty. A successful man considers that nothing is forbidden to him, especially when he obtains an entourage of easy women following him. A real man would reject their offerings. At the same time, these men start looking at their wives as a tiresome property and demand their obedience. The woman living with a “starry” man should know her place and not to expect to be equal. If the wife is smart and would be obedient to her husband and could look the other way, she may save the marriage, at least formally.
But if she is self sufficient, has her own opinion, does not want to tolerate the behavior of her husband, or if she is submitting to the provocations of enemies and believes all of the gossips, then the crash of the family is unavoidable. Men, at the peak of their success, very easily drop their families and are even happy to get rid of the dead-weight that is interfering with their new life style. In this case women are the victims even if they apply for a divorce as it was in the case of Irina.
Translation of an article by Andrey and Anna Veligzhanin printed in the Russian Language newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda on November 15, 2007.
The famous couple of Lobacheva and Averbuch was always considered one of the most beautiful and romantic. Bright, successful and in love, Ilja and Irina amazed their admirers and caused jealousy among their colleagues. The news about their divorce shook up a lot of them. What really happened?
The first opinion - it was just a PR move.
For the cast of the TV show, “The Ice Period,” the news became a sensation as much as to all other admirers. They stated that just a week ago they could observe how tenderly Ilja was taking care of Irina. Their son visited with them at the stage and Ilja was especially nice with him and Irina.
Sometimes Irina was upset when Ilja paid a little too much attention to other women, but it was accepted in bohemian, artistic society and there was nothing to worry about. Even if they quarreled sometimes, no one thought that they would divorce. These comments brought up the possibility that divorce was a tax dodge, a PR, or a financial move. It is known that sometimes couples, where husbands do not want to make public their income, are getting divorced and shifting the assets to the wives who would also pay less tax. There were rumors that Ilja wanted to enter politics and would want to keep his income, which was estimated to be about $2 Million annually, private.
Their ice show production company was established by Ilja and Irina together. Their previous show – "Stars on Ice," shown on Channel One of Russian TV was seen in more that 50 cities. Ilja feels very good in the role of entrepreneur. At the end of May he presented to the public a new gymnastics show – "The Flight of Time" by Olympic champion Alexey Nemov. He was a producer of the show at the celebration of Tarasova’s birthday. Currently he is in charge of the show – "The Ice Period." He pays a lot of attention to PR and advertising. And that is why professional PR people are saying that the divorce is a PR move to attract more attention to the show. It is especially possible since Ilja is easily giving information of their divorce to the press.
Serious people in show business think that the divorce is a result of financial disagreements between Ilja and Irina. It is possible that Ilja wants to have the profitable company only to himself and to produce ice shows without his wife. He would just need to have her shares to be in complete control of the company, since he has all of the key positions for himself already.
Not long ago Irina confessed that she was tired of her work which did not leave her any time for regular life. She said: “I thought that when we leave the big sport it will be easier, but it became more difficult. When Ilja and I were in big sport we went to bed and got up together, we did everything together and we were happy. Now we communicate mostly by the phone. If I could have another child over the phone I would have one.” To her close friend she commented that Ilja is obsessed with the “gold rush.” That he does not want to think about anything else but his business and is not available to his family.
But some people are thinking that she may be in on the PR project together with Ilja. She did not wait for the end of the "Ice Period Show" when she could avoid public scrutiny, but rather announced about their divorce under the fire of reporters with their cameras trained on her. That event also coincided with a decrease of interest in the show and some people even started talking about the excessive length of the show. The news about the divorce brought back interest to the show.
The second opinion - the “Big Star” status went to Ilja’s head.
Among the figure skaters Ilja is known as a person with a complicated character. He became more arrogant, especially as he reached stardom status. He is tough, ambitious, and powerful, while also capable of tenderness and care. At the beginning of their family life, Ilja and Irina looked happy and even very much alike in appearance and by their characters. Probably that was why, as someone said, they were always competing for leadership in their duet.
In public Ilja was always a leader and Irina was kindly letting him lead, but at home she took the initiative in her hands. Their household was solely on her and sometimes she reproached him for that. They quarreled a lot, but soon made up because they loved each other. From the outside, quiet and beautiful Irina was a second fiddle in their duet. But in reality Irina is a person with an iron rod in her spine. She was the one who decided to get a divorce. She wrote in the divorce application that they had separate households for the last few months and lived like roommates. They saw each other very rarely and mostly because of their son. Actually the birth of their son was supposed to cement the marriage, when there was a beginning of the break in their relations. After the first ice project the fame and the money went to Ilja’s head. He was often invited to the parties of the stars without his wife. He started living “high on the hog” as a bohemian and was loving it.
It is well know that at the parties of the stars there are a lot of temptations including attractive women like butterflies gravitating to the rich and famous. Ilja was often seen in expensive clubs surrounded by exited female admirers. At the same time Irina continued to treat him as a regular husband and not as a star. And regardless of the advice of her friends after 15 years of living together, she was not ready to place him on a pedestal. She assumed that their relations were based on constructive criticism, irony and trust. She felt that she was also worth something in this life. It was said that Averbuch was telling Irina that she was lucky to have him for a husband since he provided her with her status in life. But she did not want to be obedient and submissive, considering it to be wrong. She considers herself an open, straight and strict person in her own right. It was also mentioned that lately the character of Ilja - the “ice king” was changing which irritated Irina. It seemed that being called by his coworkers a genius, he lost the sense of reality. At the same time Irina was not visible. In the first project she did not skate well with a singer called Sitkin and was voted off the the ice at the very beginning of the competition. She observed the program from the sideline. Averbuch was angry with Irina and Sitkin, but could not change the outcome. It was said that at that time their relations became tense. After completion of the first project Ilja went with the winners on a world tour. Irina did not go. May be the artistic competition burned their relations?
These days Irina is busy with her business – coaching children at the figure skating school. It seems that the TV show caused the separation of the couple, they meet only on weekends when they are going with their son to the park.
The third opinion – Ilja was very easily falling in love.
The womanizing of Ilja is legendary. He changed his infatuations very so often. Lately Irina had more reasons for jealousy and she did not hide that she was insulted. There were even gossips that he had a child with another skater and that he had romances with many women. But it was possible that all these gossips were started as to break them up by their enemies.
Irina was visibly suffering. When recently she gave an interview to a TV channel she looked unhappy. Answering the question of what was it that people should learn, she thought for a while, leveling her head and then answered: “One needs to learn how to forgive.”
Opinion of a psychologist
Success of the husband is dangerous for the family.
A psychologist who consults “starry” couples, and was observing the lives of VIP people told this newspaper the following:
“As soon as the husband becomes rich and famous, he stops being a person as he used to be before in every aspect. At first it takes a form of revaluation of his persona and a fight for increased status in society. His character turns nasty. A successful man considers that nothing is forbidden to him, especially when he obtains an entourage of easy women following him. A real man would reject their offerings. At the same time, these men start looking at their wives as a tiresome property and demand their obedience. The woman living with a “starry” man should know her place and not to expect to be equal. If the wife is smart and would be obedient to her husband and could look the other way, she may save the marriage, at least formally.
But if she is self sufficient, has her own opinion, does not want to tolerate the behavior of her husband, or if she is submitting to the provocations of enemies and believes all of the gossips, then the crash of the family is unavoidable. Men, at the peak of their success, very easily drop their families and are even happy to get rid of the dead-weight that is interfering with their new life style. In this case women are the victims even if they apply for a divorce as it was in the case of Irina.
posted by Alina Adams at 3:14 AM
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