Margarita Simonovna was born on April 6, 1980. Her hometown is Krasnodar. Margarita’s father is Armenian by nationality; he earned money by repairing refrigerators. Mother sold flowers.
After school, Rita began her studies at the university in the journalism department. She also studied at Vladimir Pozner’s School of Theater Arts.
Professional activity
In 1999, Simonyan was hired as a correspondent for the Krasnodar TV channel. A year earlier, a collection of her poems was published. The channel made a report about a talented girl. In a conversation with the film crew, she said that she dreams of becoming a journalist, and she was called to work.
At the age of 19, Margarita became a war correspondent and was awarded the Order of Friendship for reporting from Chechnya. In 2000, Simonyan took the position of editor-in-chief of the Krasnodar channel. A year later, she worked in Rostov-on-Don as a correspondent for a television company. She reported from Abkhazia, covering events in the Kodori Gorge.
In 2002, Margarita received an offer to work on the Vesti channel. In 2004, she covered the events in Beslan.
In 2005, Russia Today appeared to cover Russia's position on international events. Broadcasting is conducted in English. Simonyan was appointed editor-in-chief.
In 2011, Margarita was invited to become the host of the “What’s Going On?” program. (REN-TV), where the highlights of the week were presented. In 2013, she hosted the political program “Iron Ladies” (NTV) with Tina Kandelaki.
Later, Simonyan became the editor-in-chief of the Rossiya Segodnya agency. In 2010, her book entitled “To Moscow” appeared, for which Margarita was awarded a prize. During the election campaign, Simonyan was Putin's confidant.
She is often invited to Vladimir Solovyov’s program. In 2018, Margarita interviewed Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, suspects in the Skripal case.
Personal life
Since 2005, Simonyan lived with Andrey Blagodyrenko, a journalist. In 2012, she began appearing in the company of Keosayan Tigran, director. Then they began to live in a civil marriage.
In 2013, Margarita had a daughter, Maryana, and in 2014, a boy, Bagrat. Simonyan is friends with Keosayan’s ex-wife, Alena Khmelnitskaya.
Margarita wrote 2 scripts for films directed by her husband. She also appeared in an episode of his film “Three Comrades” and participated in the creation of the film “Crimean Bridge”. The family has its own restaurant in Sochi.
Writer, screenwriter and journalist Margarita Simonyan proved by personal example that perseverance and knowledge help you achieve your dreams, no matter how unrealistic it may seem. Rita was born in Krasnodar. The house where she lived could hardly be called comfortable. There was no water or gas, and rats were running across the floor. Already in childhood, the girl decided to break out of these living conditions by any means and live with dignity.
Margarita always loved to read and showed a passion for foreign languages. At school she got straight A's, which allowed her to spend several years in the United States under an experience exchange program. There she saw a completely different life and even planned to stay there, but her love for the Motherland was stronger. The girl returned to Russia.
After graduating from school, she entered the university. During her studies, Margarita published her collection of poems, which was reported on by local television. During filming, the girl said that she dreams of becoming a journalist. She was invited to an internship at a local channel. This is how her journalistic career began.
Margarita Simonyan actively participates in the political life of the country. She is not afraid to ask "uncomfortable" questions to guests in her studio. At the same time, the girl is not going to stop there. She published a book whose plot is similar to her own biography. Now she enjoys writing culinary articles for the magazine.
Despite the fact that Margarita’s career is in public view, she carefully protects her personal life. The public knows only as much about her as Simonyan allows. But we still managed to find out a few facts from her non-working life.
Common-law husband
Margarita remembered her first common-law husband only once in an interview. It turned out that for about 6 years she lived with journalist Andrei Blagodyrenko. The moment of development of their relationship coincided with the heyday of Margarita’s career. This period was so busy for her that the girl had no time to think about the wedding and formalizing the relationship. Moreover, she didn't want it.
At that moment, freedom was important for the girl. She believed that the passport stamp would limit her. At a time when she was absorbed in her career, her common-law husband wanted family comfort. Here their views did not converge and they decided to separate. The couple did this quickly, since they did not have children together.
Tigran Keosayan
Later, the fates of Tigran Keosayan and Margarita Simonyan will be closely intertwined, but this will happen in 2012. Until this time, Tigran will already be a famous director, actor and music video director. In the 90s, he managed to find his niche in the world of cinema and achieve success.
Tigran, one might say, followed in the footsteps of his parents. His father was a famous director, and his mother was an actress. After graduating from school, the boy knew for sure that he wanted to make films and made an attempt to enter the directing department at VGIK. But he didn't succeed the first time. Then an article was even written about it in the newspaper. There they colorfully described how a famous director was trying by all means to make his untalented son a student at a prestigious university. Then Tigran decided to prove to everyone that he had talent.
Now the director has several full-length films, music videos and filming as an actor.
Keosayan met his first love on the set of a commercial. She was invited as an actress, who was only taking her first steps in cinema. Tigran did not consider this affair with the young actress as something serious, but later it grew into.
A year after they met, the couple formalized their relationship, and a year later they became parents to their daughter Alexandra. This time was difficult for the family financially. Almost no films were made, and the money from filming commercials did not last long. Alena could not leave the child and go to work. The situation improved when Khmelnitskaya opened her own fashion store and became its director.
Tigran and Alena were considered a beautiful and strong couple, one of the most famous families of Russian cinema. But even the most ideal relationships were destined to end. Since 2011, fans of the couple began to notice that they very rarely appear together at events.
Interesting notes:After some time, it became known that the couple decided to divorce. The divorce was quiet without scandals. Tigran and Alena managed to maintain friendly relations and now communicate as families.
New relationships
The relationship between Tigran and Margarita began in 2012 with a simple comment on social networks. At that time, the journalist was being harassed about her reporting, and the director openly expressed his support for her. For some time, the girl could not believe that such a famous person as Keosayan was interested in her. But a personal meeting confirmed this.
Then they were brought together by a joint business. Margarita helped the man with the opening of the restaurant “Zharko!” in Sochi. Over time, it became clear that they fell in love with each other. As a result, their daughter Maryana was born. But then Margarita did not name her daughter’s father, as she preferred to hide the relationship. A year later, she found out that she was pregnant for the second time. She had a son, who was named Bagrat. Only after the birth of their second child did Tigran and Margarita talk about their relationship and register their marriage.
After the birth of children, the family came to the fore for Margarita. She tried to devote time to her career, but there was catastrophically little of it. Tigran, knowing that his wife has a long-standing dream, but does not have enough time to realize it, decided to help her. He decided to teach her how to write scripts. Margarita did it perfectly.
Now, based on her scripts, several TV series have been filmed that have become popular. Margarita does not hide the fact that she is now happy. She has a job she loves, children and a husband, behind whom she feels like behind a stone wall. Moreover, she acquired a good friend, who became Keosayan’s ex-wife, Alena Khmelnitskaya.
Margarita Simonyan is a Russian journalist, editor-in-chief of the Russia Today TV channel, the international news agency Rossiya Segodnya and the Sputnik news agency.
Having started her career as an ordinary correspondent for a provincial television studio, she managed to occupy one of the leading positions in Russian television journalism. Today Simonyan is one of the top 100 most influential women in the world according to Forbes.
Childhood and youth
Margarita Simonyan was born on April 6, 1980 in the Russian city of Krasnodar. The girl and her sister Alice grew up in a poor family. Father Simon, an Armenian by nationality, made a living by repairing refrigerators, and mother Zinaida sold flowers at the market.
As the journalist later wrote from the pages of LiveJournal and "Instagram", the girl and her parents lived in an old house on Gogol Street, where rats were constantly running around, there was no gas, running water or sewerage. Difficult living conditions only strengthened the girl’s desire to escape poverty and achieve comfortable living conditions. When Margarita was about 10 years old, the Simonyan family was given an apartment in a new microdistrict of the city.
In kindergarten, the future journalist quickly learned to read, so their teacher often left Rita with a book to entertain other children: the girl read fairy tales out loud. Later, Simonyan went to a Krasnodar school specializing in the study of foreign languages, where she got straight A’s and went to Olympiads. In 9th grade, Simonyan had the chance to go study abroad under an exchange program. The girl came to the USA: she lived with a family, which she still treats with warmth and gratitude, and studied in the 12th grade of school. At one time I wanted to stay and live in a distant country, but love for my homeland forced me to return to Russia.
Margarita Simonyan in her youth After graduating from school with a gold medal, Margarita entered the Kuban State University to study journalism. The girl also studied at the new “School of Theater Arts” under the guidance of a Russian TV presenter and journalist in Moscow.
Journalism and career
In 1999, Simonyan began working as a correspondent for the Krasnodar television and radio channel. She managed to get this job thanks to a collection of poems of her own composition, which Margarita published a year earlier. The TV channel decided to film a story about a talented girl. While communicating with the film crew, Simonyan mentioned that she wanted to work as a journalist, and she was offered an internship at the TV channel. The choice of her first job determined Margarita’s future professional biography.
Margarita Simonyan has been working on television for a long time At the age of 19, the girl went to film a story in Chechnya. Her miniature figure (her height was 160 cm) did not prevent her from showing masculinity and strength of character. Margarita told her parents that she was going to the war zone only upon her return, 10 days later. A series of reports in one of the hot spots in the world brought Margarita Simonyan fame and a number of journalistic awards: “For Professional Courage”, first prize in the All-Russian Competition of Regional Television and Radio Companies and the Russian Order of Friendship.
In 2000, Simonyan became the editor-in-chief of the Krasnodar TV channel, and a year later she became a correspondent for the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company in Rostov-on-Don. She continued her career as a war journalist, visiting Abkhazia, covering the clash between militants and the state army in the Kodori Gorge.
In 2002, Margarita Simonyan was invited to Moscow as a correspondent for the Vesti television program. The journalist accompanied the President of Russia, being among the presidential pool of journalists. In September 2004, she traveled to Beslan to cover the school hostage crisis. The tragedy influenced Margarita’s worldview and views; in an interview, she does not advise young journalists to start a career as war correspondents.
In 2005, the Russia Today television channel was created, which broadcast in English and was designed to reflect Russia’s position on international events. Margarita Simonyan was appointed editor-in-chief of the Russia Today TV channel.
The founders of RIA Novosti argued for the appointment of such a young person to such a position with the position that the project should have been led by a person who had not seen Soviet news and had his own ideas about how Russian news should be shown to foreign viewers. Later, Margarita also began to oversee the Arabic and Spanish versions of the TV channel.
In 2011, the girl became a TV presenter of the news project “What’s Going On?” on the REN-TV channel. During the program, she discussed the most significant events of the week, which for some reason were not adequately covered on federal channels. Margarita talked with direct participants in the events and spectators.
In 2013, Simonyan became the TV presenter of the political show “Iron Ladies” on the NTV channel. Together with a colleague, the journalist asked live questions, not always convenient, but relevant questions to famous politicians and businessmen. That same year, the channel's management decided to close the show.
At the end of 2013, Margarita Simonyan was appointed to the position of editor-in-chief of the international news agency Rossiya Segodnya.
From early childhood, Margarita dreamed of becoming a writer and doing print journalism. At the age of 18, she published a collection of her own poems. In 2010 she published the book “To Moscow”. Due to her active journalistic and editorial activities, writing the book took about 10 years. This novel tells about the generation of the 90s and difficult destinies, unfulfilled dreams. In 2011, thanks to the novel, Simonyan won the award for the best book by a journalist.
In 2012, Margarita published an excerpt from her new story “Train” on the pages of the Russian Pioneer magazine. The girl also writes culinary articles for this magazine.
Personal life
Little is known about Simonyan’s personal life. In an interview in 2012, she mentioned that she had been in a civil marriage with journalist Andrei Blagodyrenko for 6 years. The woman claimed that she was not at all attracted to official marriage and wedding preparations; she was quite happy with this state of affairs.
Back in an interview in 2012, Simonyan said that together with family members she was opening the restaurant “Zharko!” at a resort in Sochi. At the same time, the girl began to be noticed more and more often in the company of the famous director and actor, who at that time was still officially married to.
According to information that later appeared in an article by Komsomolskaya Pravda, the romance between the journalist and the director began on Tigran’s initiative. He wrote a message to the girl on a social network "Facebook", where he expressed support for Margarita: at that time there was persecution against her on the radio. Initially, Simonyan did not pay attention to the letter, because she did not believe that the famous director would be interested in her person. But the correspondence ended with a joint dinner at a restaurant. Soon, a relationship began between the journalist and the filmmaker, which developed into a civil marriage.
In September 2014, Margarita had a son, Bagrat. At the same time, on the page of one of the social networks, Keosayan confirmed that he had become a father. Later it turned out that this was the couple’s second child - in August 2013, Margarita gave birth to her husband’s daughter Maryana. As the journalist said in an interview, she remembers with gratitude the time when she was pregnant. Each time Margarita experienced a surge of strength and never suffered from toxicosis, despite the fact that with Maryana she survived the threat of miscarriage.
Pregnant Margarita Simonyan Simonyan is a supporter of early childhood education. Linguistic teachers work with Maryana and Bagrat in a playful way, so even at such an early age the kids speak five languages - Russian, Armenian, English, French and Chinese.
It is interesting that friendly relations have been established between Tigran Keosayan’s ex-wife, Alena Khmelnitskaya and Margarita Simonyan. The women became best friends, and even together with the director they created a project - the psychological thriller “Actress”. Margarita participated in the creation of the film, which was successfully broadcast on the NTV channel, as a screenwriter.
Margarita Simonyan now
Margarita supports the policies of the existing political system in Russia. In 2018, she became a confidant of Vladimir Putin during the presidential election campaign. At the same time, the journalist published a post on Telegram about her friend’s renunciation of US citizenship. According to the editor-in-chief of RT, the girl supported the opposition and immigrated to the United States in 2013, but after 4 years she decided to regain her Russian citizenship. The TV journalist duplicated the information in
To date, Margarita Simonyan has managed to achieve success in her work biography and personal life. She gave birth to two children, received a number of government awards, and was recognized as one of the most influential women in Russia and the world. And this is not a complete list of the achievements of the 38-year-old television journalist, whose childhood was harsh.
Biography
Margarita was born on April 6, 1980. She characterizes the region of Krasnodar, where the future journalist spent her childhood, as a ghetto. The living conditions in the old house where the family lived until 1990 were simply terrible. The salary of the father, a polytechnic graduate who had to repair refrigerators, and the mother’s part-time work provided the family with a half-starved existence, but the parents tried to give their daughters a good education.
The eldest, Margarita, turned out to be gifted, and the desire to escape from poverty only gave her strength. She learned to read in kindergarten and was one of the best students at a school with advanced study of English.
Under an exchange program for high school students, Margarita went to the USA, where she graduated from high school, but returned to Russia to receive higher education. She studied journalism in her native Krasnodar, and studied television skills at the capital's Pozner school. Her professional career also began in Kuban.
Margarita Simonyan and Tatyana NavkaA television
The first stage of Margarita Simonyan’s work biography was the work of a correspondent for the Krasnodar TV and Radio Broadcasting Company; after some time, the young journalist was entrusted with editing the information programs of this company. After her appointment to the VGTRK media holding, Margarita moved to Rostov-on-Don.
At the turn of the millennium, the girl prepared a number of military reports on the Chechen conflict, and in 2001 she talked about the events in the Kodori Gorge. The third hot spot in her career as a war reporter was Beslan, where hostages were taken in 2004. By that time, Margarita was already a special correspondent for Vesti, working in Moscow.
Margarita in the studio of radio "Echo of Moscow" At the time of the founding of the English-language television channel RT (Russia Today), Margarita was only 25. The creators of the channel did not want to trust it to a person accustomed to the format of Soviet news; a fundamentally new approach was needed. They considered the best candidate for the post of editor-in-chief to be a young, talented journalist who had already received a number of professional and state awards.
Now Margarita Simonovna combines this position with the responsibilities of the editor-in-chief of MIA Rossiya Segodnya and its subsidiary agency Sputnik.
The journalist is the editor-in-chief of the RT television channel. In 2011-13, Margarita acted as a presenter:
- analytical news program “What’s happening?”;
- political talk show "Iron Ladies".
Both television programs were not to the liking of television reviewers. In their opinion, the program “What’s going on?” Simonyan carried on as in Soviet times, resorting to the same style of propaganda. And for the show “Iron Ladies,” they and Tina Kandelaki, who was the co-host, were called “kitchen gossips.”
Margarita Simonyan and Tina Kandelaki In addition to working on TV, Margarita starred in one feature film and one documentary, wrote books and scripts. For Margarita Simonyan, the cinematic turn of her biography turned out to be closely connected with her personal life, because films based on both of her scripts were directed by Tigran Keosayan.
Personal life
At the age of 12, Margarita categorically told her parents that she was not going to get married. The fate of a downtrodden, powerless housewife, exhausted by everyday chores, did not appeal to her. Immediately after school, the ambitious girl focused on building a career; she did not have enough time for her personal life. Starting a family was not part of her plans, although she periodically began short-term romances without obligations.
The longest and most serious relationship connected her with her colleague Andrei Blagodyrenko. In an interview in 2012, Margarita called Andrei her common-law husband and emphasized that they had been together for 6 years.
Margarita often appeared in Tigran’s company, but no one suspected their connection When Margarita Simonyan became a mother twice, fans interested in the details of her biography and personal life were surprised to learn that the father of both of the journalist’s children was Tigran Keosayan.
Photos of them together appeared on the Internet several times, but many thought that the journalist and director had only a professional relationship.
In 2012, Tigran gave Margarita a small role in his film “Three Comrades,” and in 2013 he directed the first film based on her script. The director was offended by criticism of a pretty woman of Armenian descent, and he wrote to her on Facebook with words of support. The correspondence was followed by a personal meeting, and they soon became very close.
Margarita and Tigran Keosayan's ex-wife Alena Khmelnitskaya Margarita's first pregnancy turned out to be unplanned, there was a threat of miscarriage, and the woman decided to rely on fate. In August 2013, her daughter Maryana was born, and a little over a year later, a son, who was named Bagrat. Margarita is not yet going to formalize the relationship with their father, although he has already divorced his first wife, Alena Khmelnitskaya.
Margarita Simonyan has a blog on LiveJournal and a page on Facebook, but she practically does not post her own photos there and does not share biographical facts or events from her personal life. More interesting information can be gleaned from interviews and media publications:
- Margarita received her first job by accident, thanks to a collection of poems published at the age of 18. Local television decided to film a story about the young poetess, and she admitted that she dreams of working on TV and received an invitation to an internship;
- on the eve of the Olympics, Margarita, with the support of her husband, opened a restaurant near her grandmother’s house in Sochi, now it has fallen into disrepair due to its unfortunate location;
- the children of Margarita and Tigram already speak five languages;
- Margarita developed friendly relations with Tigran’s first wife. Khmelnitskaya starred in the film “Actress”, directed by Keosayan and scripted by Simonyan.
Margarita does not publish photos of her children Margarita Simonyan now
Now Margarita Simonyan continues to lead RT and Russia Today, is a member of the public council under the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, and with the help of her common-law husband and grandmothers is raising children. During the 2018 presidential elections, she was Putin's confidant.
Margarita Simonyan is part of a team of people close to Putin One of the latest news is related to Margarita’s April post on Facebook. She called an ambulance to the sick children and shared her impressions of the visit to the doctors’ house: these are poor people in front of whom you feel involuntary shame for your wealth. The phrase “It’s as if I stole it all” spread across the Internet and caused a wave of ironic comments, since Simonyan’s jingoistic propaganda activities, which are financed from the budget, are considered by many to be the same as theft.
Speech by Margarita Simonyan in the Federation Council Fresh posts by the journalist regularly appear on LiveJournal, which anyone can read.
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