Biography
Victoria Petrovna Brezhneva is the only wife of Soviet General Secretary Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev. Together they lived a long and happy life together. In total, this couple's family life lasted more than 50 years.
Victoria Brezhneva (nee Denisova) was born in 1907 into a simple working-class family in Belgorod. Father is a railway driver. The family was large: 4 daughters and a son.
Victoria Brezhneva
Some biographers say that Brezhneva was Jewish by nationality. Firstly, she has a suitable appearance, and secondly, the name Victoria is not typical for the time and circle in which Leonid Ilyich’s wife lived. There are also disagreements about the surname - in some sources it appears as Olshevskaya, in others as Goldberg. But Victoria Petrovna during her lifetime denied these rumors, calling Denisov’s surname her “native” surname. And Victoria was allegedly named because a large number of Poles lived in their area, among whom this name was common.
Victoria Brezhneva's mother was a housewife: she raised children and provided comfort. Vika graduated from high school and went to Kursk. Here she entered the medical college. After receiving her diploma, she worked for some time as a midwife.
Victoria Brezhnev and Leonid Brezhnev
Victoria's fate was decided when she was a technical school student. One day she and her friend went dancing. There she met Leonid Brezhnev, an agricultural student. According to her, he was not handsome. And he didn’t know how to dance. He looked like such a simpleton and a lump. That's why his girlfriend refused to dance with him. And Victoria felt sorry for the guy and went.
Since then they have never separated. They got married in 1928. At first we lived modestly - we rented a room in a dorm. Victoria Brezhneva worked in a hospital. But when her husband began to rapidly climb the career ladder, she left her job and devoted herself to her family.
What other accent are you crazy?
Two eloquent photos give enough of an idea that the appearance was not photogenic. She understood this, which is why there are not many surviving photographs outside family photo albums.
The one on the right is one of the most common (summer 1980). The Secretary General's outfit is wearing a watch, a brooch and a necklace, which clearly do not fit with the overall appearance. The shooting was official, shortly before the 1980 Olympics, and it was then that this phrase was heard. “The cameraman lacked details, and first they put a watch and a necklace on her, and then they attached a brooch as an accent to balance out Leonid Ilyich’s main awards.”
She herself only wore small earrings, so she resisted for a long time, but they persuaded her for the sake of a good shot.
With dresses the situation was even worse. She could afford almost everything, but she just didn’t have such a desire. She was more attracted to a quiet home life. It was not easy to persuade her to take part in this important event. According to rumors, friends (the wives of Chernenko and Andropov) succeeded in this, and only if they agreed to be present.
Finding herself at such events (such as a closed film screening, for example), she was frankly bored, and journalists lost their temper trying to interview her.
The costume designers generally flew into a frenzy, solving the difficult task of presenting a beautiful presentation to a madam who did not want to try on different things and offered to rummage through her wardrobe. According to fragmentary data (from security and servants), the wardrobe was not rich, 2-3 dozen dresses, several handbags. It was replenished by what we managed to pick up for mandatory attendance at high-level meetings.
Secretary General's Wife
She was a simple woman, homely and economical. She cooked deliciously while caring for her husband and two children: in 1929, the couple had a daughter, Galina, and 4 years later, a son, Yuri. Later, when her husband became the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Victoria Petrovna took care of her husband’s wardrobe.
Servants and personal chefs appeared in their house. Brezhneva taught them to cook the way her husband liked it. But the woman did not suffer from star fever: she always remained in the shadow of Leonid Ilyich, avoided noisy companies in which the wives of party officials shone with fashionable outfits and hairstyles, and extremely rarely accompanied her husband on official trips.
Victoria Brezhnev and Leonid Brezhnev with their daughter
Victoria Petrovna Brezhneva behaved very modestly. None of her contemporaries had ever seen a woman in expensive clothes or jewelry. She never interfered in the intrigues of high society and her husband’s work, and was not caught in gossip or “undercover” games. She was not a “first lady” in the current sense of the word.
Leonid Ilyich called his wife Vitya in everyday life. Perhaps due to some speech impediment that Victoria Brezhneva had. She was the only one who knew how to listen to him, calm him down and give unexpectedly practical advice: simple and at the same time wise. The loyal and balanced “half” was the second “I” of the Secretary General.
Galina Brezhneva and Evgeny Milaev
Daughter Galina Brezhneva was the complete opposite of her mother: bright, with an explosive temperament, a fashionista who adores luxury and expensive jewelry. There were a lot of men and romances in her life, which her mother did not like. But the woman was even more worried about alcohol abuse and the scandals that accompanied Galina all her life.
Officially, Galina got married three times. Her first husband was Evgeny Milaev, a circus artist and strongman acrobat. He was 20 years older than the girl, had two twin children, whose mother died during childbirth. Brezhneva lived in this marriage for 10 years; the couple had a daughter, Victoria, whom Galina named after her mother. Evgeny Milaev quickly made a career, becoming the director of the Moscow Circus and Hero of Socialist Labor. There is evidence that he beat Galya, and she repeatedly told her father about it. Brezhnev knew that his daughter was unhappy in her marriage to Milaev, but he said “be patient.” The reason for their divorce was Eugene’s betrayal.
Victoria Brezhneva with her husband and grandson
Brezhnev's granddaughter Victoria spent more time with her grandparents, since her parents were constantly on tour. As she herself said in an interview, nothing was forbidden to her and she was always given freedom of choice.
Brezhnev categorically did not approve of his daughter’s second marriage. Galina was 33 years old at that time; she fell in love with illusionist Igor Kio, who was 18 years old. They secretly registered their relationship, but after 10 days they were given new passports without marriage stamps.
Yuri Churbanov and Galina Brezhneva
The third marriage was with the military man Yuri Churbanov. And the parents, who were already tired of their daughter’s adventures, were incredibly happy to have such a serious person in Galya’s life. Their marriage lasted 20 years.
Afterwards she had stormy romances with the gypsy actor and singer Boris Buryatsya, and ballet dancer Maris Liepa.
But the son of Victoria Petrovna and Leonid Ilyich followed in his father’s footsteps and devoted himself to politics. In 1979-1983 he served as First Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade of the USSR. He had one wife, Lyudmila, with whom two sons were born - Andrei and Leonid. Yuri died in 2013 from brain cancer.
Family life
Victoria and Leonid got married in 1928. At first they lived modestly and rented a room. Later, Brezhnev began to occupy serious positions and life improved. However, Victoria preferred to stay at home and take care of her family.
The woman was also not interested in politics. She took care of the house, cooked and looked after her husband’s wardrobe. After Brezhnev became General Secretary, he had cooks and servants in his house. Victoria herself taught the servants how to cook the dishes that her husband loved.
How to make a refreshing furniture spray: I make it with rosemary
Cryptochromes help plants see the world in a different light from us
Feed is becoming more expensive: chicken meat and eggs may become more expensive in Russian stores
It is worth saying that Victoria Petrovna was not the first lady in the concept to which we are accustomed now. She rarely accompanied her husband at official events. The woman dressed incredibly modestly; she did not like to have fun or attend noisy companies.
Victoria Brezhneva was never a beauty, just like her husband. The couple valued each other not for their external characteristics. Inner peace was much more important. Leonid Ilyich called his wife Vitya.
Personal life
If Leonid Ilyich’s memoirs materialized in the form of the trilogy “Malaya Zemlya”, “Renaissance” and “Virgin Land”, which, by the way, he himself read only after their publication, then based on the results of Galina Leonidovna’s life in 2008, Vitaly Pavlov’s dramatic series was filmed “ Galina." Judging by this film, Leonid Ilyich’s daughter allegedly disliked her father all her life because of his betrayal of her mother.
Today it is difficult to say whether the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee was faithful to his wife. There was talk about several of his novels. For example, with singer Anna Shalfeyeva. Allegedly, the official met her during the Great Patriotic War.
Victoria Brezhneva with her husband
Also in 2021 - the year of the 110th anniversary of the birth of Leonid Ilyich - an interview was published in the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper in which Galina Brezhneva’s friends spoke about the personal secrets of the Secretary General and his family.
Former actress and now public figure Victoria Lazich recalls that Galya said: when her father went to the front, they lived in poverty. And his return brought not relief, but shock. Leonid Ilyich came home and announced that he was leaving the family. At this time, his front-line girlfriend Tamara was standing outside the door. Victoria Petrovna reacted to this news boldly, she said that she would ruin his career and write a complaint against him to the party committee. Lazic says that Galya allegedly believed that her mother managed to save the family only through blackmail.
Victoria Brezhneva with her husband and grandchildren
More is known about another woman who was with the official for a long time. This is his nurse Nina Korovyakova. Some biographers write that Korovyakova behaved defiantly towards Victoria Brezhneva and had influence on Leonid Ilyich. From the memoirs of the niece of the Secretary General Lyubov Brezhneva (his brother’s daughter), he admitted that Nina resembled his front-line love Tamara.
Nevertheless, Victoria Brezhneva’s personal life, according to people who knew her, turned out happily. During the years of their life together, the spouses respected each other and did not quarrel. At least that's what it looked like to outsiders.
Death
Victoria Petrovna was distinguished by stronger health than Leonid Ilyich himself and outlived him by almost 13 years. Immediately after the death of her husband, former party comrades did not spare his faithful wife and took away most of the woman’s property. She lived out her life quietly and modestly, in a small Moscow apartment and in complete solitude.
In the last decade of her life, the woman suffered from diabetes and was forced to constantly inject herself with insulin. This disease was the cause of her death. Victoria Petrovna was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
Victoria Brezhneva
Both the life and death of Victoria Brezhneva turned out to be quiet and not covered in the media, unlike the life and death of her daughter. When Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev died, his daughter became even more interested in alcohol, and eventually ended up in a psychiatric hospital in the Moscow region, where she was treated for alcoholism. There she died of a stroke in 1998, outliving her mother by only three years. The woman was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery next to her mother’s grave.
She suffered the same fate as Victoria Petrovna. During Gorbachev's reign, they tried to confiscate Galina's inheritance, but, unlike her mother, the daughter of the former secretary general did not give up so easily. She managed to win the trial. And the real estate, antiques, and cars remained with her.
Grave of Victoria and Galina Brezhnev
The fate of her daughter Victoria was no less tragic. Having tried to sell the remaining apartments, she encountered scammers and did not receive any money. After the incident, they stopped communicating with their daughter Galya, the great-granddaughter of Victoria Petrovna and Leonid Ilyich. Galina Filipova was never able to find herself in life, the woman wandered the streets, lived in hallways. At 33, she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Her mother did not visit her and did not answer her letters.
Brezhnev's granddaughter died on January 5, 2021 from oncology, presumably from brain cancer.
“Vitya is apolitical and doesn’t like crowds”
It is believed that Brezhnev called his wife “Vitya”, there is even confirmation of this, and he never forcibly dragged her to the next “party”. Only if absolutely necessary, such as a summit of the heads of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. Most likely, the phrase attributed to the Czechoslovak editor came from such a reception: “If you want to find the first lady of the USSR, look for the ugliest and ugliest woman in this crowd.”
It’s an insulting assessment, especially since despite all the aversion to outfits and jewelry, Brezhnev looked decent. At least in terms of clothing.
In ordinary (if you can call it that) life, she dressed simply and unpretentiously. It is not surprising that before meetings with foreign heads of state, security specially trained to hint to guests who the “chief madam” was. And even in an ordinary crowd, it was not easy to recognize her as the other half of a powerful person in the USSR.
Not much is known about the private life of the couple. But it is indisputable that the wife of an outstanding public figure will remain in history as a woman who completely abandoned publicity. The few archives with public appearances can be counted on one hand; in this family, the husband took the rap for two. Like trips abroad, on one business trip she limited herself to attending the introduction ceremony and locked herself in the hotel to prepare dinner.
Although, according to the testimony of the same guards and servants, she often gave Brezhnev practical advice and always got acquainted with the texts of future speeches.
