100 nights with Regina. Regina Zbarskaya: the real life of the Red Queen
Regina Zbarskaya was called the “Soviet Sophia Loren.” One of the most famous and beautiful women Soviet Union nevertheless, I never knew happiness in life. Loneliness and mysterious premature death - that’s what awaited her...
"Unusual beauty"
About the childhood of Regina Kolesnikova (that’s her maiden name) very little is known. According to one version, she was born on September 27, 1935 in Leningrad. Her parents were circus gymnasts and died performing a difficult trick under the dome. After this, the girl ended up in Orphanage. According to another version, Regina was born in Vologda. Her father, Nikolai Dementievich Kolesnikov, was a retired officer, and her mother was a doctor.
In 1953, 17-year-old Regina Kolesnikova came to Moscow to enroll in VGIK. Fate smiled on her, and she entered there the first time. True... on Faculty of Economics. But this did not stop the girl from attending bohemian parties, where one day fashion designer Vera Aralova drew attention to her. So it began modeling career Kolesnikova. Despite her unconventional figure for a model, in particular her crooked legs, Regina enjoyed wild success on the catwalk.
In addition, she had refined manners, spoke French... When fashion designer Vyacheslav Zaitsev forced her to cut her hair like a pageboy, creating the image of an “Italian beauty,” the foreign press was choked with delight. The French magazine Paris Match called Kolesnikova “the most beautiful weapon of the Kremlin.” Federico Fellini, Pierre Cardin, Yves Montand and even Fidel Castro admired the graceful beauty with a pale face and almond-shaped eyes...
“One Hundred Nights with Regina Zbarskaya”
In the early 60s, Regina Kolesnikova married Moscow artist Lev Zbarsky. Being married to a beautiful and successful woman However, Zbarsky did not want children from her. When Regina became pregnant in 1967, her husband forced her to have an abortion. Despite this, he soon left her, becoming interested in actress Marianna Vertinskaya.
After an unsuccessful abortion, Zbarskaya - she bore the surname until her death ex-husband– could no longer have children. She started taking antidepressants and eventually ended up in psychiatric hospital with severe depression. Returning from the hospital, Zbarskaya was able to continue her career on the catwalk - Elena Vorobey, deputy director of the House of Models on Kuznetsky, helped her in this. She got new lover- a Yugoslav journalist who, however, used Regina to realize his own career ambitions. He published a book on German entitled “One Hundred Nights with Regina Zbarskaya,” in which he very frankly described his intimate life with a fashion model. In addition, the book talked about her connections with members of the Central Committee, about how she was an informant for the KGB, about the denunciations that she wrote against colleagues...
In general, the book was anti-Soviet in nature. After that, Regina was dragged for quite a long time to the Lubyanka, where she was exhausted by interrogations. She tried to commit suicide twice and ended up in the hospital again. Coming out of there, Zbarskaya looked so bad that there was no talk of returning to model business there was no question. Vyacheslav Zaitsev hired her as a simple cleaner at the Model House.
Versions of death
On November 15, 1987 (according to some sources - in October 1987) Regina Zbarskaya died. It is interesting that the Soviet press never announced her death, but the Voice of America reported it. Subsequently, two versions of Zbarskaya’s death appeared. One by one, the neighbor noticed open door into the apartment and, looking in, saw Regina lying motionless, clutching the telephone receiver in her hand...
Another version says that Zbarskaya was in Moscow psychiatric hospital No. 1, known as “Kashchenko”. One day her body was found in the ward without signs of life. The expert concluded that the cause of death was food poisoning. But rumors spoke of opening veins or poisoning with sleeping pills. The official reason could have been hidden. Perhaps shed light on the mystery of death famous fashion model could her diary, which was allegedly found next to the body. But the latest recordings were never included in the case. Could Zbarskaya's death be the result of a murder committed, for example, by state security officers? Perhaps she knew too much and was dangerous... None of Zbarskaya’s colleagues at the Model House came to the funeral. The body was cremated, but it is still not known where her burial place is.
When it comes to Russian models, most remember only the names of beauties whose careers began in the late nineties and early 2000s. It’s as if before Natalya Vodianova, Sasha Pivovarova, Natalya Semanova, Alexandra and Lida Egorov, the West was not interested in our girls. In fact, little and not everyone knows about the first Russian fashion models, who with difficulty broke through from the Soviet Union abroad. We are correcting this omission and launching a series of materials about domestic model divas with spectacular appearance and incredible interesting destinies. They conquered the harsh catwalks of the USSR, fell in love with themselves famous artists, drove the representatives crazy supreme authority and at some point they put everything they had on the line, not knowing what awaited them next.
Studying the biography of Regina Zbarskaya, it is difficult to believe that so many sad and dramatic events could befall one woman. Moreover, in such a short period of time - as you know, the fashion model committed suicide a month and a half before her 52nd birthday.
Regina Zbarskaya was not just the most famous fashion model Soviet Union, she was a woman of mystery, whose life was always shrouded in secrets and rumors. It is still not clear where the future catwalk conqueror was born. According to one version, this happened in Vologda, in the family of a retired officer, according to another, in Leningrad, in a family of circus gymnasts. Regina herself adhered last option, not forgetting to add that her parents died while performing a dangerous stunt, leaving her an orphan. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Zbarskaya always hid her simplicity under the guise of aristocracy, fearing that she would be exposed.
Carier start
In the spring of 1953, 17-year-old Regina arrived in Moscow. Having entered VGIK, she soon abandoned her studies - new, much more interesting prospects. In her first year, Kolesnikova (the heroine’s maiden name) caught the eye of Vera Aralova, a famous clothing designer at the time. The fashion designer immediately noted the girl’s European beauty and invited her to try herself on the catwalk. Regina knew that youth and excellent appearance were a ticket to a bright future, and decided not to miss the opportunity to test this theory in practice.
Miss Crooked Legs
At the House of Models, Regina Kolesnikova instantly became fashion model No. 1 and, despite her newcomer status, immediately began traveling abroad. Western fashion designers admired not only her grace and figure, but also her ease of communication, which other Soviet girls could not boast of due to ignorance of foreign languages. Among the others, Regina was distinguished not only bright appearance, but also... legs like wheels. Yes, yes, you heard right, the legs themselves beautiful woman The USSR was unacceptably crooked.
Doesn't deny it close friend girls Vyacheslav Zaitsev. But he adds that “this was her charm, her special sophistication.”
According to the couturier’s memoirs, Kolesnikova walked the catwalk so brilliantly that no one noticed this flaw.
KGB spy
Spectacular appearance, access to intellectual circles, fluency in two foreign languages(English and French) - all this made Regina an ideal candidate... for the role of a spy. Representatives of the KGB approached the girl after her return from another business trip to Paris and made it clear that if she continued to travel abroad without hindrance and lead her old lifestyle, she would have to “work hard” for the good of the Motherland. What exactly her duties included is not known for certain, but since then the model has always been present at all meetings of foreign guests who came to the capital, and went with them to restaurants and theaters.
Main mistake in life
The great Frederico Fellini admired the purebred beauty of Regina Kolesnikova, Pierre Cardin gave her his best dresses, Yves Montand dedicated songs to her. There were rumors that even Fidel Castro himself was a big fan of the fashion model, but neither he nor others famous men could not win Regina’s heart the way the promising painter Lev Zbarsky did.
The girl was blinded not only by her charisma young man, but also the status of his family, which gave her even greater fame and position in society. Beloved was one of brightest couples Moscow light. However, behind the elegant façade hid a complicated relationship.
At 32, Zbarskaya became pregnant. Dreaming of a son as talented as dad, or a daughter as beautiful as her mother, Regina imagined their future in vivid colors. happy life three of us. But these dreams were not destined to come true: the artist saw in his wife only a muse, but not a woman washing diapers. Saying a firm “no!”, he forced her to have an abortion. This decision was not easy for Regina. In order to at least a little calm the shaken nervous system, she began taking strong antidepressants, completely unaware that fate, in the person of her beloved husband, was already ready to give her another slap in the face - Lev Zbarsky left his beautiful wife for actress Lyudmila Maksakova. The news that in new family Lev had a child (son Maxim), whom the artist never allowed Regina to have, and finally trampled her. Then she first ended up in a psychiatric hospital, where she would return more than once during her short life.
One hundred nights with Regina Zbarskaya
In any story where there is a beautiful and successful girl, there is always room for dirt. This is what happens today, and it was the same 50 years ago. In the mid-1970s, Zbarskaya, who had just come to her senses after her husband’s betrayal, met a Yugoslav journalist. The young hot guy instantly turned the head of a woman yearning for love and a strong man’s embrace.
From famous model“Soviet Sophia Loren” never came out
It was called “the most beautiful weapon of the Kremlin”, and was highly valued by such famous fashion designers as Yves Saint Laurent And Pierre Cardin, and a cult film director Federico Fellini allegedly exclaimed in an interview with Soviet media: “Why do you Sophia Loren? You have your own."
There were a lot of rumors and speculations about her. It was as if there were two supermodels named R Egina Zbarskaya- obvious and secret. One Regina is for the public and fashion magazines, and the other is real, a woman with difficult fate, who tragically ended her life in a psychiatric hospital.
Whose daughter is she?
Mysteries begin already at the stage of childhood and adolescence. It is not known exactly where Regina Kolesnikova(that's her maiden name) was born and raised. According to one source, future star podium was born in 1935 in Vologda, in a simple Soviet family: Her mother was a doctor, and her father was a retired military man.
According to the second version, Regina is a native of Leningrad and the daughter famous artists circus - aerialists who crashed when the girl was very little. Therefore, Regina allegedly grew up in an orphanage.
Be that as it may, in the summer of 1953, seventeen-year-old Regina ended up in Moscow and entered the economics department of VGIK, a prestigious cinematography institute. This is where her dizzying career began.
Thanks to her bright appearance, the girl quickly became “one of the people” at bohemian metropolitan parties, where the “cream” of the then society gathered: theater and film stars, golden youth, artists, writers, diplomats. In addition to her undoubted beauty, Regina was distinguished by good manners and spoke fluently in French and English, which in a country that had recently discovered “ iron curtain", was considered a rare and undeniable virtue.
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On the cover of "Paris Match"
At one of the social events, a striking brunette was noticed by a talented fashion designer Vera Alarova, who invited Regina to the All-Union House of Models on Kuznetsky Most.
Colleagues did not share the designer’s enthusiasm: new girl I had unacceptably crooked legs for the podium. But Kolesnikova nevertheless began to demonstrate the works of Vera Alarova, and it was Regina who showed a new product in Paris in 1961 - high women's boots with a zipper sewn into the boot. The boots created a real sensation among Western fashion designers and the public, and the face of the Russian model appeared on the cover of the popular French news magazine Paris Match.
So the whole world realized that the USSR also had fashion, and Regina became the star of fashion shows not only in our country, but also in the West, where the Model House regularly exported its new collections. Then, in the sixties, Regina began collaborating with another outstanding Soviet fashion designer Vyacheslav Zaitsev, who offered to give Regina a pageboy haircut, after which Western press and began to compare Regina with Sophia Loren.
"One Hundred Nights with Regina"
The personal life of the Soviet top model was no less dizzying. In 1965, she met a successful illustrator Lev Zbarsky, with whom I fell madly in love. The son of the famous scientist who embalmed Lenin, Lev Zbarsky lived by the principle: “The more you spend, the more you earn,” and he could not help but be captivated by the primacy of the Fashion House.
Regina married Zbarsky and took his last name, but was happy family life Did not work out. At first Zbarsky became interested in the actress Marianna Vertinskaya and convinced Regina to have an abortion. And then he went to Lyudmila Maksakova, who gave birth to his child in 1970. These upheavals in her personal life brought the emotional Regina to a psychiatric hospital, where she ended up in a state of severe depression.
After leaving the psychiatric hospital, Regina returned to the podium and fell in love with a young Yugoslav journalist. It seemed personality crisis was overcome and life improved. Alas, it soon became clear that the journalist used Regina to achieve his own goals.
After leaving the USSR, he published the book “One Hundred Nights with Regina Zbarskaya” in West Germany, in which he revealed the ins and outs of the Model House, the connections of workers with KGB officers and members of the CPSU Central Committee. Not last role in this denunciation book was assigned to Zbarskaya. The author provided the text with erotic scenes and outright anti-Soviet language.
A serious political scandal broke out. Unable to withstand the double betrayal, Regina again fell into psychiatric clinic, where she was already given a much more severe diagnosis - schizophrenia.
This is how fame goes
After the scandal, the most famous Soviet fashion model tried to commit suicide twice and became addicted to antidepressants. The woman had gained weight, smoked a lot and looked bad.
The final blow for her was the situation when she turned to Vyacheslav Zaitsev for help and he offered her a job as a cleaner. The former top model could not agree to such humiliation. On the third attempt, Regina Zbarskaya committed suicide on November 15, 1987, by poisoning herself with sleeping pills. According to another version, she died in a psychiatric hospital. At the same time, she allegedly held a secret diary of her life in her hands.
According to rumors, none of the colleagues from the Model House came to the funeral; The model's body was cremated, and the burial place is unknown. So quietly and ingloriously the star of the brightest Soviet supermodel, who reigned on the catwalks of the sixties and early seventies of the last century, set.
By the way. You can see Regina Zbarskaya in the 1958 film"Sailor from Comet"", in which the aspiring model played the role of the Italian singer Silvanna. In the credits the model is listed as “R. Kolesnikov."
Secrets of the real life and death of the most famous fashion model of the USSR. “One Hundred Nights with Regina Zbarskaya” - the book that ruined the fashion model
Regina Zbarskaya, which captivated Paris with its beauty and which was called “the most beautiful weapon of the Kremlin,” was modern concepts a real star, but at the same time voluntarily gave up her life, ending it in complete loneliness and poverty.
Zbarskaya’s biography is worthy of cinema and embodiment in the series “The Red Queen”. Naturally, the creators of the film changed a lot in favor of the plot. How much real life Regina was different from the movie - about this in the material website.
Happy childhood and first film auditions
Ksenia Lukyanchikova as Regina Barskaya in the TV series “The Red Queen”, 2015. Still from the series A girl who was born into a Vologda family Kolesnikovs September 27, 1935, named Regina, not Zoey, like in the movies. Father Regina Kolesnikova was an official, held high position. From Vologda, where the family lived, I went for a promotion to Moscow. The daughter went to the capital with her father. But my mother (according to rumors, she was a doctor) remained in Vologda. The parents were in a civilized divorce. Regina Kolesnikova did not know any poverty, drunken fights or bullying in real life.
The Kolesnikov family lived in a luxurious apartment in the area of what is now Vorobyovy Gory. Dad spoiled his daughter and did not deny her anything. She dreamed of becoming an actress, but soberly assessed her strength: a provincial girl without proper preparation was unlikely to pass the competition.
Therefore, Regina easily entered the Faculty of Economics of VGIK. And this is not surprising: the girl studied well, loved exact sciences, knew English and French perfectly. But at the same time, she did not forget about her dream and went to auditions for Mosfilm.
It is believed that Regina came to audition for Sergei Bondarchuk in his film “War and Peace” and it was there that I met my future mentor - Vera Ippolitovna Aralova, theater artist and leading fashion designer of those years.
Connection with Lenin's mummy
According to the plot of the film, the fashion model had an affair with a security officer. Volodya, and then she conquered and married the womanizer artist Lev Barsky. In fact, Kolesnikova did not have an affair with any security officer. But she conquered Leo.
The artist's real name is Felix-Lev Zbarsky. He was the son of a famous Soviet biochemist Boris Zbarsky. Boris Ilyich embalmed the body Lenin after his death, and then headed the laboratory at the mausoleum.
Naturally, his son had everything he wanted. Lev Zbarsky was amazed by Regina's beauty. But she did not become another of his many mistresses, but managed to marry him to herself. And unlike the series, their romance did not last long. After the registry office, Zbarsky moved his newly-made wife to a one-room apartment, located not in the center of Moscow, but somewhere in the Airport area.
At first the couple enjoyed life together, but Leo quickly got tired of the monotony.
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Abortion, husband's departure and suicide attempt
Regina was 32 years old when she found out that she was pregnant by her husband. The woman was preparing for a trip to Montreal, which was, one might say, a matter of national importance. Lev Zbarsky categorically did not want a child at all. And Regina made her choice. True, she could not keep her husband.
Soon he started an affair and went to Marianna Vertinskaya, and here Lyudmila Maksakova She gave birth to his son Maxim, which could not help but hit Regina’s pride. But the last straw for her was the news of Zbarsky’s departure to Israel in 1972. She decided to commit suicide, but was rescued and sent to a mental hospital for treatment.
“One Hundred Nights with Regina Zbarskaya” or the second betrayal
Regina Zbarskaya, after her husband’s betrayal, managed to return to her profession. Although she understood that she finest hour passed: she was 37, and after hormone treatment she gained weight. But she was still beautiful, she had a sense of nobility and class, like a real queen. After all, this is how the name Regina is translated from Latin.
Men still dreamed about her, and she reciprocated some of them. She had a short but beautiful and bright novel with a Yugoslav journalist. This man struck a second terrible blow Regina.
Returning to his homeland, the journalist concocted the book “One Hundred Nights with Regina Zbarskaya.” In it, he described in detail the sex scenes with Soviet fashion model, talked about how Regina was forced to cooperate with the KGB, to inform on her friends, that she allegedly slept with members of the Politburo.
Naturally, this book was not seen in the USSR. But Zbarskaya was dragged into the KGB. She tried to commit suicide again, and again failed. Zbarskaya was treated in a psychiatric hospital for a long time.
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Quiet care Queens
One of the few who supported Zbarskaya until the end of her life was Vyacheslav Zaitsev. He protected Regina. At her request, he got a job as a cleaner in his fashion house.
After two suicide attempts and active treatment in a psychiatric hospital in Zbarskaya, it was already difficult to recognize the beauty who conquered the whole world. The savior of the security officer Volodya, as in the series, did not exist in Regina’s real life.
There are two versions of Regina's death. According to one of them, Zbarskaya committed suicide in a psychiatric hospital, and they did not have time to save her. According to another version, she committed suicide at home.
The funeral was quiet; none of Regina’s famous acquaintances and colleagues came to say goodbye to her. Her body was cremated, and this still causes gossip that the fashion model could have been helped to pass into the next world, since she knew too much, and her condition mental health was unbalanced.
Regina Zbarskaya died on November 15, 1987 at the age of 52, in poverty and loneliness. However, in the memory of many people she still remains the unsurpassed Queen of the catwalk.
– Have you decided to return to Nadezhda and also get treatment? Laughed at the healer, and now I realized that she is a genius? I'll take it and stay! Now it's my turn to laugh at you. Do you think it's nice to hear about your death on Monday? I'm barely alive from shock. It’s good that Nadezhda agreed to help me. True, wearing the skin of Theoktistus is not a cheap pleasure, they charged me ten thousand for it... But life is more valuable!
“Forgive me,” I humbly asked, “I will never make fun of the animal therapist again.” No, I don’t intend to return at all, I plan to check out the local store. Do you want us to go together?
“Well, no,” Zoya winced. “I’m tired and it’s time to have a snack.” Meet me before dinner. OK?
I waved Miron’s hand, walked a little along the local Broadway, looked back and happily saw that Zoya had disappeared into the forest. Then I turned around and slipped into the house located next to the hut of the cunning healer. The door to the rickety house was blithely unlocked in a rustic way. I squeezed into the tiny entryway, tripped over a pair of rubber galoshes, almost tore my skirt on some pieces of iron and shouted:
- Tamara, are you home?
“Come in,” came the answer. - Who's there? Regina, is that you? Why haven't you come for so long? It's been six months since you disappeared.
I pushed the shabby plywood door with my hand, got tangled in the curtain hanging behind it, but eventually pulled it aside and found myself in the kitchen. At a tiny table covered with blue and white oilcloth sat a very thin woman in a tracksuit that had seen better days.
- Who are you? – she was surprised.
– Does Regina Zbarskaya live here? – I in turn asked. – I came to visit her.
Tamara pushed aside the large bowl into which she was peeling garlic cloves.
– Regina has disappeared somewhere. He hasn't shown up for a long time, since winter.
I feigned disappointment:
- So, Zbarskaya left?
The owner of the hut looked at me carefully.
- Maybe so. But her things are there, and they are good and expensive.
- Will you allow me to go into the resident’s room? – I asked.
“Okay,” the hostess agreed after a short hesitation, “if you give me a thousand rubles, then please.”
Having received the bill, Tamara began to make excuses:
“I was kicked out of work; I have nothing to live on.”
“I paid you honestly, now I want to see the premises,” I interrupted my aunt.
She got up.
– Along the corridor to the left and straight ahead, you’ll run into a door.
I passed a narrow passage, pushed the door and saw a barely ten-meter long room with a large bed of the mid-twentieth century. In addition to the bed, covered with a beautiful new blanket, there was a three-door wardrobe with a mirror, real dinosaur from the Soviet furniture industry, a sagging armchair, there was also a burgundy-black carpet on the wall and pots of wildly blooming geraniums on a narrow window sill painted with white oil paint.
Without hesitation, I opened the creaky wardrobe doors. Zbarskaya had few things, but they all really turned out to be of excellent quality: two cashmere sweaters in gray and light sand colors, tight black trousers, a pair of formal dresses, which she likes to appear in public in British Queen Elizabeth, elegant boots and heeled pumps.
But in travel bags on the lower shelves I found something very interesting. One trunk contained sets of so-called erotic lingerie, obviously purchased in a boutique famous for its unrealistic high prices. And in the second there were various sex toys meticulously arranged in boxes. One of them turned out to be empty, but I realized what was in it earlier - handcuffs made of leopard-dyed velvet and wide silk ribbons. Why did I think about this particular set? Very simple: on the lid there was a picture depicting the contents. There was also a wide selection of condoms of all types and sizes, plus specific medications and disinfectants. It looks like Regina worked as a call girl.
I returned to Tamara in the kitchen.
– How long has Zbarskaya been renting a room from you?
The hostess became nervous.
-You're from the police, right? From Moscow? Leonid complained? I have nothing to do with Regina’s affairs! She was looking for housing, and I needed money. Who feels bad that a girl has settled here? No noise from her, no worries. During the day she slept or went to Moscow and visited here for one or two nights. Quiet, well-mannered, respectful. When the Vaskas’ son broke his arm, his mother flew to me and started crying: “Tomka, ask the resident to take us to the hospital. By the time the ambulance gets here, the child will start screaming. I’m not trained to drive myself, but the guy is lying there drunk.” I answered: “Ask for it yourself. Regina and I are not close friends, I don’t feel comfortable bothering her. It’s okay, your tomboy will be patient, he will learn, otherwise the boy will get away with everything. Do you think I don’t know who set fire to the dry tops in my garden this summer? I almost lost my hut because of your hooligan!” And then Regina comes out of the bedroom with the words: “Get in the car.” Not only did she deliver the neighbor and her son to the emergency room, she also waited for them there. And she bought the spoiled man a toy in the store and didn’t even take money from Vaskina for gas. She turned out to be compassionate.
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