Tigran Keosayan and his new wife: latest news, children, photos. Margarita Simonyan - biography by the editor-in-chief of the russia today channel Margarita Simonyan

Russian journalist Margarita Simonyan Simonyan has been the editor-in-chief of the Russia Today TV channel (Russia Today) since 2013. When she took up this position, she was only 25 years old. This appointment became the most discussed topic at that time, many wondered why this twenty-five-year-old Armenian girl was entrusted with such a responsible post. How did Margarita Simonovna Simonyan distinguish herself? However, no incriminating evidence was found on her person. And the passions subsided. Further in the article we will talk about the life path of this amazing woman who was able to make such a successful career.

Simonyan Margarita Simonovna: biography, parents

The future journalist was born in early April 1980, in the southern city of Krasnodar. Margarita has a sister, Alice. After she took the post of general director of the RT television channel in 2013, many began to wonder who Simonyan’s parents were. Margarita Simonovna and her sister lived in very cramped conditions since childhood. Their father was a refrigerator repairman, and their mother was a flower girl and sold flowers at the market from morning to evening. The money my parents earned was only enough for food. Their house was very old and located on one of the outskirts of Krasnodar, named after the great Russian writer N.V. Gogol. The house was infested with rats, there were no simple living conditions: gas, sewerage and running water. Today I can’t even believe that the USSR could have had such terrible living conditions. The girls had to live in this horror for about 10 years, after which the family received an apartment. It was life at the “bottom” that inspired in Margarita an irresistible desire to escape from poverty and achieve success in life.

Academic success

Despite the fact that Margarita’s parents did not pay much attention to the development of their children’s intellectual and creative abilities, the girls were smart and quite diligent. Little Rita was one of the first in her kindergarten group to learn to read. The teacher told her to read fairy tales to her classmates before bed. Later, Margarita Simonovna Simonyan was admitted to the first grade of specialized school number 36 in the city of Krasnodar. Here they engaged in in-depth study of foreign languages. It turned out that the girl has a great ability for English. She studied with straight A's and was sent to the Olympiads. When the girl was 16 years old and in the 9th grade, a great opportunity opened up for her to improve her English knowledge to the proper level. As part of a student exchange program, she was sent to study in the United States, in the state of New Hampshire. She settled with a very friendly and warm family, went to an American school, communicated with peers and learned the peculiarities of life in mysterious America. She still has excellent, one might say “family” relationship with this family. Margarita even thought about staying overseas, but soon realized that life was best for her in her native country.

Higher education

After graduating from school, by the way, with a medal of honor, Simonyan Margarita Simonovna, whose biography is the topic of this article, entered the Faculty of Journalism of the Kuban State University, along with this she studied at the V. Posner School of Television Excellence, and also wrote poetry. It turned out that the press was interested in the collection of poems by the 18-year-old Armenian, and a film crew came to her home to make a report about her. It was during this interview that she mentioned that she dreams of becoming a journalist. And then she was invited to work on Krasnodar television.

First steps in the media

In December 1999, she went to Chechnya to cover the fighting. At the same time, Margarita decided to spare her parents and only told them that she was going on another business trip. At the same time, Margarita began filming stories for federal channels. Her fearlessness and professionalism were highly appreciated by the government, and Margarita Simonovna Simonyan was awarded many federal awards. A year later, she was appointed leading editor of the information portal of the TRK Krasnodar, and in 2000 - editor-in-chief on the same TV channel. Later she moved to the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Channel in the city of Rostov-on-Don. Then Margarita decides to continue her “military” career and goes to Abkhazia, writes reports about the clashes in the Kodori Gorge.

To Moscow

In 2002, Margarita Simonovna Simonyan finally received an invitation from the management of the Vesti television program to work as a staff correspondent, naturally moving to Moscow. Of course, she accepted the invitation, and soon she was already part of the presidential pool. In September 2004, a terrible tragedy occurred in North Ossetia, in Beslan. At that time, Margarita was in Minvody. She received an order from the channel's editorial office and went to the scene of the tragedy. The entire time the hostages were in the hands of terrorists, she stood outside the school and went on air every half hour. At times her voice broke due to the sobs choking her. After that, she could not come to her senses for a long time.

First responsible post

In 2005, the Russia Today TV channel was created in Moscow. He broadcast in English and was called upon to express the official Russian position on various political situations in the world. In the professional sphere, many were surprised that Margarita Simonyan was appointed editor-in-chief of the channel. Nevertheless, RIA Novosti presented arguments regarding this appointment. According to them, the head of the service had to be so young that he did not remember what the news was on Soviet television. She must have a new way of thinking, a modern view of everything. In addition, she spoke excellent English and could objectively assess information flows. Later, Margarita also led the Arabic-language and Spanish-language versions of the TV channel.

Career

In 2011, Margarita decided to create her own news project “What’s happening” on the REN TV channel and act as its presenter. The program was broadcast weekly, on which M. S. Simonyan discussed the most important events of recent days, which they avoided talking about. Direct participants in these events were invited to the program. After 2 years, a new live political show appeared on NTV, hosted by Margarita Simonyan and Tina Kandelaki, an Armenian and Georgian. The program was called “Iron Ladies”. However, due to some reasons, the show was closed.

Creation

Since childhood, Margarita dreamed of becoming a writer. She wrote poetry, and already at the age of 18 she published a collection of poems written by her. Her next book was published in 2010 and was called “To Moscow.” This is a novel about the generation of the nineties, about the difficulties, difficult destinies of people whose lives coincided with the collapse of the USSR, about the unfulfilled dreams of young people who in an instant lost their present and future. A year after the release of the novel, Margarita received an award for the best book written by a journalist. Her next work was the story “Train”. She published excerpts from it in the Russian Pioneer magazine; she also writes culinary articles for this magazine.

The journalist does not like to talk about herself. In 2012, in an interview, she said that she and journalist Andrei Blagodyrenko had been living in a civil marriage for 6 years now, and as for consolidating official relations and a wedding, she was not at all ready for this. In the same year, Margarita went to Sochi, where the Simonyan family restaurant “Zharko!” was being built. It was there that she became close to her compatriot, a famous director. Tigran Keosayan and Margarita Simonyan spent more and more time in each other’s company. And everyone already perceived them as a couple, despite the fact that Tigran continued to be married to actress Alena Khmelnitskaya. A year later, in the summer of 2013, Margarita gave birth to a daughter, Maryana. The next year, she and Tigran had a son, who was named by the Armenian name Bagrat. Today Simonyan Margarita Simonovna and Keosayan Tigran are a family, although they are not legally married. They have two beautiful children.

Awards and titles

In 2000, Margarita was in the arena of military operations in Chechnya and reported in a bulletproof vest. She received a state award for her dedication to the profession, courage and professionalism.

In the same year, Margarita was recognized as the winner of the II All-Russian competition of regional television and radio companies. Her TV report about children in Chechnya was recognized as the best. Still in the same 2000, she received a presidential scholarship.

In 2010, in Moscow, the President of the Republic of Armenia presented the famous journalist with the “Movses Khorenatsi” medal - the highest government award of the Republic of Armenia.

She has several more state awards of the Russian Federation: “For Services to the Fatherland, 4th degree” (2014), two “Order of Friendship” (2007 and 2008), etc.

In 2012, Margarita Simonyan’s name was included in the list of 100 most influential women in the Russian Federation, where she took 33rd place. She is a member of the public council at the main directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, and since 2013, by appointment, she has assumed the position of editor-in-chief of MIA Rossiya.

Compromising evidence and sanctions

After the well-known events in Ukraine, Margarita Simonyan was included in the list of 49 journalists and media executives who are prohibited from entering the territory of the republic.

Margarita Simonovna Simonyan. Born on April 6, 1980 in Krasnodar. Russian journalist, TV presenter, screenwriter. Editor-in-Chief of the Russia Today TV channel (since 2015), Rossiya Segodnya agency (since 2013), Sputnik agency (since 2014).

Father - Simon Sarkisovich Simonyan, was born and raised in Sverdlovsk, later his parents moved to Krasnodar. Our ancestors come from Crimea, where they fled from the Turkish genocide at the beginning of the 20th century. He worked as a refrigerator repairman.

Mother, originally from Sochi, sold flowers at the market.

Grandfather - Sarkis Simonyan, participant in the Great Patriotic War. My grandparents' family was repressed in 1944.

Younger sister - Alice.

Most of her relatives live in Adler.

Although Margarita’s parents are purebred Armenians, they, according to her, had an absolutely Russian family. Her parents speak Armenian, but in different dialects. Margarita herself does not speak Armenian at all. I visited Armenia as an adult for work reasons.

She graduated from special school No. 36 in Krasnodar with in-depth study of foreign languages. In the tenth grade, she was sent on exchange to New Hampshire (USA) to improve her English. After graduating from school, she entered and graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of Kuban State University and the School of Television Excellence.

From February 1999 to January 2000 - correspondent for the Krasnodar television and radio company. She worked as a war correspondent, covering the Chechen conflict. In January 2000, for a series of war reports, she received the Kuban Union of Journalists Award “For Professional Courage.”

In May 2000, she received the prize of the II All-Russian competition of regional television and radio companies for her report on Chechen children vacationing in Anapa. Appointed leading editor of information programs of the Krasnodar TV and Radio Broadcasting Company.

In September 2000, she received a presidential scholarship.

In February 2001, she was appointed VGTRK’s own correspondent in Rostov-on-Don. Then she became a special correspondent for Vesti. Covered military clashes in the Kodori Gorge of Abkhazia. In the fall of 2002, she became part of the presidential pool of journalists. In September 2004, she covered the terrorist attack in Beslan.

Since the founding of the first Russian news channel broadcasting in English around the clock in 2005, Russia Today (now RT) has been its editor-in-chief. She took up this post at the age of 25. Subsequently, she also became the editor-in-chief of the Arabic-language (Rusia al-Yawm) and Spanish-language (RT Español) versions of RT.

In 2010 she published the book “To Moscow!”. She said about her work: “This is a story about a country, about love and about provincial boys and girls born in the 1980s. We all dreamed of leaving for Moscow for a better life, and none of us knew that we had to be careful what we wish for.” - they can come true."

From April 2011 to February 2012, she hosted the weekly analytical program “What’s Going On?” on the REN TV channel. From October to November 2012 - host of the weekly column “Point of View” on the Kommersant FM radio station. From February 17 to June 23, 2013, together with she was the host of a political talk show on the NTV channel “Iron Ladies”.

In 2012, she played the role of a journalist in the melodrama “Three Comrades.”

Margarita Simonyan in the TV series "Three Comrades"

In 2012, she was included in the list of the hundred most influential women in Russia, taking 33rd place. In 2013, she entered the top five most influential women in Russia in the field of media.

On December 31, 2013, the general director of the Rossiya Segodnya news agency, Dmitry Kiselev, appointed Margarita Simonyan as editor-in-chief of the international news agency Rossiya Segodnya, who also remained at the post of head of RT.

On November 10, 2014, she became the editor-in-chief of the Sputnik news agency, affiliated with the Rossiya Segodnya news agency.

In 2014, she received the national award “Media Manager of Russia” for successfully winning the RT television channel a foreign audience. At the end of 2017, Margarita Simonyan was included by Forbes in the ranking of “100 Most Influential Women in the World” and ranks 52nd.

Since 2013 he has been working as a screenwriter. She was the author of the script for the melodrama “The Sea. Mountains. Expanded clay." In 2017, she acted as a screenwriter for the crime detective film “Actress,” starring.

Social and political position of Margarita Simonyan

Since 2008 - member of the Academy of Russian Television. Since 2010, he has been vice president of the National Association of Television and Radio Broadcasters. Since June 2011 - member of the board of directors of Channel One.

In 2010-2012 she was a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation of the third composition.

In 2012, she was a member of the “People's Headquarters” (in Moscow) of a presidential candidate.

In August 2014, the Ukrainian National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting published a list of 49 journalists and heads of Russian television channels who may be banned from entering Ukraine, which included Simonyan. In May 2016, she was included in the Ukrainian sanctions list by President Petro Poroshenko and was prohibited from entering Ukraine.

Until 2017 - Member of the Public Council at the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the city of Moscow. Since 2017 - Member of the Public Council under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

In January 2018, she was registered as a proxy of Vladimir Putin in the presidential elections on March 18, 2018.

Margarita Simonyan's height: 160 centimeters.

Personal life of Margarita Simonyan:

She lived in a civil marriage with journalist and television producer Andrei Blagodyrenko. They have been together since 2005. However, this relationship eventually ended.

Since 2012, she has been in a relationship with the director. At the time their romance began, Keosayan was married to an actress and had two daughters, but divorced in 2014.

In August 2013, the couple had a daughter, Maryana, and in September 2014, a son, Bagrat. At the end of 2018, it became known about Margarita’s third pregnancy. October 19, 2019, which was named Maro.

The couple is in no hurry to formalize the marriage. : “I have always had a very wary attitude towards legal marriage. I have never been officially married, these are some kind of childhood complexes, I saw enough in my childhood of very unhappy women in marriage. And I had a rejection. I once shocked my parents by declaring at the age of 12: “I will never get married.”

The family owns a restaurant in the Krasnaya Polyana area of ​​Sochi. Margarita said that she opened a restaurant there, fulfilling an old family dream. However, the restaurant business was not a success: “This happened a couple of days before the start of the Sochi Olympics, and whoever dined with us during these fabulous two weeks: Dmitry Kozak, Konstantin Ernst, Oleg Deripaska, Mikhail Prokhorov, Andrei Malakhov, Yana Churikova... But the Olympics ended, the guests left, but the restaurant remained. It was built against the main rule of this business - not where there is high traffic, but right in the courtyard of my grandmother’s house, where my mother was born and raised, and now her sisters, nephews and, "Actually, my grandmother. The location is unfortunate - not in the mountains or by the sea, on an old highway that few people drive on anymore. In general, the restaurant has withered away, we are now trying to rent out the building."

Filmography of Margarita Simonyan:

2012 - Three comrades - journalist
2012 - Deadline (documentary)

Scripts by Margarita Simonyan:

2013 - Sea. Mountains. Expanded clay
2017 -

Bibliography of Margarita Simonyan:

2010 - To Moscow!

Awards for Margarita Simonyan:

Medal "For Strengthening the Military Commonwealth" from the Russian Ministry of Defense (March 9, 2005)
- Order of Friendship (June 27, 2007) - for his great contribution to the development of domestic television and many years of fruitful work
- Order of Friendship (South Ossetia, December 25, 2008) - for objective coverage of events during the period of Georgia’s armed aggression against South Ossetia in August 2008
- Gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation (2010)
- Movses Khorenatsi Medal (Armenia, November 18, 2010) - for significant contribution to the development of the field of journalism and high professionalism
- Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree (2014) - “for objectivity in covering events in Crimea”

Margarita Simonyan is a Russian journalist, editor-in-chief of the Russia Today TV channel, the international news agency Rossiya Segodnya and the Sputnik news agency.

Having started her career as an ordinary correspondent for a provincial television studio, she managed to occupy one of the leading positions in Russian television journalism. Today Simonyan is one of the top 100 most influential women in the world according to Forbes.

Childhood and youth

Margarita Simonyan was born on April 6, 1980 in the Russian city of Krasnodar. The girl and her sister Alice grew up in a poor family. Father Simon, an Armenian by nationality, made a living by repairing refrigerators, and mother Zinaida sold flowers at the market. There are rumors on the Internet that Margarita also has Jewish roots.

As the journalist later wrote from the pages of LiveJournal and "Instagram", the girl and her parents lived in an old house on Gogol Street, where rats were constantly running around, there was no gas, running water or sewerage. Difficult living conditions only strengthened the girl’s desire to escape poverty and achieve comfortable living conditions. When Margarita was about 10 years old, the Simonyan family was given an apartment in a new microdistrict of the city.

According to information that later appeared in an article by Komsomolskaya Pravda, the romance between the journalist and the director began on Tigran’s initiative. He wrote a message to the girl on a social network "Facebook", where he expressed support for Margarita: at that time there was persecution against her on the radio. Initially, Simonyan did not pay attention to the letter, because she did not believe that the famous director would be interested in her person. But the correspondence ended with a joint dinner at a restaurant. Soon, a relationship began between the journalist and the filmmaker, which developed into a civil marriage.

Margarita Simonyan and Tigran Keosayan

In September 2014, Margarita had a son, Bagrat. At the same time, on the page of one of the social networks, Keosayan confirmed that he had become a father. Later it turned out that this was the couple’s second child - in August 2013, Margarita gave birth to her husband’s daughter Maryana. As the journalist said in an interview, she remembers with gratitude the time when she was pregnant. Each time Margarita experienced a surge of strength and never suffered from toxicosis, despite the fact that with Maryana she survived the threat of miscarriage.

Simonyan is a supporter of early childhood education. Linguistic teachers work with Maryana and Bagrat in a playful way, so even at such an early age the kids speak five languages ​​- Russian, Armenian, English, French and Chinese.

It is interesting that friendly relations have been established between Tigran Keosayan’s ex-wife, Alena Khmelnitskaya and Margarita Simonyan. The women became best friends, and even together with the director they created a project - the psychological thriller “Actress”. Margarita participated in the creation of the film, which was successfully broadcast on the NTV channel, as a screenwriter.

Margarita became a mother for the third time on October 19, 2019, and her wife gave Tigran a son, Maro. The woman published the corresponding news on Instagram, after which she began to receive congratulations from family and friends.

Margarita Simonyan and her children

Rumors about Margarita’s third pregnancy have been circulating on the Internet for a long time, but the journalist decided to confirm the information only in April 2019 in the program.

And already in March 2020, Simonyan again shared the news about the expected addition. She became pregnant just 4 months after her third birth, but took this fact as a blessing and admitted that she was ready to become a mother for her fourth child. Unfortunately, it soon became known that the TV presenter had lost this child.

Simonyan maintains a page on Instagram, where she posts photos with her family and footage related to her journalistic activities. She does not publish pictures from vacation, in a swimsuit, on the shores of the azure sea or ocean, preferring to leave this part of life out of the sight of subscribers. Margarita does not have a personal website; she publishes all information on her profiles on social networks.

Simonyan is friends with many Russian stars and presenters. Proof of this is the woman’s photos that periodically appear on the social networks of various media personalities. For example, in the spring of 2018, she posted a photo in the profile of the company, and Simonyan, signing that their company is similar to the Soprano clan.

Work allows Margarita and her husband to provide a comfortable life for their children. Although she does not show a declaration of income, it is already clear that the journalist’s salary amounts to more than one thousand dollars.

Journalism and career

In 1999, Simonyan began working as a correspondent for the Krasnodar television and radio channel. She managed to get this job thanks to a collection of poems of her own composition, which Margarita published a year earlier. The TV channel decided to film a story about a talented girl. While communicating with the film crew, Simonyan mentioned that she wanted to work as a journalist, and she was offered an internship at the TV channel. The choice of her first job determined Margarita’s future professional biography.

At the age of 19, the girl went to film a story in Chechnya. Her miniature figure (her height was 160 cm) did not prevent her from showing masculinity and strength of character. Margarita told her parents that she was going to the war zone only upon her return, 10 days later. A series of reports in one of the hot spots in the world brought Margarita Simonyan fame and a number of journalistic awards: “For Professional Courage”, first prize in the All-Russian Competition of Regional Television and Radio Companies and the Russian Order of Friendship.

In 2000, Simonyan became the editor-in-chief of the Krasnodar TV channel, and a year later she became a correspondent for the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company in Rostov-on-Don. She continued her career as a war journalist, visiting Abkhazia, covering the clash between militants and the state army in the Kodori Gorge.

Margarita Simonyan and Vladimir Putin

In 2002, Margarita Simonyan was invited to Moscow as a correspondent for the Vesti television program. The journalist accompanied the President of Russia, being among the presidential pool of journalists. In September 2004, she traveled to Beslan to cover the school hostage crisis. The tragedy influenced Margarita’s worldview and views; in an interview, she does not advise young journalists to start a career as war correspondents.

In 2005, the Russia Today television channel was created, which broadcast in English and was designed to reflect Russia’s position on international events. Margarita Simonyan was appointed editor-in-chief of the Russia Today TV channel.

The founders of RIA Novosti argued for the appointment of such a young person to such a position with the position that the project should have been led by a person who had not seen Soviet news and had his own ideas about how Russian news should be shown to foreign viewers. Later, Margarita also began to oversee the Arabic and Spanish versions of the TV channel.

In 2011, the girl became a TV presenter of the news project “What’s Going On?” on the REN-TV channel. During the program, she discussed the most significant events of the week, which for some reason were not adequately covered on federal channels. Margarita talked with direct participants in the events and spectators.

Margarita Simonyan and Tina Kandelaki

In 2013, Simonyan became the TV presenter of the political show “Iron Ladies” on the NTV channel. Together with her colleague Tina Kandelaki, the journalist asked not always convenient but relevant questions to famous politicians and businessmen live. That same year, the channel's management decided to close the show.

At the end of 2013, Margarita Simonyan was appointed to the position of editor-in-chief of the international news agency Rossiya Segodnya.

From early childhood, Margarita dreamed of becoming a writer and doing print journalism. At the age of 18, she published a collection of her own poems. In 2010 she published the book “To Moscow”. Due to her active journalistic and editorial activities, writing the book took about 10 years. This novel tells about the generation of the 90s and difficult destinies, unfulfilled dreams. In 2011, thanks to the novel, Simonyan won the award for the best book by a journalist.

In 2012, Margarita published an excerpt from her new story “Train” on the pages of the Russian Pioneer magazine. The girl also writes culinary articles for this publication. A couple of years later, her story “Rats” was published, which caused a lot of discussion on the Internet.

Margarita Simonyan, Tina Kandelaki, Philip Kirkorov and Mikhail Galustyan

Margarita supports the policies of the existing political system in Russia. In 2018, she became a confidant of Vladimir Putin during the presidential election campaign. At the same time, the journalist published a post on Telegram about her friend’s renunciation of US citizenship. According to the editor-in-chief of RT, the girl supported the opposition and immigrated to the United States in 2013, but after 4 years she decided to regain her Russian citizenship. The TV journalist duplicated the information in "Twitter".

In 2014, together with Tina Kandelaki and Simonyan, she became a guest of a program on Channel One.

Margarita constantly enters into polemics with foreign media. She managed to expose fake footage of the wounded boy Omran Daqneesh, which was used as evidence of Russian aggression in Syria. The boy's father revealed the truth in an interview with RT.

The television journalist repeatedly became a guest in the studio of the popular political commentator. At the beginning of 2018, she gave a detailed interview, where, together with the TV presenter, she reflected on freedom of speech in Russia and the West.

The scandal with the poisoning of an ex-intelligence officer, in which the British authorities now have suspects - Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov, received great publicity. The young people gave an interview to Margarita Simonyan, which she commented on on radio Ekho Moskvy. The television journalist emphasized that she has no reason to trust these people, but she also does not trust Western intelligence agencies. The footage of the meeting, used as a photo, was dismantled by users into memes.

One day Tigran Keosayan wrote to Margarita Simonyan on Facebook: “Hello, Margarita! This is Tigran Keosayan. I have long liked you as a journalist and fellow tribesman. Now I was driving in the car and listening to how you were being bullied on the radio, I couldn’t stand it, I decided to support and write.”

Margarita Simonyan at first did not believe that it was really Keosayan. She saw him on TV in a cooking show where he was cooking scrambled eggs and tomatoes. Margarita answered him, exchanged phone numbers, met, had lunch. Apparently, we had lunch so deliciously that we wanted to have more lunch. Yes, and have dinner. Gradually we acquired common themes, interests, friends, and some projects.

« And suddenly it turned out that it’s impossible to live without each other - that you need to see each other every day, correspond every minute, hold hands even when you’re not around"recalls Simonyan.

« In general, all the most beautiful things in my life literally fall from the sky. But what I work on long and hard either doesn’t happen at all, or happens when it’s no longer necessary.", the journalist adds. Her career - the position of editor-in-chief of an international television channel and the country's main news agency - also developed unexpectedly. She never aspired to become a big boss, quite the contrary. I have always wanted to write books, from childhood, as long as I can remember.

Tigran Keosayan taught Margarita to write scripts. Now, in traffic jams and at night, she writes scripts for films and TV series - sometimes under her own name, sometimes under a pseudonym. This is how Simonyan relaxes. " Not to mention the fact that it pays very well - definitely more than my salary at Russia Today", clarifies Keosayan's chosen one.

She writes not only for Tigran. Together they made three TV series and just made a movie. Their comedy “The Sea. Mountains. Expanded clay" was successfully broadcast on Channel One. This December on NTV there will be a premiere of the psychological thriller “Actress”, another work that they created together with Tigran and Alena Khmelnitskaya.

Margarita wrote the script, Tigran directed, and Alena played one of the main female roles. The whole group watched their trio with caution and admiration - how people manage to maintain good relationships.

Margarita was born in Krasnodar, which in the eighties was an abandoned province. The family lived between the station and the market; they had a shack without any amenities. " My parents are purebred Armenians, but our family is absolutely Russian. Father was born and raised in Sverdlovsk, and mother in Sochi"says Simonyan. Most of her relatives still live in Adler.

Simonyan never dreamed of television. She was going to write beautiful articles for various magazines. In 1998, Margarita graduated from her first year, and she published a collection of poems; the Krasnodar television company also took her on as an internship. Leaving for Chechnya to the front line in the bloody and crazy December 1999, when Grozny was just being surrounded, for the first time in her life Simonyan deceived her parents.

After Chechnya, Margarita was noticed in Moscow. She became a freelance correspondent for several federal television channels. Her father bought her a shabby Oka, which was already ten years old, and he and the operator drove around in this car all over the south of Russia, Crimea, Abkhazia, Kalmykia and Ossetia, getting their reports.

In her third year, when Simonyan was not yet twenty-one years old, the RTR channel - now called “Russia” - entrusted her with heading its news desk. " I was twenty-two when Dobrodeev, the general director of the Rossiya TV channel, called and asked: “Choose, will you go to New York or Moscow?” Of course, I chose Moscow. I immediately got into the presidential pool - it was a real “dream come true”"recalls Simonyan.

At twenty-five, Margarita was appointed editor-in-chief of Russia Today, which did not exist at that time: she had to launch the first Russian international 24-hour news channel in English from scratch. She celebrated her first New Year in this capacity at work.

Simonyan, in general, from her early youth actually lived only by work. She never wanted to get married; she put off thoughts about children until after she was thirty. " When romances happened, I immediately honestly told my boyfriend that it wasn’t serious and most likely not for long - I just didn’t have time", the journalist recalls.

« It seemed to me that a married woman was an unhappy and downtrodden creature: she was “blessed” with a white veil so that she could clean, wash, cook and endure her husband’s infidelities. However, by thirty I already had a long and completely family relationship - with a common life, a ficus tree and plans for the future, but I had no plans to get married even then", adds Margarita.

Then a tsunami named Keosayan burst into her “understandable life.” " Tigran and I tried many times to stop everything - no one wanted to hurt loved ones. But it didn't work out. The first time we separated “forever” was for a whole day, the last time was for twenty minutes." says Margarita.

Simonyan lived in a small cozy house, bought with a mortgage, in a wonderful village that had only one drawback - it was located sixty-three kilometers from the Moscow Ring Road. " When Tigran arrived for the first time, he asked why I didn’t have curtains. Margarita remembers. - She answered: “Because I haven’t saved up for the ones I want yet.”" Keosayan was shocked. In his mind, the head of a major international media outlet could not have such problems. He moved to live with her in this house without curtains.

« Why do you say that you live near Moscow? You live near Volokolamsk! - Tigran joked, making his way to Margarita’s house in his luxurious Maserati. He, of course, left the mansion in Barvikha to Alena and their common children. Having already moved to Simonyan, he stopped there every morning before work to have breakfast with his youngest daughter Ksyusha, and only then went to Mosfilm. Margarita categorically supported this. She even insisted if he was tired and wanted to sleep longer.

Tigran stopped going to Barvikha every morning only when Alena had a new common-law husband, Sasha. So as not to create awkwardness. Ksyusha spends weekends with them; she is friends with Margarita’s children. Tigran took only his father's portraits and books from his house. And after the divorce, Alena remains a faithful friend and family member, and a loving father to his daughters.

« When I found out that I was pregnant, I was in shock and cried for three months. Motherhood happened despite precautions, but there was an almost one hundred percent threat of miscarriage. The doctors said: “If you want to carry it out, go to bed for conservation, we will inject hormones.”"says Simonyan.

Margarita decided that she would not fight either for or against her pregnancy: as God willed, so it would happen. As a result, Maryasha settled down. Five months after her first birth, Simonyan became pregnant with Bagrat. This time I wasn’t worried, I was happy. " Pregnancy was very easy for me, both times I felt better than when I was not pregnant: I slept little, worked hard and vigorously, not a day of toxicosis, gave birth the first time in two and a half hours, the second in one and a half hours. However, motherhood is still the hardest thing I've ever done.", admitted Margarita.

I spent a month on maternity leave with Maryasha Simonyan, but still sorted everything out by phone and mail. I didn’t sit with Bagrat at all. After leaving the maternity hospital, the journalist took her son home and went to work - she was just undergoing an audit by the Accounts Chamber.

In general, the famous journalist is also an anxious mother, but she tries not to show this to her children. Several times a day he always calls his grandmothers at home. Although he knows his children’s schedule every minute, and theirs is spartan: swimming, languages, yoga, drawing by the hour, Maryasha has dancing, Bagrat has Thai boxing. And their diet is spartan, they still haven’t tried sweets and cakes, so they are absolutely indifferent to sweets and happily nibble on celery. Any cakes can be on the table - children are not drawn to them because they do not perceive them as food, rather as decoration. They eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, cereals, meat, and seafood.

Tigran is a much stricter parent than Margarita. Raises children immediately as adults, especially her only son. And he is three years old, he still doesn’t understand when dad says that “I need to apologize for throwing an apple on the floor,” he looks at dad with surprised eyes and smiles. However, Tigran, in Margarita’s opinion, is also strict with his daughters. But he also fools around with them, sings funny songs that he makes up himself, and tells tall tales.

Simonyan says that she is a fan of preschool education and got it from Tatyana Yumasheva, Yeltsin’s daughter. Maryasha and Bagrat speak five languages: Russian, Armenian, English, French and Chinese. Teachers who are native speakers come to them every day. For children it's just a game, they don't even know that they are learning. They sculpt, draw, walk, sing, watch cartoons - it’s just that all this happens in different languages.

« I wouldn't want my children to study abroad. For selfish reasons. They will already master languages ​​by first grade, but I am not ready to live with them in different countries so that they grow up as carriers of a culture that is foreign to me. I am not a person of the world, I am very attached to my native places and I want my children to be nearby too. We have seen many families where parents are perplexed as to why their child grew up strange, incomprehensible, some kind of arrogant English aristocrat or an equally arrogant Swiss socialist. And the heir was sent to London to college at the age of twelve - how should he grow up?", says Margarita.

Tigran did not object to his eldest daughter when she wanted to study at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, but he was terribly worried all these years. By the end, he and Alena were already very angry with themselves for sending their daughter to the other side of the world with their own hands. Luckily for them, she didn’t stay there. I received my diploma and returned. Now the smart and beautiful Sasha works with her father, she was the second director on his new film, the plot of which unfolds against the backdrop of the construction of the Crimean Bridge.

The summer before last, at Ksyusha’s birthday—she was turning six—Margarita met Alena. A few days before the holiday, Tigran said: “ Alena invites us to come all together. -Of course, take the children and go with them. - You did not understand. She wants to see you too».
Margarita thought that Tigran, in his directorial absent-mindedness, had misunderstood something. I asked him for Alenin’s number and wrote to her: “ Alena, hello! Tigran said that you are waiting for us all together. This is true? I don’t want to put anyone in an awkward position, especially at a children’s party" Alena replied: “ C'mon! Come! There won't be any problems. Let's have great fun».

About forty guests gathered. It was just wonderful. Margarita and Alena both took a glass when the children had already been taken away and sat together until the morning. Tigran could not stand it, fell asleep on the lawn, periodically woke up and whined: “ Girls, maybe that's enough? Oh please! I want to go home!»

At the holiday, Margarita and Alena took a photo together and posted it on the Internet with the caption “High relationship.” " She is charming, very kind, smart, open - not to mention a phenomenal beauty. We have nothing to share: Alena is happy, I am happy, Tigran is happy. And thank God", Margarita admits.

Margarita and Tigran do not hang out and rarely go to premieres or events. And they hardly go to visit - they receive friends at home. On Sundays they often serve tables of fifteen courses, Margarita loves it very much. Of course, both mothers and their au pair help her. Maryasha is already helping to cook too. I learned how to cut cucumbers with a small child’s knife, and I’m terribly proud of it.

« Looking at my children, I am convinced that people are born with a certain set of traits. Maryana is as ambitious as I was. At four years old, she cries for half a day if she fails to read a word or recite a poem by heart. But this doesn’t bother my three-year-old son at all. They sit down at the table, Maryasha shouts: “I am the first, because I was born first!” - Okay, I'm second.", Bagrat smiles.

On the first of January, Keosayan and Simonyan always have an “open door”. All night long, Margarita and her mother and mother-in-law cook this famous Armenian anti-hangover dish from boiled beef hooves. To be honest, the khash mostly cooks itself, but they keep an eye on it. All friends know that they can come to them without special invitation, starting at one o'clock in the afternoon. This is how it was in the house of Margarita’s parents, this is how it was in the house of Tigran’s parents, and now this is how it is with them.

Tigran, of course, pampers his wife, accustoming her to expensive things and five-star hotels. When they met, Margarita was already over thirty, she had long been a big boss with a good salary, but everything was scattered into mortgages, loans, and numerous relatives.

« I will never forget his first gift. I liked a bag from a well-known brand, not prohibitively expensive, but still wastefully expensive for me. Passing by the boutique, I admired her in the window. One day Tigran caught my eye: “Do you like this bag?”", says the journalist.

Tigran bought it on the sly and gave it to his wife. " So, like a child, I slept with her for several days - I laid her on the pillow, I could not take my eyes off her. I still wear it", recalls Margarita.

Keosayan and Simonyan have not yet registered their relationship; they simply don’t get around to it. " We were recently joking about this topic at home Margarita tells the “Caravan of Stories” - We decided that we would probably get married when the children grew up, so that we could sit down at a common table with our parents, drink homemade wine from the grapes planted by my grandfather, eat dolma according to Tigran’s mother’s recipe and say: “What great fellows you are, ancestors, Once upon a time we decided on all this!»

The news that the star couple Khmelnitskaya and Keosayan had broken up appeared thanks to the famous journalist Bozena Rynskaya. It was she who first posted a photo on the Internet showing Tigran Keosayan, his new wife and their children. The public was shocked by the news, because just recently Alena and Tigran looked quite happy together. Khmelnitskaya gave her husband a second daughter, was his muse and always appeared together at all social events. What happened in the star family? Why did they suddenly separate after 21 years of marriage?

Read also:

Tigran Keosayan and Alena Khmelnitskaya: divorce,…

How did the novel begin?

Rumor has it that the star marriage began to crack back in 2011, when Tigran began to appear alone in the world more often. Many then did not attach much importance to this and decided that the wife was doing a lot with her youngest daughter. But already in 2012, Tigran began appearing with the famous presenter Margarita Simonyan. In an interview the same year, Margarita announced that she was opening the “Zharko!” restaurant in Sochi. As it turned out, this was later a joint project between them and Keosayan. That was later.

And first there was a post on Facebook. One day, Margot received a message from Tigran, in which he admitted that he had been watching her for a long time, since the time of reporting from Beslan, and sympathized with her. He was outraged by the bullying that the girl was allegedly subjected to. The journalist herself didn’t believe it and thought it was a fake. Why would the famous director suddenly become interested in her fate? She only saw him on TV and even somehow appreciated his humor when he participated in a cooking show. BUT! For some reason she answered! A correspondence began, then long conversations began on the phone. And then lunches and dinners in restaurants. Gradually, we began to acquire common themes, interests, and projects.

Tigran Keosayan, his new wife, and Alena Khmelnitskaya

Tigran taught the girl to write scripts. Her long-time dream was to become a writer, but she didn’t have enough time. Margarita's talent awakened. Together they began filming TV series based on her scripts. Comedy “Sea. Mountains. Expanded clay.”, filmed by Tigran Keosayan and his new wife, was broadcast on Channel One with such success that Konstantin Ernst himself called and reported a high rating.

One day both realized that life without each other was no longer possible. There was an urgent need to see each other every day, text every minute, hold hands. Margarita, with a smile on her face, admits that all the most important things in life come to her unexpectedly and literally fall from the sky.

Tigran Keosayan and Margarita Simonyan

Biography of Margarita Simonyan

Unlike her lover's childhood, Margot's childhood was not so rosy. She was born in Krasnodar. In the 80s, it was not a well-groomed, luxurious metropolis, but an abandoned province with ruins of houses right in the center. Her family had a small house in the Armenian “ghetto”, with never-drying walls, an outdoor toilet for five families, and neighbors who were drug addicts. According to the journalist, even though her parents are purebred Armenians, the family is absolutely Russian. Dad was born and raised in Sverdlovsk, mother in Sochi. They never lived in Armenia. Numerous relatives live in Adler.

The parents of Tigran Keosayan’s new wife received higher education in Krasnodar. But they never found it useful. Despite a diploma with honors from the Krasnodar Polytechnic Institute, my father was forced to repair refrigerators, and my mother, an intelligent and fragile woman, did odd jobs. I knitted hats, sold persimmons, tried to shuttle. With all this, my mother managed to take Rita and her younger sister Alisa to various clubs, to a special English language school, and to music and sports classes.

Having brilliantly passed the entrance exams to the best school in Krasnodar, Margot determined her future. At that time, there was already a student exchange program and young Margarita was sure that she would go to America to finish her studies. And so it happened. In 1995, the Americans chose the 5 most promising guys, and she was among them. In the States, Margot was an excellent student and had great opportunities to stay there. She had a chance to study at a good university and have a well-paid job.

But at one fine moment the girl realized that she could only live where she grew up, that she would never be happy in a foreign country.

She graduated from school in her homeland with a gold medal. Then she entered Kuban University to become a journalist. In 1999, she published her first collection of poems, thanks to which she got a job as a correspondent for the local television and radio channel “Krasnodar”. But this was not enough for the ambitious and ambitious girl.

Energy was in full swing, I wanted to conquer peaks. Not knowing how to get into the big federal media, the nineteen-year-old girl came up with only one way - she went to war in Chechnya. Of course, without telling my parents anything. The calculation for stunning reports from the hot spot turned out to be correct, she was noticed. Margarita was awarded the journalistic award “For Professional Courage” and the Russian Order of Friendship.

Deciding to continue her career as a military television journalist, she covered militant clashes in Abkhazia. In September 2004 I went to Beslan. This tragedy greatly influenced the journalist’s worldview. A year later, the Russia Today channel was created, and Simonyan, naturally, was appointed editor-in-chief. Then the career of the international news star continued to grow.

And in 2013, Margarita was appointed editor-in-chief of MIA Rossiya Segodnya, where she works to this day.

Life together with Tigran Keosayan

Before Tigran appeared in her life, Margot was not serious about close relationships. It is known that at the time she met the famous director, she was living in a civil marriage with journalist Andrei Blagodyrenko. The fact is that living in her “ghetto”, the girl did not see happy families there. A married woman seemed to her an unhappy, downtrodden creature whose task was to do daily housework.

Margarita with Andrey Blagodyrenko

She never intended to get married, which greatly upset her parents. After all, they have been waiting for grandchildren for a long time. And now Tigran Keosayan and his new wife, although they have two children, live in a civil marriage.

When the couple realized that they had feelings, they decided to separate because they didn’t want to hurt anyone. We broke up for one day and couldn't stand it anymore. As a result, Keosayan moved to Rita in a small but cozy house, located 63 km from Moscow. Until Alena Khmelnitskaya had a man, her ex-husband visited them in Barvikha every morning to chat with their daughters over morning tea.

Oddly enough, they are on friendly, respectful terms with Alena. Khmelnitskaya, like a wise woman, encouraged the continuation of the daughters’ relationship with their father, because they were not to blame for anything. Moreover, Alena found the courage to invite Tigran Keosayan and his new wife with their children to a family celebration. They got to know each other better and, as usual with this trio, a joint project came together. The film “Actress” was shot based on Rita’s script, in which the ex-wife played the main role.

Now the Keosayan-Simonyan couple are loving, but strict and demanding parents. Especially the young dad. He talks to his son and daughter like adults. But he’s also not averse to fooling around, he likes to tell them all sorts of fables of his own composition, and sing funny songs.

We hope that Tigran Keosayan and his new wife will be happy for a long time, for the rest of their lives...