On Instagram, Zhanna Badoeva’s life seems impeccable. She always smiles, leisurely enjoys coffee in some cute Italian cafe, just enjoys the day because it is already beautiful in itself... And few people take into account that behind all this lies her crazy work schedule. Making a program about travel is a hellishly difficult task, although when watching it it seems quite the opposite.
On August 16, the premiere of the program “Another Life” will take place on Inter, where every Sunday Zhanna Badoeva introduces viewers to the lives of people in different countries. So we started the conversation with travel and, of course, discussed other passions in life.
“I got so carried away with cleaning that I threw out half the house.”
— Zhanna, what is it like, “Another Life”?
— The basis of the “Another Life” program is not information about attractions or recommendations for accommodation and leisure, but an honest story about the everyday life of residents in different cities and countries: about what unites us all, and where there are obvious differences from Ukrainian ones realities. I am absolutely sure that everyone is interested in knowing how other people live. What they prefer to eat for breakfast, how their homes are furnished, what kind of education they receive, how much they earn, how they spend their free time.
Each country has many interesting nuances, and the life of local people opens up from an unexpected side. These are different concepts, a different understanding of life, a different way of thinking, a different view on raising children, everyday life, the relationship between husband and wife, on the attitude towards retirement and even death. In principle, all the same things that Ukrainians face every day happen to other people around the world. But the view on everything can be completely opposite. And this is probably precisely why our program is valuable.
—Where do they live worse than us?
- In fact, having traveled to many countries, I can say with confidence that there is no place better or worse. There are completely different points of understanding. There is no such thing as worse or better. Somewhere, perhaps, wages are lower, but food prices are lower. Somewhere the laws regarding divorce seem better than in Ukraine, but at the same time the taxes are such that it is easier to get a divorce and not pay anything.
Everything is very different and very individual. Therefore, each person has his own good and his own bad. And it’s probably not worth generalizing.
—Are you already a real Italian?
— If you look at it from the point of view that for breakfast I drink coffee and eat brioche, then yes. But to be a real Italian, you need to be born one.
—Can you, for example, have a fluent discussion in Italian?
- No, it’s still difficult for me. But in a restaurant I’m like a duck to water - I can freely communicate with the waiters.
— Do you like Italian life - it’s a different world, a different mentality, rules?
“I’m absolutely comfortable.” I like everything here - the food, the culture, the weather. I love Italy madly. This is my home, my family.
— Are there Italian passions in your family?
- Certainly! For example, today, for some unknown reason, I decided to do some spring cleaning and throw away unnecessary things. I like to do the cleaning so that no one disturbs me, so that everyone is busy with something else. So while Vasily and Lolita were doing their own thing, I got so carried away that I threw out half the house! But they noticed it. And serious passions flared up. We seriously fought for half a day for almost every discarded item.
— How is the situation in Italy now, what restrictions remain due to quarantine?
— We were at sea yesterday, everything was calm on the beach. There are no passions. There is talk about a second wave. But people were either tired or accepted this situation. Therefore, in principle, everything is quiet and calm.
The fact is that August in Italy is vacation time, when almost everyone closes and goes on vacation. We thought that due to this situation no one would go on vacation, but they were mistaken. Everyone went on vacation - resting.
Zhanna Badoeva's husband Vasily Melnichin
Zhanna Badoeva and her husband Alan separated, and soon she had an alliance with her new lover Sergei Babenko. He easily won the girl’s heart; they met in America. The acquaintance did not last long, Zhanna and Sergei even thought about getting married, but instead there was a separation. A new boyfriend and future husband, Vasily Melnichin, met Zhanna Badoeva in Venice. He is a professional musician, born in Lviv, and currently lives in Italy. Almost 5 years ago they got married, Zhanna Badoeva and her husband are happy and today live in Italy, their children are with them. The woman’s work forces him to constantly travel.
The painting was in Italy in one of the famous registry offices, where the marriage certificate was issued. Beautiful photos, which can be found in unlimited quantities on the Internet, are very much related to travel, since both love to travel, and a lot of filming takes place in different cities and countries.
A huge number of projects on the Friday TV channel are so emotional and interesting that she simply lives with them. Zhanna Badoeva’s son, Boris, will soon enter a higher education institution; he loves theater and creative arts. Daughter Lolita knows Italian very well, but her parents really want her not to forget Russian, because her language is getting worse.
“I trust Vasily”
— Very interesting queries about you are displayed on Google: children, Instagram, photos, pregnant, height, son, shoes, nationality. Let's go through them one by one. Lola is 15 now, are you friends or still like mother and daughter? Or is it some kind of mix?
- We are, of course, mother and daughter. But we have a very trusting relationship. I can tell her some of my secrets, and she can tell hers. Maybe not completely, but I think it’s not necessary at all - she has her own friends, I have mine.
And I really appreciate her sense of humor. In this, of course, we are very similar. We can joke even when others might be offended. Understand each other. This is the most important thing.
— Do you manage your own social networks? Where is this time in your schedule?
— I always manage Instagram myself. Other social networks - there are managers who take almost everything from my Instagram. It doesn't take me much time. I post one, maximum two posts a day on Instagram. And then the second one is if some event happens. A couple of days ago we were in Verona at a classical music festival, and I shared this event, this was the second post of the day.
— Why can you get banned from social networks?
- For insults, swearing immediately gets a bath and I don’t even understand.
— How did you turn businessman Vasily into a television producer? Whose idea was this?
- There is no need to make anyone out of him. He himself does what he wants and knows what is best for him. Producing is the same business. He runs it the same way he did before, but now it's not just about shoes, but also about TV production.
— What is it like to work with your husband? And even with your son? Isn’t it difficult to reprimand your own people if something goes wrong?
— We don’t work with our son. It happened once, in Milan, because Boris lives there. He is too busy, works remotely and does video editing, so in principle we do not come into close contact at work. And with Vasily, work scandals happen on the site all the time.
We have an international film crew, everyone lives in different countries and cities - in Kyiv, Barcelona, London. And if previously everyone came to filming from all over the world, now, due to the situation with coronavirus, the guys cannot fly to filming, and for now Vasily and I are filming everything together. He now works as my operator! And since there is no one else on the site but us, all the joy and anger go towards each other. But since we understand that we are in the same boat, we don’t quarrel for a long time. We had a fight, made up after 5 minutes and moved on.
— I now remember your quote from a post on Instagram: “I used to sometimes think: why does he love me? I can act like a fool." So why do you and Vasily love each other?
“It’s difficult to explain in human language that I love him for this or that. Because I love him precisely because what about him at the same time really infuriates me. But there are probably some other points here. I trust him very much - and this is very valuable when you understand that a person will not let you down and will be on your side, no matter what you do. No matter what stupid thing I do, he won’t come and say “you’re such a fool”! He will analyze everything and still stand for me. His support is very important to me.
— Does constant travel take a toll on your personal life? Or since you are now working together, there is nothing to be sad about?
— We have no personal life (laughs). There is only work. Even when we come home, there is still very little time. But since this is a common cause and it takes up almost 90% of my life and his life, it suits both of us. Thank God that we are doing the same thing, because if he worked without me, I would go crazy. This would be impossible.
“I’m constantly getting better and losing weight”
— You said that you always need people nearby from whom you are charged, you want to dare, create, you want to share everything with them. Are there such people near you?
- Certainly! I have such a privilege that I have surrounded myself with people that I feel comfortable with. I am not forced to communicate with those people with whom I am uncomfortable. Therefore, my family, my friends, my dogs are the circle that gives me strength.
— Do you often visit Ukraine? Who do you meet first when you arrive? What places do you visit?
— The first thing I do is visit the dentist (laughs). But seriously, I don’t go to Kyiv very often. Again, because of my work. Because I drive, drive, drive, and when I have a 5-day break, I want to go home to my children and dogs. There is no desire to fly somewhere. Of course, my parents are in Kyiv. But sometimes it’s much easier for them to fly to me in Italy. Of course, the virus story complicated everything, and we haven’t seen each other for six months. But we are in touch and hope that as soon as everything is over, either we will fly to them, or they will fly to us.
— On Instagram you are such a positive, lively person, always a glowing woman. Is this always the case in real life? Do you also have sad days? How do you fight them?
— In real life, I am a boring, gray, angry and constantly screaming woman (laughs). And I don’t fight this, I just live like this. As I already said, I surrounded myself with my people - they all know me, and, in principle, they absolutely don’t care. They accepted my character.
— What will you never talk about publicly?
- About what I don’t want. About diseases. That is, if they ask me, I’ll tell you. But she herself - hardly. About some personal things, about death. But that's what I think now. I somehow have no desire to talk about this at all.
— Once you asked your subscribers how much money they needed to be happy. How much do you need?
- Still very relative. I consider myself an absolutely wealthy person. But I always don’t have enough money, I want more. I have enough of them, basically, for everything. But since I’m a terrible clothes maker, there are, of course, problems with this.
- What makes you happy?
- I can list for a long time. In fact, absolutely everything. This morning I woke up - it was so hot, I turned on the air conditioner, sat down, made myself coffee - everything, happy! I threw out the trash - happy. I went to the sea - happy. I went to Verona for a concert - happy. The dog is jumping - I'm happy. I bought a new dress and I’m ten times happier.
- Well, yes, you are a coffee lover. Where is the best coffee?
— The best coffee is in Italy. Not bad in Israel. And what really surprised me was in Cuba.
— How does Zhanna Badoeva manage not to gain weight on croissants?
- In fact, I constantly gain a lot of weight, then lose weight. But it’s unnoticeable because I choose the right clothes.
— How to impress a person who has seen almost the whole world with a family vacation?
- It's practically impossible. My vacation should be quiet, calm, with virtually no movement, I should have everything nearby. One hundred percent comfort and absolute silence!
TO THE POINT
From the KP archive
Zhanna Badoeva is 44. Born in Lithuania. She was the first female resident of Comedy Club Ukraine. In 2011, together with director and music video director Alan Badovey (at that time still her husband), she became the host of the show “Heads and Tails.” She left the project in 2012 after the third season.
Zhanna has two children: 24-year-old son Boris Kurachenko from her first marriage (however, Badoev raised him as his own and always called him his son) and 15-year-old Lolita Badoeva.
In 2014, she married businessman Vasily Melnichin. The couple and their children have been living in Italy since 2013.
Zhanna Badoeva: “He threw a ring at me and left me alone with my eight-month-old son”
Zhanna Badoeva // Photo: Legion-media
One can only envy the career of Zhanna Badoeva: after her triumph in the “Heads and Tails” program, she hosted several more programs, and is now working on her own show for Channel One. Despite the fact that the TV star never needed money, she still had difficult periods in her life.
So, in the late 90s, Zhanna broke up with her first husband Igor Kurachenko. An influential businessman surrounded Badoeva with care, and when she became bored with nothing to do, he helped his wife organize her own business. The only thing that the star’s ex-favorite could not come to terms with was her obsession with her new profession. Having entered the directing department, the future TV presenter began to disappear at the university for days on end.
“He told me: “It’s either me or the institute.” I didn’t even have any thoughts then. Of course, the institute. Then he took off the ring, threw it at me and left. And so I was left alone with my eight-month-old son, a first-year student,” Badoeva shared her memories.
The TV presenter always loved to travel // Photo: Instagram
The businessman no longer communicated with his son Boris. Later, Zhanna tried to establish contact with her ex-husband, but he refused to forgive her. Then the divorce seemed like a real tragedy, but now Badoeva is grateful to her ex-lover. “No one could explain to me that I had a new path, new doors had opened, so many opportunities. And I suffered for seven whole years,” said the presenter.
Only after Zhanna married Alan Badoev for the second time did she manage to get rid of sad thoughts. The star always supported her husband and believed that he could succeed. A few years later, Alan really turned into the main music video director in Ukraine.
From Alan Badoev, Zhanna gave birth to a daughter, Lolita. // Photo: Instagram
During that period, Badoeva’s career also developed rapidly. She managed to work on several television shows at once, but always dreamed of hosting a travel program. In 2011, the program “Heads and Tails” was released, which was destined to become a big hit. “Back in 2009, I sat with my classmate and his wife Lena and talked about how cool it was to create something of our own. And even in my first year I wanted to work on a travel show, all 30 of my classmates will confirm this. So Lena and I went to the travel agency with whom I usually traveled. There they told us that they could provide hotels at a discount, but that was all over,” Zhanna said.
Only a year later Badoeva met Natella Krapivina. According to the presenter, the producer was ready to invest in the creation of the project, but only if she had an interesting and bright idea. The very concept of tossing a coin was invented by screenwriter Ekaterina Turova, after which work on the show began.
Zhanna has been living in Italy for many years // Photo: Instagram
But Natella herself has a completely different view of the history of the creation of the cult program. The producer assures that Zhanna was only a hired presenter and did not take part in organizational meetings, concept development and other working aspects. To prove this, Krapivina recorded a YouTube video detailing her position.
Criticism from a former colleague came as a complete surprise to Zhanna. The star admitted that she did not watch Natella’s video, and she was even uncomfortable commenting on what happened. “I don’t want to blame anyone. We met Natella in 2010. She saw how I worked as a production director and wanted to invest in a project with my participation. We started looking for an idea. The “chip” with a coin was invented by Katya Turova. I always talk about this!” - Badoeva emphasized.
“This situation came as a surprise to me. Natella and I never quarreled; we corresponded in December. I really love the “Heads and Tails” program, but for me it’s such a rosy, creative childhood. I don’t understand why all this is brought up and discussed,” Zhanna said.
Badoev’s wife calls him the best man in the world // Photo: Instagram
Thanks to the “Heads and Tails” project, the presenter’s life has changed radically. She broke up with Alan Badoev, and after leaving the show she began working on new programs. Zhanna managed to find personal happiness only in 2020. It was then that she began dating a businessman named Vasily. “We met two years before. Then he unexpectedly wrote to me on a social network. We wrote for three days without a break. As a result, Vasily invited me to Venice. It was adventurous, but I took a risk and flew. Honestly, if he had proposed to me back then, I would have agreed,” said the star.
Now Zhanna lives in Italy with her children and third husband. In an interview for the YouTube channel “Should we talk?” Badoeva stated that only in her current marriage did she learn what true love and trust are. It was Vasily who helped the presenter promote her new show on Channel One. The husband supports the favorite of millions of viewers in everything, and she herself has finally found the ideal balance between work and personal life.
