Leonid Yarmolnik and Oksana Afanasyeva have been together for 35 years. Two characters, two complete personalities, two leaders did not find each other right away. The meeting with Oksana turned Leonid from a fickle conqueror of women's hearts into exemplary family man. She was the last love of the great Vladimir Vysotsky. Yarmolnik became her husband, friend, lover and father of their only daughter.
Oksana Afanasyeva: life before Leonid
She had a difficult childhood, this strong girl. She was only six years old when her mother died. Oksana remembers very well her childhood and the pain from the loss that she experienced. The little girl stayed to live with her father, a fairly popular writer at that time. Companies often gathered in the house, where alcohol flowed like a river. She studied at the most prestigious French school, and at home every day she saw her drunk father, who was often aggressive when intoxicated. And he kept trying to find the ideal stepmother for his daughter, not realizing that his precociously matured Oksana did not need any replacement for her beloved mother.
After school, the girl entered the textile institute, choosing the profession of a costume designer. At some point, she made a radical decision to exchange the apartment she shared with her father and begin her independent adult life.
She often visited the theater, trying not to miss premieres. And one day in the administrator’s office of the Taganka Theater, fate brought her together with Vladimir Vysotsky. It is she, Oksana Afanasyeva, who will be called the last love of the great bard. For his sake, she will leave her fiancé, and live with Vysotsky for two bright years. The last two years of his life. He loved her, he idolized her and died when she was around. She was only 20 years old then. And two years after his death, fate gave her a second chance to love and become loved.
Leonid Yarmolnik: life before Oksana
Leonid was born in the Primorsky Territory into a military family. He didn’t show much diligence in his studies, but he played the accordion masterfully and graduated from music school. In high school I became interested in literature and then theater. After school he entered the Shchukin School.
While working at the Taganka Theater, he began acting in films. It was the movie that the actor dreamed of. But this world did not accept him immediately. In fact, Yarmolnik’s debut took place only in 1974, in the film “Your Rights.” The audience remembered him in the role of Theophilus in the film “That Same Munchausen”, and also from numerous humorous television programs. A little later he will play in many films bright roles that audiences will love.
Leonid Yarmolnik - "The same Munchausen." / Photo: www.kino-teatr.net
At the theater he had great work in a wonderful acting environment. During his lifetime, Vladimir Semenovich Vysotsky transferred some of his roles to him.
Young Yarmolnik could quite reasonably be called a ladies' man and a heartthrob. His first love happened at the age of 15, however, the girl was older than him and was very lenient towards the feelings of the young admirer. The actor’s romance with Zoya Pylnova lasted seven whole years. Then there was the first official marriage with Elena Valk. He actually had a lot of women. It was as if he was looking for his soul mate. And he found it in 1982.
Fateful meeting
They met at a party with mutual friends. Oksana was already in the company when Leonid Yarmolnik arrived along with Alexander Abdulov. And Leonid almost immediately realized that he was missing. He immediately began to court a charming girl with a sad look. He joked, he was all politeness. After the party, he went to see her off. And a day later he was living with Oksana.
Leonid realized that he had finally met his the ideal woman. And that he simply has no right to lose her. Many dissuaded him from a relationship with Oksana. But it was completely impossible to convince Yarmolnik. He loved and was loved. He had enough intelligence and tact not to ask Oksana about her past with Vladimir Vysotsky and, moreover, not to be jealous of him. In 1983, Oksana and Leonid had a daughter, Alexandra.
A fun marriage
They both don't like to talk about love. They achieved the main thing in their family - harmony. The once loving Yarmolnik became an exemplary family man. He dearly loves his straightforward Ksyukha. He always speaks of her with undisguised tenderness and respect. He also became a very caring father and a completely crazy grandfather for his grandson, little Petya.
Oksana herself admits that only a person like Leonid Yarmolnik could become her husband. They do not make their lives public, preferring to solve all problems within the family. They had a long period of showdown, when they were on the verge of divorce. Oksana even wanted to leave. But looking at the situation from the outside, I realized: she has no right to deprive her daughter of such a wonderful father. She has no right to ruin the happiness of her daughter Alexandra, who loves her dad immensely. Leonid also decided to moderate his emotionality in order to save his beloved wife and daughter. They had the strength to start life with clean slate and have never regretted it. Although one day Oksana and Leonid divorced, but only in order to resolve the housing issue. But the second marriage in 1998 was then celebrated very widely.
In the Yarmolnik family driving force and the driving force is, undoubtedly, Oksana. But she has enough feminine wisdom to turn everything around in such a way that Leonid considers every idea of hers his own. In her own words, the highest female talent is to make a man feel absolutely free.
Perhaps they are happy because everyone managed to preserve their own personality in the marriage without dissolving into their loved one. Each of them is busy doing what they love. Leonid says that his wife understands his profession much better than he does what his wife does. Oksana is a fairly well-known costume designer and successful designer in the capital. She also owns her own studio, where she sews her designer soft toys.
They never tried to prove who was more important in the family. They just go together hand in hand. When Oksana fell ill, her husband admitted that he would have endured his own pain more easily. It seems that this is true love.
Oksana and Leonid Yarmolnik opened their own recipe happiness. He was also in the family, but their happiness was overshadowed by family drama.
Yarmolnik Oksana - theatrical costume designer. This woman's name is associated with in recent years talented actor Vladimir Oksana Yarmolnik is the topic of the article.
Childhood and youth
Oksana Pavlovna Yarmolnik (nee Afanasyeva) was born in 1960. Her hometown- Moscow. Oksana matured very early. After her mother died, she had to learn to be independent, to accept independent decisions. Having become a student, Oksana exchanged her parents’ apartment and purchased a separate home.
In the early eighties, Afanasyeva graduated from the Moscow Textile Institute: she acquired a special designer. Oksana Yarmolnik (photo of the heroine is presented below) grew up in an artistic family. There were always a lot of celebrities in my parents' house. Oksana Yarmolnik felt sympathy for creative people with early years. In addition, she was an inveterate theatergoer, and therefore among her friends there were many directors and actors. Once in the administrator's office of the Taganka Theater she met Vysotsky. According to numerous interviews, Oksana famous actor I didn't make an impression at the first meeting.
Vysotsky
Yarmolnik Oksana claims that the legendary bard was in love with her at first sight. Eighteen year old girl allegedly thought for some time about whether to date Vysotsky. However, the realization that every woman in the Soviet Union dreams of being in her place dispelled all doubts.
Their romance began in 1980. At first, Oksana Yarmolnik did not have a clear idea of how terrible the illness from which Vysotsky suffered. The realization came later. At the time of her acquaintance with Vysotsky, she was only eighteen years old. IN financially and life was not easy for her. The actor, who by that time was earning good money, provided her with emotional and material support.
They spent two years together. It was impossible to legalize the marriage, because divorce, according to Yarmolnik, could have an extremely negative impact on Vysotsky. Negative influence. Therefore, they decided to get married in church. They had to visit more than half of the Moscow priests before finding one who would agree to this step. However, they did not have time to get married. In 1980, Vysotsky died.
In 2011, the film “Vysotsky. Thank you for being alive". The prototype of Akinshina, who played the main female role in the film, was Oksana Yarmolnik. The film received countless reviews, both positive and negative. Of considerable importance in the plot of the film, the script for which was written, is the relationship between the singer and Tatyana (whose prototype is Yarmolnik Oksana). It is worth saying that if it were not for the acquaintance of the heroine of this article with a talented poet, which occurred more than thirty years ago, her name would hardly have interested any of the journalists.
In the last years of Vysotsky’s life, the aspiring artist Vladimir Semenovich came to the theater and transferred several roles to his young colleague. And one day he introduced me to his beloved.
Leonid Yarmolnik
In 1982, Oksana Yarmolnik became his wife. The personal life of this woman is of interest to the press, because she is considered to be Vysotsky’s last lover. And also because she has been the wife of a famous actor for more than thirty years.
Apparently, Oksana Pavlovna Yarmolnik is incapable of being interested in men who are far from theatrical arts. When she met her future husband in 1982, he was already known as the performer of one of the roles in the film “That Same Munchausen.” And the bitterness of losing a loved one finally left Oksana. Yarmolnik played in the same theater as Vysotsky. Even outwardly, Leonid looked a little like the legendary bard. A year after the wedding, their daughter Alexandra was born. Already in the mid-eighties, Oksana Yarmolnik returned to the theater and began developing new collection suits.
Theater
The heroine of this article participated in the creation of scenery for eighty performances. She collaborated with Sovremennik. Yarmolnik doesn’t like to work in Oksana’s films. According to her, in this field of art she cannot fully realize her creative potential. Today Yarmolnik owns a private art studio, whose activities are focused on the production of toys self made. This activity brings not only material, but spiritual satisfaction. Most of Yarmolnik donates the proceeds to charity. In 2012, Yarmolnik published a children's book. The heroine of the work is a rag doll who ends up in a Moscow family. Reader reviews positive about the book.
What is more important for Oksana Yarmolnik - to be an artist or to be a wife?
“Everything is important,” says the heroine of the program. - Because if I were one wife, I would not have lived with Lenya for 32 years. When a woman sits at home - of course, not only a woman, any person - then he turns a little into a vegetable. He is deteriorating. Although all men dream - how wonderful it would be if a wife sat at home and fulfilled her husband’s every desire...
Oksana has always been independent. At the age of 18, she exchanged an apartment with her father, deciding to live alone. Why was her father constantly searching for the ideal stepmother for his daughter (Oksana lost her mother at the age of six)? What is Oksana's relationship with her father's last wife now? And how does she even choose people to communicate with?
I immediately understand the person, and I big amount I don’t communicate with people,” the guest admitted to Kira Proshutinskaya. - My incredible privilege is that no one has ever chosen me for communication, all my life I have been chosen...
It should be noted that Oksana Pavlovna during the filming of the program showed herself to be a very self-critical person, talking about her complex nature and admitting to being “absolutely bitchy.” Not every woman is capable of such recognition!
We also started talking about what a woman’s talent is.
A woman’s talent lies in making a man think that he is free as the wind, says Oksana Yarmolnik. - In fact, he is a real “slave of the lamp.” To inspire, deceive him or create conditions under which he thinks so - this, probably, is the talent of being a woman...
And, of course (and you’re already waiting, right?) we couldn’t do without talking about the love of Oksana and Vladimir Vysotsky. But Kira Proshutinskaya led him so delicately, and Yarmolnik answered so dignified... Bravo to the interlocutors!
“I never hid this,” Oksana says, thinking for a few seconds, “but I never carried it in front of myself. It was and was. This is how my fate turned out. I am incredibly happy that Volodya was in my life. This incredible miracle. Of course, this connection made me who I am. And if Volodya had not been in my life, then Lenya would not have existed. This is such a chain of some patterns and accidents that were not random...
How did Leonid Yarmolnik appear in Oksana’s life? And with what “dowry” did her future husband move in with her?
“He moved in with me with an alarm clock and a dog,” recalls the heroine of the program. - I ask him: “Why a dog?” “I love a dog,” he says. Me: “Okay, but I’ll have to give the dog away.” They gave the dog away. I brought an alarm clock. I say "Is that all?" - "Yes all". That's it, we live together. Nobody asked any questions. We didn’t analyze anything, life itself put everything in its place...
Doesn't friendship detract from love? Why is Oksana fighting with her husband? Why are they still having stormy showdowns, and yet Oksana believes that their family is very good? How once Oksana almost left Leonid, and what held her back?
Lenya and I had a period in our lives when we almost got divorced. I was leaving. And, of course, only Sasha, my daughter, kept me from this idiotic, crazy act. I thought that I do not have the right to decide her fate for Sasha, I do not have the right to deprive her of the best father in the world, whom she adores. I can’t deprive my daughter of Lenya, who adores Sasha. I have no right to destroy their lives because of my whims, because of my mood, some feminine things that are internal, because of whims...
Does Leonid like the fact that his wife is strong man? Can a woman make a man the way she wants him to be? What does money mean to Oksana? Why does she believe that man is not the crown of creation, but the mistake of creation? What is more important: choosing the right profession or choosing the right husband? These are the difficult questions discussed by two independent, smart, beautiful, successful women- Kira Proshutinskaya and Oksana Yarmolnik - on the set of the program "Wife. Love Story."
And at the end of the recording, the presenter asked the guest what Yarmolnik was like during his wife’s illness - the one because of which the filming of the program had to be postponed?
Lenya told me this thing: “When you are sick, I am sick more than you.” And so do I... And if, God forbid, something happens to Lenya...
At the same time, Oksana was able to hold back her tears. But is it necessary to say anything more about love after this?
Originally from Far East, Jewish by origin and Russian by self-perception - this is what Leonid Yarmolnik says about himself. From the Far Eastern village of Grodekovo, the family moved to Lvov when Lena was only 7 years old, due to her father’s work as a commander of a motorized rifle battalion. On Western Ukraine the future actor lived until graduation. He was neither a good boy nor a hooligan: he studied without grades, swam well and played the accordion, but it was only when he became seriously interested in playing on stage. I went to Leningrad, to LGITMiK to apply, but they didn’t see the future actor there. A year later, the admissions committee of the Moscow Shchukin School turned out to be more perspicacious. Leonid was enrolled in the first year, placed in a dormitory and given a chance that he would not miss - to become a professional actor.
Roles from Vysotsky
Yarmolnik’s start in the theater was bright: the chief director of the theater, Yuri Lyubimov, immediately entrusted him with playing in the play “The Master and Margarita,” and then Vysotsky himself “shared” roles with the newcomer. Then the young artist did not yet suspect that this was far from the main gift that he would inherit from the legend. And he enthusiastically went on stage in the role of Kerensky. His career in cinema developed simultaneously with his theater career: in 1974, Yarmolnik made his debut in the film “Your Rights?”, and in 1979 he became famous throughout the Union with the humorous miniature “Chicken Tobacco”. The role of Theophilus, the son of Baron Munchausen in the film “That Same Munchausen” finally secured Leonid Yarmolnik’s status as a popular artist.
Civil and fictitious marriages
At the Taganka Theater he met his first actual wife, actress Zoya Pylnova. She was seven years older and also married, but both turned a blind eye to this, enjoying the passion that flared up. Zoya’s husband, actor Vladimir Ilyin, seemed to fade into the background, although they did not officially file for divorce. “We lived wonderfully and happily with her in civil marriage seven years,” Leonid later said about their relationship. The happiness ended tragically: Zoya was expecting a child from Yarmolnik, but a miscarriage occurred in the seventh month of pregnancy. For the actress, this was a real tragedy, followed by a crisis in the relationship. They were unable to cope with him: Pylnova returned to Ilyin, and Yarmolnik again became a free man.
He experienced this very painfully and in the end decided on a rash adventure: he married Elena Koneva, a girl with whom he became friends in a common company.
Some considered this marriage to be fictitious - Yarmolnik needed Moscow registration. He himself says that with an official marriage he wanted to finally put an end to his past relationships. Nothing came of this, of course: a month after the wedding, he met a girl whom he truly fell in love with.
Vysotsky's last love
Oksana Afanasyeva was a costume designer; from the age of 18 she tried not to miss a single theater premiere - and that’s how she met Vladimir Vysotsky. It was she who was next to him in the last, most difficult, two years of his life. They say that he died next to her.
The 20-year-old girl could not recover from this loss for a whole year. Helped a strong character and love for the profession. And the meeting with Leonid Yarmolnik finally healed a broken heart. For the first time he caught a glimpse of her in the theater foyer - beautiful girl standing in line at the cash register in a miniskirt. She bought a ticket and left, he ran off to the rehearsal. And a few days later I saw the same girl in a company of friends celebrating the May holidays. “The very next day after that May Day gathering, I moved in with Ksyusha. I had luxury car“The Zhiguli, I brought her home in it and... I just stayed there, as they say, settled forever,” Yarmolnik recalled the very beginning of their relationship. They signed only when Oksana was seven months pregnant. The wedding was modest, in the circle of the closest people. The holiday was made up when daughter Alexandra was already 15 years old: in the early 90s, Leonid and Oksana were forced to “divorce” on paper in order to resolve the housing issue with the actor’s parents. But the second wedding followed all the canons of the holiday: with guests, the bride’s dress, gifts and shouts of “bitter.” Yarmolnik does not like to talk about his love for his wife: he believes that every happy family consists of such “Oksans and Leonids.” They have been together for 35 years, cope with everyday crises with confidence and do not pay attention to the gossip that arises every now and then.
Leonid Yarmolnik is still in demand as an actor and producer. In recent years, she and Oksana increasingly appreciate each other’s company - even such once noisy holidays as New Year, prefer to meet together, rather than in cheerful companies.
OKSANA YARMOLNIK
This chapter in the book is special. It contains the confession of a woman whom Vladimir Semenovich Vysotsky loved very much. It just so happened that this love - big and real - turned out to be the last in the poet’s life...
For a long time, the general public knew nothing about this page of Vysotsky’s life: only close friends of the poet, with whom he communicated closely in the last years of his life, knew about Vladimir Semenovich’s acquaintance and relationship with a young student girl, Oksana Afanasyeva.
Today Oksana herself decided to lift the veil of the secret of their love and tell - as far as it seems possible to her - about her relationship with Vladimir Vysotsky, which lasted two years.
We have no right to discuss and comment on this confession of love and, God forbid, to judge or condemn anyone - both the main characters of our chapter and their entourage. What happened, happened...
Lyudmila Lunina.
"VLADIMIR VYSOTSKY AND OKSANA"
“Vladimir Vysotsky called her his last love. And not because he foresaw his imminent end. It’s just that any man, sooner or later, wants to stop and say to himself: “It is with this woman that I will happily live the rest of my century and die with her on the same day.” His beloved at that time was nineteen years old, Vysotsky himself was in his fifties. And they measured out not a century or half a century, but only two years.
Vysotsky is like a minefield now. Everyone who is not too lazy writes memories about him, and then other not lazy people refute these memories. And it’s unclear what’s around
there is more to the name of Vysotsky: adoration or completely unworthy fuss. So is it necessary to increase this fuss?
Is it possible to come up with something new about an affair between a 19-year-old girl and a 40-year-old? famous artist? Too unequal weight categories: one has too much experience, the other is all filled with pink snot. IN best case scenario he plowed it, or at worst, moved it.
But it turned out that moving Oksana Yarmolnik was not at all easy. And, probably, it was never possible, even at nineteen years old.
I grew up very early - maybe because my mother died early. All my friends were older than me. Now it seems to me that the first twenty years of my life were much more saturated with various kinds of dramatic events than the next twenty.
From the age of eighteen I lived alone - I exchanged my parents’ apartment and in this way provided myself with living space. She entered the textile institute. She made money by dressing up her friends.
I always decided everything myself: where to study, who to be friends with, who to love. In the most difficult moments - unfortunately, and maybe fortunately - I did not have a person who would advise me, wag a finger, or forbid...
And then you met Vysotsky. He was probably your idol...
You know, I never had idols. Met - and met. He was the first to pay attention to me. I was an avid theatergoer. We encountered Volodya at the administrator of the Taganka Theater.
Not me - he, as they say, was stunned. He took the phone and asked me out on a date. Just before the date, my friend and I went to the Mossovet Theater. I don’t even remember what we watched - the whole performance I was thinking about whether I should go or not. And so I crumple the program in my hands, twirl it... “Listen,” I say to my friend, “somehow I don’t want to meet him.” And she: “What are you doing?! Yes, all the women of the Soviet Union simply dream of being in your place!” I mentally imagined countless numbers of these women - and went.
So we met. I didn’t have idols, but I had youthful maximalism, and in addition to it, a ready-made groom, such a sweet boy. So, obeying youthful maximalism, I broke up with my fiancé the next day.
I decided that one day with a person like Volodya was better than my whole life with that friend of mine.
Vladimir Semenovich was absolutely, completely, one hundred percent a genius man. I have never met more gifted people since then. He had colossal energy. Wherever he appeared: in the company of friends or in a huge hall where he gave a concert, he easily subdued five people and ten thousand to his charm. Even the party officials who put a spoke in his wheels were actually looking for an acquaintance with him and asked for a ticket to the theater.
But they say he drank.
That's all they write about: he drank, he used drugs, he was an alcoholic, he was a drug addict. So you imagine such a goner with shaking hands, in front of whom there are cocaine grooves and a couple of syringes. This is absolute nonsense. Over the last two years that we knew each other, Volodya starred in the film “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed” and in “Little Tragedies.” He had recordings on the radio, roles in the theater, and traveled around the country giving performances. At the Odessa studio, he was preparing to launch the film “Green Van” as a director. True, they didn’t give it to him.
At the same time, yes, he drank and was on the needle. But this was interspersed with exhausting work, racing against illness.
Were you not sobered up when you learned about all his vices?
I was madly in love. And then, what vices are we talking about - drunkenness? Absolutely everyone drank back then, and creative people even more so. Another thing is that no one imagined that Volodya had so little left. You know, now I have a hard time remembering those years - after all, I was still doing something, studying. And it feels like life was filled only with him.
I would give anything in the world to cure him. But imagine Moscow in the late 70s: where to get treatment, from whom, how to do it anonymously? We were all afraid that they would find out about it: it was easier to go to prison for drugs than to the hospital.
Although now you think: what nonsense! Well, if they found out - so what? I had to go abroad and go to a clinic. Marina placed him in hospitals twice. There was a remission, but not for long.
Many people hung on him, and he never forgot about his responsibility. He helped his mother, father, two sons, not to mention numerous friends. He gave someone abroad in marriage or got married. Another called from the OVIR: “They won’t give me a foreign passport!” - and Volodya went to the rescue.
Did he feel responsible for you?
I think I felt more responsible for our relationship. And it was enough for me that we were together. And although, of course, there were feelings, intensity, and passion, he told me that he loved me only a year later. And for me it was a great shock, a moment of absolute happiness.
Volodya was worried about my unsettled fate, because he could not give me more. He even asked Marina Vladi for a divorce. And what would he achieve with a divorce? I would be banned from traveling abroad, and that’s all. And for him, trips abroad were like a breath of air. He had hundreds of friends in America, France, and Germany. If he had divorced, he would have been rotten in the Union or simply thrown out of the country, like Galich, Aleshkovsky, Brodsky.
Marina was far away, I perceived her as Volodin’s relative, her existence did not affect our relationship in any way. I generally don’t like it when people speak badly of her in my presence. The people who loved Volodya, were close to him, are not exactly sacred to me, but beyond criticism.
When Volodya died, the circumstances were such that I left his apartment almost immediately after the funeral. Not to mention some personal things - she didn’t even take documents. I called David Borovsky, our mutual friend, artist of the Taganka Theater, and asked him to bring me documents and two wedding rings, which were lying in a glass - on the nightstand in the bedroom. But they disappeared.
And Volodya bought rings to marry me. We were naive and believed that since the church was separated from the Soviet state, we could easily get married without stamps in our passports. It turned out that registration with the registry office was necessary. We visited half of Moscow churches - to no avail. And yet, Volodya found one priest who fell under his charm and agreed to marry us. But it didn’t work out.
Did you somehow get used to each other, rubbing in the sharp corners?
From the first minute of conversation, each of us had the feeling that we had met dear person. We had a lot in common in tastes, habits, and characters. Sometimes it seemed that we knew each other before, then we separated for some time and then we met again. Volodya even remembered that he had visited my parents at home and knew my mother. True, whether he saw me as a child remained unclear.
Did you go on holiday together?
I went with him to concerts in Tbilisi, in Central Asia, to Minsk, to St. Petersburg by car.
On the way to St. Petersburg - and Volodya had just brought a Mercedes from Germany - we picked up a family voting on the side of the road: a man, a woman and a child. I just felt sorry, I think I was bad weather, it was raining.
And so they got into the Mercedes, and after a couple of minutes they realized that, in fact, Vysotsky was driving them. And they froze like sculptures of Egyptian pharaohs. So, silently, with stone faces, we sat the whole way.
Was Vysotsky burdened by national fame?
This was well-deserved fame, because no one was specifically promoting it, as they do now. In addition, many simply did not know him by sight, although everyone listened to Vysotsky’s songs and knew them. And he treated people not as an annoying crowd, but as people.
We were traveling to Minsk, the conductor on the train looked intently at Volodya: “Somehow your face is familiar to me. Are you not an actor at the Mossovet Theater? “No,” I answered, “he is a dental technician.” We winked at each other and went to our compartment. Half an hour later the conductor comes to us. “It’s so good,” he says, “that I met you. My gums under the crown hurt. Won't you look?
And Volodya, like a real dentist, looked at something in her mouth for a long time and then seriously advised her to change the bridge. In general, it was never boring with him.
Did he delve into your problems, your studies?
He was amazed that I could take a pencil and draw something on paper in five minutes. He generally admired people who knew how to draw and was terribly envious of them, including Mikhail Shemyakin.
Of course, he delved into everything. He was traveling abroad and asked: “What should I bring you?” And I sewed. “Bring,” I say, “carrot-colored silk thread number eight and a thimble.”
Actually, it’s not easy, I know from my own experience. There are two specialized fabric stores throughout Paris.
Volodya answered in the same spirit: it’s easier, they say, to get a live crocodile. As a result, he brought a box - a needlework kit, with scissors, threads, needles, thimbles and other things. I went to college with all this, to a class called “embodiment in the material.” And my friends were jealous of me.
In two days in Germany, he managed to buy me two suitcases of clothes. Everything is selected with extraordinary taste.
“I like it,” he said, “when you wear something new every day.” Or: “But this is my special luck.” Good luck was a French straw bag or some other thing that, in his opinion, particularly suited me.
And imagine me in all these Diors and Yves Saint Laurents at a time of terrible shortages, when a pair of decent shoes was a problem. I had eighteen pairs of boots, my friends introduced me like this: “Meet Oksana, she has eighteen pairs of boots.”
After boots, it seems indecent to ask about flowers...
One day in the spring I said that I loved lilies of the valley. This morning I woke up to something clicking Entrance door- Volodya ran away somewhere. Naturally, he brought lilies of the valley. But how much? The entire room was filled with lilies of the valley. He probably traveled around Moscow and bought flowers in bulk.
In general, this is it fairy tale life, where everything was mixed: both his breakdowns and his tenderness. It really was some kind of unlikely love. The first year was especially serene. Later, some kind of premonition of trouble appeared.
But why such a terrible ending? Maybe the Soviet government is to blame?
The Soviet government, of course, interfered, but at the same time helped. She brought such intrigue, such conflict into life. There was a struggle, intense drama. It's like a theater play: the more serious the conflict, the more interesting it is to watch. Now there is no Soviet power - and art is insipid, primitive, banal. You have to be able to use freedom, but we don’t know how to do that yet.
And I perceive Volodya’s death as fate, a fate from which you cannot escape. Well, if he hadn't injected himself, he would have died from heart attack or got hit by a car. He lived his life so completely that it wouldn’t have worked out any other way.
What happened to you later when he was gone?
Terrible year. I went to academic school and was thinking about emigrating. They called me to the KGB and tried to recruit me. I refused. They didn’t expel me from the institute, but later they didn’t let me into Bulgaria.
Friends helped. I was still friends with the Taganka actors. They gave me a job, I studied. Two years passed, I met Lenya - and a completely different story began. But I still have the feeling that Volodya predetermined a lot in my destiny. If it weren’t for him, everything would have turned out completely differently.”
Marina Raikina:
"THE TRUTH OF LOVE AND THE HOUR OF DEATH"
Oksana Afanasyeva:
“VOLODYA SAID - LET’S GET SOMEONE BIRTH”
They were separated by 22 years. He is 40. She is 18. He is - national love and a scandalous reputation. She has a textile institute and a vague future as a fashion designer. But for two years they were bound by love. For her - the first. For him - the last one. Vladimir Vysotsky and Oksana Afanasyeva (Yarmolnik) together learned the truth of love and death.
RED, VERY RED YEAR
They met in 1978. This year's color is very bright.
In terms of the number of emotions, the brightness of impressions and sensations, it is red,” says Oksana.
Is Vysotsky your first love?
The real one, rather.
Do you believe in fate?
Certainly. I came to the performance - by that time I had already gone to Taganka. I went into the administrator's office during intermission to make a call. Volodya was sitting there, and the administrator Yakov Mikhailovich Bezrodny said: “Ksyusha, this is Volodya Vysotsky. Volodya, this is Ksyusha.” Volodya was talking on the phone at the time, but immediately hung up. For some reason it missed the device.
And here's about fate: that day I actually went to another performance, and it was replaced by the one that I had already seen. I could have left, but I stayed because of my girlfriend. And Volodya didn’t play that day either - he just stopped by to order tickets for someone. “Where are you going after the performance?” - he asked. "Home". - “Don’t leave me, I’ll give you a ride.”
What kind of car did he have at that time?
- “Mercedes”. 280th. Silver. It was funny: when I went out, Veniamin Borisovich Smekhov was standing on the street in a green Zhiguli. “Ksyusha, let’s hurry, I’m waiting for you.” - “No, they’re already picking us up.” - "Who?" I point to Volodya. Venya looks at him and says: “Well, of course, where is my Zhiguli against his Mercedes!” But in fact, “Mercedes” did not play any role, we were not a show-off then: a car is not a luxury, but a means of transportation.
Didn't your head get blown off? Vysotsky, Mercedes...
You know, I was never a theater freak, so for me Volodya was not a deity. In our house, on Pushechnaya, quite difficult people gathered. My dad and my brother were friends, for example, with Lenya Engibarov, Leva Prygunov came, others interesting people. This was my environment. And Volodya... He was a very mysterious figure for me. There were legends and gossip about him: Volodya was an alcoholic, a womanizer, and in general last man in this world.
And weren't you scared by these gossips?
No. Do you know what I was afraid of? I was afraid that the feelings on my part could be much stronger and sincere than this.
That day, when we said goodbye, he said: “Give me your phone number, I will invite you to see Hamlet.” But when he called and invited me to the performance, I was already getting ready to go to Malaya Bronnaya. “You know, Vladimir Semenovich,” I told him... “I’m going to Efros.” And he: “Come on, I’ll play “Hamlet” and come pick you up. And we’ll go have dinner.” And then something clicked in me. During the performance I was terribly worried. My girlfriend says: “Why are you twitching? All the women of the Soviet Union would dream of going to dinner with Vysotsky. Atty - I won’t go, it’s inconvenient. Stupid!!!" And I think: “Indeed, this is wildly interesting, such a person...” I left the theater, then Volodya rustled up in his Mercedes, and we went to his house. I was visiting him, “in Gruziny”. “You don’t need to call me Vladimir Semenovich,” he told me then. Volodya looked after me tenderly and treated me to delicacies from the Beryozka store. There was some wine, I fried the liver myself. The liver melted in my mouth.
Well, yes. Then he brought me home to Pushechnaya. He said that he was leaving for Paris and would definitely call when he returned. Some time passes, and Volodya actually calls: “Hello, hello, I’ve arrived.” He and I switched to “you”, and our relationship began to somehow develop.
Well, I don’t know... Now, if his enveloping voice sounded next to me, I would stand for myself...
Everything about him was enveloping. Wildly charismatic. There probably wasn’t a single aunt who could resist. Volodya was an absolutely professional stunner.
Did you deftly set up your nets?
I didn’t set up a network. It was just in him. Suddenly he started calling me. He started courting, and it was not a casual relationship - they met, slept together, fled, but a real romance in its classic form. I decided for myself: let it be three days, a week, but I will be with this person, because he is not like everyone else. And what happens next is all the same. In general, I fell in love. But I was aware that I couldn’t demand anything. My life is my life, my love is my problem.
I wonder if the artist Vysotsky helped student Afanasyeva financially?
When our house on Pushechnaya began to be resettled, my parents exchanged the apartment for a two-room apartment in Medvedkovo and a one-room apartment on Yablochkova Street. I went there. And everyone said that he bought me an apartment. Nothing like this. But, you know, he helped me more than anything. I was not a poor student - I had a dad and aunts who adored me. And when Volodya appeared, I no longer needed anything. Volodya simply forbade me to use public transport. “You should take a taxi so as not to waste time. I don’t want to be pushed and squeezed on the subway,” he said.
So you had a decent monthly allowance?
Did he have good taste?
Amazing. If he brought a toilet, then he would definitely have boots and a bag. Everything was stunning for me and large quantities- for example, 17 pairs of boots. Egor Zaitsev, my fellow student, if we came to a company with him, would introduce me like this: “This is a girl, meet me, she has 17 pairs of boots!” And people stayed in the same pair for three years.
Did he like it when you were in his things?
Certainly. In general, he really loved to have his things pleased and received in a special way.
Did he work and write before your eyes? How did this happen?
How? I just didn’t sleep, lay there, smoked, then at some point I got up and wrote everything down. He didn't sit out
lines, without correcting them, but straight away - right away, and on paper. Then he woke me up and said: “Listen, listen.” He sang, immediately choosing a melody. I saw: he watches TV with glassy eyes, smokes a lot, the ashtray is full of cigarette butts - that means he works.
Did you respect yourself a lot? Puffed out your cheeks?
No never. He was a tough man, he knew his worth and never in his life allowed himself to be rude to anyone. He was a free man. Even in relation to the boss (Taganka artistic director Yuri Lyubimov. - M.R.) he managed to build relationships in such a way that he dictated, not Lyubimov. People could not afford what Volodya allowed himself - to disrupt the performance, to refuse something. And he was forgiven for it.
What amazed me most was how surprised he was. “Where does this come from? Here is the hamayun bird, I didn’t even know such a thing existed. I only found out later when I wrote it.” I rejoiced at the unexpected rhyme that no one else has. At some moments he resembled Pushkin, who said: “Oh yes Pushkin, oh yes son of a bitch.”
Tell me honestly: did your older comrade teach you how to live? For example, should I drive a car?
Learned. On Nikolina Gora. He even wanted to buy me a small red BMW sports car.
Why red?
So that everyone can see how I drive around Moscow. Volodya still loved showing off in small things, although he was absolutely no show-off. That’s what he said: “I should have the best everything - both the car and the women...”
Have you taught me wisdom in life?
Hard to say. There was a moment when at the institute I became disillusioned with people: I realized that 90 percent of them treated me with consumerism. I cried and fell into depression. And Volodya said then: “People are made that way, remember.”
And in love, in sex?
No, everything was natural for us.
Was he interested in your work? Or, like any creative egoist, was he concerned only with himself?
When I came in a dress that I sewed in one day, it was a shock for him. He brought me fabric from Paris, just think, a piece of some kind of rag, and it turned into a dress, and it was magic for him. He was shocked by what was done by human hands.
Did you sew for him?
I hemmed trousers, jeans... Volodya had such a day, he called it “the day of distributing banknotes to the population.” This is when he gave things away to his friends: he really loved it when a person dressed well. And he himself loved to dress well and expensively. Loved quality things. He never gave back the jeans that I hemmed. “I won’t give it back, Ksyusha stitched them up.”
Once he drew me, although he didn’t know how to do it at all. He drew me with three eyes. Said, “You have a third eye because you have very strong intuition.”
Ksyusha, Vysotsky had very difficult relationship with the authorities, in particular with the KGB. Did this affect you in any way?
I was on practice in Leningrad. And once the girls told me that a very handsome guy was interested in me. Everyone decided that he was targeting me. In Leningrad, Volodya put me up in the Astoria, the best hotel at that time. He didn't want me to live in a dorm. And then one day I come and find out that I was evicted from my room. They say that you need to go to such and such a room and that some people are waiting there. I came, and it turned out that I could be detained for storing currency. And I really did have currency - ten dollars in change (Volodya left me this change). I used them to buy myself a tonic in the bar of an Intourist hotel.
Scared?
Not really. They then told me everything about me - who I am, who my parents are, that during the war my dad was imprisoned for desertion (there was no desertion, my grandfather just hid him after he was wounded). They didn’t intimidate me, they didn’t shout at me, but they asked me very delicately: “Have you been there? Who else goes there? Who talked to Vysotsky and what did they say? Maybe you can write everything to us?” Naturally, I said that I had nothing to write. But the most interesting thing happened later: the guy who was initially interested in me asked me to marry him. Moreover, he bought me a train ticket with his own money and told me to leave Leningrad. I remember that his name was Ruslan.
How did Vysotsky react to this incident? Aren't you afraid?
Everyone was simply in shock. And more because the KGB officer proposed marriage to me. Over time, I realized that there were many people who wanted Volodya not to be in the country. Even with all the love for Volodya Brezhnev and especially his daughter Galina, it was still a “scoop” who was afraid of him and considered him dangerous. The KGB officers who listened to his songs said: “We adore you,” but at the same time they could say: “What are you doing here? You are watching here." And they shook their fingers. On the other hand, at the same level there were even more of those who opposed the first. And this unspoken confrontation gave him the opportunity to live and work in the country.
Ksyusha, didn’t it bother you that the man is actually married, that he has a wife in Paris who can come at any time? And in the house on Gruzinskaya - you.
Somehow this didn’t bother me very much. Because Marina - she was somewhere. And it wasn’t like this: he is with me during the day, and in the evening he goes to her. She lived her own life, came to Moscow a couple of times, and Volodya went to see her in Paris for a short time
Did he seem like a grown man to you?
Certainly. But I always liked men much older than me; I never had any affairs with people my own age. And my dad was older than my mother. And then, when his mother died early, all his subsequent wives were much younger than him.
But, on the other hand, Volodya was a boy for me - humor, hooliganism, energy, but at the same time everything was meaningful, incredibly interesting. Yes, and I could not fall in love with a person who simply good man. This is not snobbery: I’m only friends with the great - no. I can fall in love with anyone, but he must be very talented and interesting.
Did he immediately declassify you to others or was he conspiring for his younger sister?
Our relationship was not hidden, I somehow immediately met all his friends. At first they treated me like just another Volodya girl, and then it turned into a different attitude: some accepted me, others did not. But we had the most tender relationship with Seva Abdulov, he is a holy man, and I adored him.
I wonder if Marina Vladi knew about your existence?
I knew. Well, what could she do? I remember she came from Paris, and Volodya and I didn’t see each other for a week. I took my friend to see Hamlet. We sit on side chairs in the center of the hall. Volodya is playing. The next scene was without him. Suddenly I feel that someone is tugging at the hem of my skirt. Well, I think they’ve become completely insolent, they’re already pestering you in the theater. I see that my neighbors are looking at me in amazement. Finally, in the darkness, I saw - Volodya in velvet jeans, boots, half-bent, came up from behind and tugged at me: “Come on, let’s go out,” and apologized with signs to the audience. He didn't know I was coming, he saw me from the stage. I’m fine, but the people were stunned.
Was he jealous of you?
It was a funny incident: I was the first to leave the house on Gruzinskaya, Volodya was delayed. The Union of Graphic Artists was also there, and two tipsy artists who followed me said something nasty - such masculine rudeness, but with interest. I turned around: “Fuck you...” At that time, Volodya came out of the entrance with Lesha Shturmin (at that time karateka No. 1 - M.R.). And without understanding, without asking, they rushed at them, and the murder began. A minute later it was all over. The men - both of them - stood with torn off sleeves, bruises, broken noses.
Did this owner cheat on you?
Well, it happened a couple of times. And for me it was terrible tragedy when I found out about it. If this happened today, I would laugh. And then... I even left, he came for me, and everyone tried to persuade me to come back. It’s the May Day holidays, and Volodya should come for me. I'm waiting for him at home on Yablochkova. No. I called, Yanklovich came up. “Don’t worry, everything is fine, we’ll call you.” - “Where is Volodya?” - “He can’t come up.” - “I’ll come now.” - “No, no, don’t think about it.”
I take a taxi, 10 minutes later I enter the apartment, it’s a mess: the tables are dirty, dishes, bottles are a real mess. I go into the bedroom. There Dahl sleeps with some woman. Nightmare, den, crow's settlement. I want to enter the office, and suddenly a girl I know comes out - in a shirt, barefoot. I call her into the kitchen: “Ira, that means this: I’m leaving now. I'll arrive at half past three. At half past two, the apartment should be perfectly clean, the trash bin should be out, and you whores shouldn’t even be here.” And I'm leaving. I went to the market. An hour and a half later I called: “Has everything been removed?” - "Yes". - "Fine. You can come down."
I arrived - the apartment was pristinely clean, Volodya was sleeping pristinely on the bed, and lonely Dal was sleeping in the other room. He woke up, went out, and for the first time in my life I saw a man’s hands shaking and him drinking, holding a glass of vodka over his neck on a towel. Volodya did not have this. I didn’t say a word to Volodya afterwards, he apologized. And then there was one unpleasant episode - only two in two years.
What's the story with your wedding? Or is this a legend?
No, not a legend. The wedding is both Volodin’s love and gratitude to me. He was generally a grateful person. When we started living with him and I spent the night with him for the first time, we got up in the morning and I made the bed. It was a shock for him. I swear. He said: “You are the first woman who cleaned her bed...” I don’t know about the others, but it turned out that they used it. And then suddenly he realized that I was doing this not because he was Vysotsky, but because he was the person I loved.
And yet, let’s return to the failed wedding.
I think it was an emotional outburst. "I want you to be my wife." - “You are a bigamist, we cannot marry you.” He went to church, and more than one, where they told him: “Please, just first bring all the documents that you don’t have a wife, and then we will marry you.” All this was in Last year his life. He knew that he would die, and he wanted me to be officially registered in his life after his death, so that I would not remain abandoned. But the church refused him. He said: “I will divorce Marina. And we will begin to live." - “Volodya, no one needs this, forget it.”
Did he say that he wants to have children with you?
Yes. He would like a normal family. He liked it when the house was cozy, when there was food, when I was cooking something, “Well, let’s give birth to someone,” he said. “Well, Volodya, what will this be born? If he’s born, he’ll have one ear, and it’ll be deaf.” I joked so poorly that Volodya even went nuts: “What a sense of humor you have.” But I would never give birth to a child from him, because I was not sure that a healthy one would be born from a drug addict.
BLACK, RED-BLACK YEAR
The second year of their life is black and red.
There was much less red, and more black every day. Everything seemed to be in no mood, because we lived in a state of illness and also because my dad died... In general, all the bad things started with the New Year, 1980. Firstly, the accident that he and Yanklovich got into. Then the picture was cut down for him, he practically left the theater, his physical condition began to deteriorate, and the number of drugs increased. The dependence on them, on the people who pestered them was depressing...
Vysotsky and drugs. He got it from them clinical death in Bukhara?
This happened from an overdose, not from heat. Volodya flew to Bukhara alone, then his administrator Valera Yanklovich called me. He said that Volodya was not feeling well and that I needed to bring medicine. I took promedol and flew out.
Were you afraid that you would be arrested for drugs?
You don't think about it at that moment. And then, I brought them once in my life. If I had not brought them, he would have died. There was no cocaine, heroin, it was medications. If they told me that now my hand would be cut off, but he would be healthy, I would have said: “Cut.”
And in Bukhara, where we moved from Navoi, Volodya went for a walk in the market in the morning. But people's love is boundless, and he either smoked or something else (he never said anything), but he came home and felt sick. Volodin’s friend, Doctor Tolya Fedotov, was with us. He ran into my room: “Volodya feels bad.” I fly into the living room - Volodya is dead: his nose is pointed, he’s not breathing, his heart isn’t beating. And Doctor Fedotov, with absolutely shaking hands, repeats: “He died, he died.” He was shaking and was hysterical. I punched him in the face: “Do something quickly.” He gave an injection into the artery, and we began artificial respiration: he pumped his heart, I breathed. In fact, the two of us reanimated him. Volodya began to breathe, consciousness returned. Then he said that he saw me, Tolya. “I understood what was happening, but I couldn’t react.”
Then Yanklovich and Seva Abdulov came (he also worked in the concert). “So, are we canceling the show?” I say: “Wait a minute, why don’t you cancel it? He just lay there dead. Volodya, get ready, we are leaving for Moscow. It's not just canceled today. There will be nothing more." I insisted. And we left. It seemed to everyone that this was nonsense, that he was eternal and would outlive everyone.
But with all this, you suffered the most difficult, if not nightmare, period of his life. Its the end.
The very last year... Nothing could have been worse.
Did he hit you? After all, a drunk person is not responsible for himself?
No never. The fact is that I grew up in a creative, bohemian environment, where men - my father, my second cousins (we lived in the same apartment) - were drinkers. But not the drunks who have three brains at the store, but respectable drinking bohemians with a normal alcohol addiction. I knew what alcoholics were like: my dad, for example, was very aggressive. I was afraid and hated him at these moments. And Volodya... The binge began with a glass of champagne, and then... we were driving somewhere, he was eager to go somewhere until he fell. He was not aggressive, especially towards me. I worried and suffered because I felt incredibly sorry for him. It was scary for him, because there was complete degradation when a person got drunk to the point of an animal. He couldn’t say where to go in that state. It was scary to watch. With him, I found myself in the position of a woman who endures this binge and must try to help him.
Didn't you feel sorry for yourself?
No. My friends felt sorry for me. I tried to help him. And this means being nearby all the time. Because at that time no one needed him. A person is needed when he is healthy, cheerful, and rich. And this one is “drunk” headache no one needs it. I didn't sacrifice myself. It just couldn't be any other way.
You talk about drugs so easily, as if, excuse me, you used them yourself.
At one time, Volodya told me: “If I ever find out that you even tried, I’ll strangle you.” with my own hands" So I had a certain attitude towards it. And Volodya used drugs not because he was such a drug addict - he took drugs and sat there laughing and having fun - but simply to feel physically normal.
Over the course of two years I saw the doses increase. At first it was after the performance to recover. I remember that after Hamlet he couldn’t sleep for a long time, he felt bad. And he gave himself an injection. “What are you injecting yourself with?” - I asked. "These are vitamins." One day I fished this ampoule out of the trash and found out that it was promedol. Then there was Martin, Anapol - medical drugs.
Have you observed the effect of drugs on stimulating creativity?
He just felt better. Here he sits, absolutely nothing, he feels bad, but he gives an injection and is normal, living a full life. He so wanted to jump off the needle. “I’m so tired of this,” he said. Why did he die? He wanted to jump off, but it was impossible to get treatment legally. He couldn’t frame the people who got him drugs. He was in Italy and France. Did not work out. He even had a plan to go with me to the mines, to Vadim Tumanov’s house. What horror, I think, it would be: Volodya is with me in the taiga, with his weakness, and if he died there, I don’t know what would have happened would. Nightmare. There were no mobile phones.
Explain what is so confusing: witnesses of that time surrounded by Vladimir Vysotsky write*. "Everyone knew he was going to die." Why will he die? And why did everyone know? And why was it necessary to wait for death instead of saving him?
It was as if everyone knew, but no one knew anything. Everyone thought that these were some kind of toys, that everything was not as serious as it really was. There was the Olympics, there was a regime in Moscow, everything was much stricter than usual. It was impossible to get drugs. It was later that some people said: “Why didn’t you say that he was so bad, I would have brought it, I had it.” Well, even if they had brought him on time, he would have injected himself and would have remained alive. What's next?
But basically everyone is to blame. After all, doctors from Sklif came to us, the council decided whether to put him in the hospital or not. But everyone was afraid to take responsibility - after all, this is Volodya. Doctor Fedotov, after his death, apparently experienced remorse and put himself on a needle in order to experience what Volodya experienced.
And also parents. A very tough dad: “Volodya, this can’t be done, it’s a shame.” He was a good person, but... For example, he hid for a long time that he was a Jew - this already somehow characterizes a person. Like Volodya, my father is Jewish and my mother is Russian. After Volodya’s death, his father told me: “I think you shouldn’t come to the funeral.”
For the last week, Vladimir Semenovich did not leave the house. Do you remember her or would you like to forget her like a bad dream?
I just don’t remember how I went to college, how I passed the exams. But I remember everything else. This had never happened to him before. Feeling of hopelessness. Scary. He screamed like a wounded animal.
14 V. Vysotsky
But did you think that this was the end?
I couldn't even imagine this. It’s strange that this happened at all; everyone was dumbfounded. If we had accepted the idea that this would happen, we probably wouldn’t have thought about any legality or reputation. They would just put him in the hospital, no matter what. They assumed that everything was not so serious: we had never encountered this. A healthy young man died. He is healthy, he will overcome this - they thought so. And he really was very strong and athletic. He did boxing and acrobatics, he was so pumped up. That’s why everyone thought that he would overcome, overcome, survive.
And Volodya had a presentiment of everything. In the afternoon he said: “Today I will die.” - “Volodya, don’t be stupid.” - “No, you’re talking nonsense.” He was calm. I only fell asleep because there was some strange silence and Volodya stopped screaming. He told me: “I feel fine, go get some sleep” - “Yes? You are sure?" And then literally in the three hours that I was sleeping, he obviously died.
25 years have passed, and it seems that everything has been said about Vysotsky, his life and death.
But there are things that only I know and which I will never tell anyone. I was happy, and if you love a person, then no matter what happens to him, it’s still happiness. Who knows how everything would have turned out if we simulated our life: he would have left Marina, married me, we would have given birth to a child. Volodya would probably have drunk the same way, would have looked at other women, and, probably, this would have been a tragedy for me.
By the way, why do you have so few, almost no photos together with Vysotsky?
We had no time for that. Besides, there were no soapboxes at that time.
Are you dreaming about him?
I dream, but rarely. I guess I’m some kind of chosen one - I’ve been lucky twice in my life. I had Volodya. And then Lenya appeared, and I never thought that this could happen again. Lenya and I appeared thanks to the fact that Vladimir Semenovich was in my life.
What connection?
The most direct. Two years after Volodya’s death, I came to the theater, and at the same reception desk where I met Volodya, I saw Lenya. She asked for a light. And it was important for me that he worked in the same theater, that he knew Volodya, and he valued him very much. I remember when the film “That Same Munchausen” came out, Volodya and I watched it together. “God, what an amazing actor,” I say. - Some kind of Balt? - “Why the Baltic states? This is ours, Ermolai." Lenya is similar to him in his life principles.
Do you want to say that if that story at the Graphics Committee in Gruzinka were repeated, then Lenya...
I would kill him.
Evgenia Yezerskaya:
"OKSANA YARMOLNIK - VYSOTSKY'S LAST LOVE"
It seems their romance did not last long. But Oksana was the last one to hear from Vladimir Vysotsky: “I love you.” Oksana Yarmolnik agreed to tell a reporter from Telenedelya about the love that was interrupted by the death of the poet...
“WHAT DAY OF THE WEEK, WHAT TIME...”
I was eighteen years old then. Volodya is almost forty. Fate gave us our first chance date at the Taganka Theater. I was in love with the theater. But I never had idols, idols to follow and adore. Therefore, Volodya won me over not at all with his popularity. His personality, his charm, strength and internal energy- that’s what drove the student girl crazy. Volodya saw me in the theater administrator’s room. I saw it and was stunned. The most amazing thing is that I didn’t “herd” him or anyone else there. We actually met completely by accident. A moment - and a spark flashed between us. Inevitable love. Volodya took the first step towards romance. He asked for a phone number and invited him to a rendezvous. Apparently, everything happened like everyone else. Before my date with Volodya, my girlfriend and I went to the Mossovet Theater. I didn’t see the stage or the actors, and for the first time I didn’t pay attention to the performance. The whole performance I was only thinking about whether to go to a meeting with Vysotsky or not. Take a risk and throw yourself into the pool headlong, or get scared and run away, continuing to lead a calm, familiar life. But was it possible to resist this man? No force could have stopped me, yesterday’s schoolgirl, from the temptation to become His “phantom happiness.” Of course, I ran headlong towards him! Into his arms. Love... Crazy, passionate, crazy love. I lived only for them. He is me. We drowned in each other, swimming in love, like in champagne...
He was old enough to be my father. I felt a strange but surprisingly pleasant feeling. Volodya treated me both as a daughter and as a lover, as a wife and as a friend. I saw in him a father, a husband, and a friend. He was everything to me. At that time I lived only for him and for his sake. I tried to isolate him from the needle and the “wheels” on which he sat. But it's not that simple. How can you tell a cancer patient: “Don’t get sick” or an alcoholic: “Don’t drink”? This is a disease that must be treated long and patiently. Volodya was never a drug addict in my understanding today. But to be honest, he took “wheels”, certain medications in the form of tablets, or took injections. You know, he was put on drugs. It all started during Vysotsky’s next tour in Gorky. One female doctor advised her recipe on how to get Volodya out of binge drinking, at least for the duration of the concerts. She assured that she brought her alcoholic husband back to his senses only with the help of pills and injections. We decided to try it. We gave one injection and it helped. Then the second, third... No binge, no hangover. Volodya is working. Everything seems great. The only thing left to overcome was stress and hellish fatigue. Gradually he began to take drugs just to relax and relieve stress. One role of Hamlet is already a small death. Not every person can “die” on stage every time. It is unbearably difficult both physically and psychologically. Every time Volodya died along with Hamlet. But then he had to resurrect. This happened again and again. The only thing that really helped him was drugs... By that time, he was already heavily addicted to them. But then the state of euphoria gave way to deep depression and weakness. He himself dreamed of getting rid of drug captivity. And, of course, he was incredibly afraid for me. One day he said: “If I find out that you tried this rubbish, I will kill you with my own hands.” But, seeing his condition, it never occurred to me to give an injection.
“BUT ONLY THAT BRIGHT MOMENT WAS THEIR SWAN SONG...”
I heard the most important words in my life only a year later. This happened in Bukhara. We lived in a hotel. Volodya suddenly experienced clinical death. He was miraculously saved. A local doctor helped. He gave injections into the subclavian artery. And I did artificial respiration for Volodya as best I could. When Vysotsky regained consciousness, the first thing he said was: “I love you.” I felt like the happiest woman in the world! This was very important to me. Volodya never threw out such words and did not say them to every woman who was in his life. We lived every day as if it were our last, on the edge... Although there were premonitions of trouble. And this last day has come. They say time heals. Maybe... I’m alive, two years after Vysotsky’s death I married Lenya Yarmolnik and gave birth to a child. But part of me still died along with Volodya...
“Soar and spread your two wings...”
We also met Lenya at the Taganka Theater. Then we met by chance while visiting our mutual friend Volodya. Leonid was with his wife, whom he married a month ago. He saw me and “died.” Fell head over heels in love. He left his wife the next day. And three days later he came to me with suitcases. And without any introductions or warnings. Apparently, he decided to use shock therapy. That's probably how it should have been. During the two years that I lived after Vysotsky’s funeral, there was not a single person nearby who was worthy of even a passing of my attention. Everyone seemed deceitful and uninteresting to me then. Having met Lenya, I suddenly realized that this is the person with whom I can live. I do not know why. Women's intuition suggested. Or maybe Volodya waved his wing over me... Lenya knew who loved me before him. But we didn't even discuss this topic. It would be stupid to dredge up the past. But if Leonid had been haunted by the knowledge of what happened between me and Vysotsky, I would not have communicated with him for even five minutes. It wouldn't allow us to be together. Moreover, no matter how wonderful Lenya was, at that time Vysotsky remained the most dear man to me. Leonid is a very wise, sensitive man. He understood everything. He knew that he had to not only win me, but also keep me, establish himself in my life. And he succeeded.(4)
Leonid Isaakovich himself answers journalists’ questions about his long-standing romance: current wife with the poet:
When you met, was her affair with Vysotsky already over?
I am often asked about their relationship. This is a thing of the past. Everything has long since been overgrown. When Oksana met Vysotsky, she was 18. When he died, she was 20. And she met me at 22. There were a lot of rumors about this connection. Oksana already said everything she wanted. And I... This is not my story, so I can’t tell you anything...
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