Margarita Simonyan is such an interesting person that even her enemies bow their heads respectfully before this strong, intelligent and very beautiful woman. And she, listening to spiteful critics and envious people, says: “Personally, I have no enemies, my Motherland has them.” And she means not only Armenia, but the whole former USSR, because for her the main thing is not nationality, but human qualities. Margarita Simonyan is one of the most prominent women in international media; media source Forbes included her in the list of the most influential women peace. How simple Armenian girl“grew up” to several high positions in Russian journalism at once? What interesting things do we know about the “iron lady of television”, who calls herself that and laughs infectiously at the same time?

Brief biography

• Full names: Simonyan, Margarita Simonovna (in the patronymic, the emphasis is on the second syllable);
• Place and date of birth: Krasnodar, USSR; 1980, April 6;
• Nationality: Armenian;
• Height, weight: 160 cm, about 60 kg;
• Marital status: officially single; consists of civil marriage with Keosayan Tigran;
• Children: son Keosayan Bagrat Tigranovich (born 2014), daughter Keosayan Maryana Tigranovna (born 2013);
• Occupation: journalist, writer, TV commentator, TV presenter, screenwriter, director, actress.

About Margarita Simonyan's childhood and youth

The biography of the Simonyan family, if viewed over several generations, covers the territory from the former Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) to the Crimean Peninsula. Margarita’s great-grandparents fled to Crimea in pre-revolutionary times to escape the Turkish genocide. Sadly, the new homeland prepared a painful blow for the family: the next generation of Simonyanov was repressed in 1944 and exiled to Sverdlovsk, despite the fact that the head of the family went through the entire Great Patriotic War. Our heroine’s father, Simon Sarkisovich, was born in Sverdlovsk; his parents decided to move from Sverdlovsk to Krasnodar after the war. In Krasnodar, Simon met future wife, they got married, they had two daughters - Margarita and Alisa.

Oh, these streets from the times of the USSR, which bore the names of great writers! Well, why, if Pushkin Street is always central, with respectable “high-rise buildings”, and when Gogol or Chekhov is located - slums for the poor? It was on this Gogol street in Krasnodar that Rita spent her childhood: “Italian” courtyards with a large balcony-veranda for many apartments, in a common kitchen - each housewife had a small stove with her own gas cylinder. From the water supply there is only a drain hatch next to the kitchen, the toilet is a “cesspool” with vacuum cleaners coming once a month. And Rita’s mother carried water up the rickety stairs in buckets from the pump... Dad was involved in repairing electronic equipment, he was especially famous in the city as a refrigerator repairman, and mother sold flowers at the market.

Despite the fact that there was frankly no money in the family (how many thousands could a refrigerator technician or a flower seller earn in the USSR!), parents tried to pamper Rita and their younger sister Alisa: the girls always had elegant dresses and good toys. But the living conditions, no matter how hard you tried, left much to be desired, and Margarita already made an oath to herself: she would study, then work so that she would have a good apartment with gas, hot water, and good furniture. When the eldest girl in the Simonyan family turned ten years old, her parents finally received separate housing in a new microdistrict of the city.

Already in kindergarten Rita learned to read fluently, and often she organized “fairy tale readings” in her group: the teacher seated the rest of the children in a circle, and Margarita read with the expression of a fairy tale. The girl did not go to school (her father insisted on this) with an in-depth study of English, because studying in an ordinary school would have been boring for her: at the age of seven she not only read fluently, but also knew the basics of mathematics. Rita's dad and mom proudly boasted to their neighbors that their daughter brought only "A's" in her diary; her Russian language teacher especially praised her (the school not only offered additional English classes, but was also Russian-speaking).

The year 1995 in the Land of the Soviets was the time when the “Iron Curtain” rose, which closed several generations born in the USSR from the rest of the world. The “Gorbachev Spring” also affected Soviet schools: exchanges of children’s delegations began between Soviet Union and the USA. Rita Simonyan was included in one of these delegations - she went to the States to study and live with an American family. Until now, Margarita maintains warm relations with that family from New Hampshire, and in total she stayed in the USA for almost two years and returned to Krasnodar for the final exams of her native school. All exams were passed with excellent marks, Margarita became the only “medalist” in the class.

Student life and first journalistic experience

Rita’s parents are purebred Armenians, so in their daughters’ passports they wrote “Armenian” in the “nationality” column. By the way, the journalist’s father and mother spoke different dialects of their native language, but for the eldest daughter Russian became her native language - she went to a Russian school, and in such schools other languages ​​were taught “to the extent” Soviet time. But the girl, fluent in Russian and English, easily entered the Faculty of Journalism at Krasnodar University after school.

In her first year at university, Margarita tried her hand at poetry and published a collection of her own poems in a small local publishing house. The collection was instantly sold out, people started talking about the talented girl, and these conversations reached the management of the Krasnodar TV channel. The channel was looking for new, fresh ideas, and decided to interview the student poet. The story about Margarita Simonyan – the first appearance of the future media “star” on television – became the start of the young journalist’s entire future career. “Journalists” - because Rita took the opportunity and asked to take her for an internship, and now she is already a presenter and journalist for the Krasnodar television company.

The Krasnodar company was at that time the largest in the south of Russia, but whatever one may say, the channels were not wide, local broadcasting. And Margarita’s ambitions and energy are already “off scale”, and she is applying for a job in a “hot spot”, specifically in Chechnya. A fragile nineteen-year-old girl is going to Chechnya for ten days - she didn’t even tell her parents about it, fearing their fright. Only after seeing their daughter on TV on the news did dad and mom learn that Rita was literally under bullets talking about the events in Chechnya. For a series of these reports, correspondent Simonyan received the award “For Professional Courage” and the Order of Friendship. Upon returning from Chechnya, the girl, without interruption from the university, enters the School of Television Excellence, where she studies under the guidance of Vladimir Pozner.

The path to the “top” of Russian and international journalism

The year 2000 for Margarita Simonyan was the post of editor-in-chief of the Krasnodar TV channel. But she still wanted more, and a year later the young woman moved to Rostov-on-Don to work there at the All-Union State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (as a simple correspondent, mind you). And again she rushes to the “hot spots”: this time it was Abkhazia, the audience especially remembered the reports from the Kodori Gorge, where the girl participated in filming clashes between militants and Russian army. The activity of the Rostov journalist was noticed “at the top”, and she was invited to work in Moscow, for the Vesti program.

Someone will say: “It’s just luck!”, but it’s probably not by chance that Vladimir Putin invited Margarita to join the group of journalists accompanying him during his presidential tour of the country in 2002. Two years later, in September 2004, she goes to Beslan: every half hour in emergency news, the girl appears on TV and tells the whole country how the process of freeing hostages in the town is progressing. She flatly refused the offer to cut out some moments from her reports (several times her voice broke and she began to cry): people should know the truth, it cannot be “smoothed over”! Later, answering the question whether young journalists should start a career in a “problem” area, Margarita categorically said: “Under no circumstances!” It’s so hard, so disgusting... The psyche can break!”

2005: RIA Novosti decided to create new project, called "Russia Today". The founders of the project were categorically against appointing someone from the “old guard” of journalists as head. They wanted a person to come to this post with an “uncluttered” view, who had not seen old news, and was not accustomed to Soviet standards of conducting news broadcasts. Margarita Simonyan was appointed head of the television channel of the Russia Today project - with her uncompromising and at the same time “fresh” style of work, she was the best fit for the position.

The Russia Today project was initially made in English and was supposed to cover “the official Russian position in the light of various political and social situations in the world” - this is a fragment of the company’s statutory text. Of course, many venerable media workers applied for the position of editor-in-chief, and everyone was incredibly surprised when a twenty-five-year-old journalist was “placed” in the management chair. Yes, it was precisely a “powerful” appointment, but wasn’t Margarita, with her extensive work experience, her ability to “digest” a huge amount of information, her excellent knowledge of English, really worthy? “Russia Today” as a project began to quickly expand, Arabic and Spanish versions appeared, and again the editor-in-chief is Margarita Simonyan.

photo https://www.instagram.com/_m_simonyan_/

They didn’t write anything unpleasant, they didn’t “rinse” her name when she began to establish new order in the company with an “iron hand”! Allegedly, she fired everyone she disliked for ridiculous reasons. Lies clean water: when Margarita came to the company, no one was fired, then many left, yes, but after the expiration of the first contract (each contract was signed by her personally for refusal, that is that). Not a single employee who left Russia Today upon expiration of the contract or being fired (there were some of these later) was disadvantaged in terms of character references or care payments. And the fact that she established iron discipline in the company (even to the point that employees were ordered not to visit social networks while working) - is that really a minus? “Russia Today” immediately became the “official mouthpiece” of the government, and in such an organization there is no place for freedom of morals and bad discipline.

Despite being busy almost 24/7 at Rossiya Segodnya, Margarita tried herself in other projects. On the REN-TV channel, under her leadership, in the spring of 2011, the analytical program “What’s happening?” was launched. The program lasted a little more than six months: too dangerous topics were raised in it, and both the presenter and the participants, witnesses of the “acute” events in the country, spoke too harshly in it. Together with Georgian Tina Kandelaki, Simonyan opened another project on NTV in 2013 - a political “women’s” talk show “ Iron ladies", that's where her nickname came from! And at the same time as closing “What’s going on?” (paradox: the program is closed, but they show trust!) She is invited to the Board of Directors of Channel One.

Margarita’s enemies call her “the third, “female” hand” of the Russian President. She is a member of the People's Headquarters of presidential candidate Vladimir Putin in 2012. From the Public Council for the Affairs of the Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate, she quickly moves to the Public Council, but under the Russian Foreign Ministry - an incredibly high rise in a woman’s career! From 2005 to 2018, Simonyan was Putin’s most frequently invited correspondent, accompanying him on trips and during interviews. And when her name was made public as registered as a confidant of Vladimir Putin in the last elections, the discontent of her ill-wishers began to openly go off scale. Well, she really does look like the “third hand” of our president, but this hand is firm and correct.

Dissatisfaction with her uncompromisingness and rigidity resulted in the fact that in 2014, Margarita Simonyan was officially banned from entering the territory of Ukraine. Also, not everyone is happy with her activities as head of the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, especially after the opening of the French branch in 2018. The international media regulator Ofcom, for example, never tires of blaming Rossiya Segodnya and Margarita personally for “not objectively reflecting NATO’s position on conflict situations in the world" (quote from Ofcom publication). And she publicly objects with humor: “One would think that, for example, the BBC would at least once objectively reflect the Kremlin’s position on these issues...”

According to the latest data from the financial magazine Forbes, Margarita Simonyan is in fifty-second place in the hundred “Most Influential Women in the World.” In Russia, in the same ranking, it is in fifteenth place. In addition to the Order of Friendship, her list of awards includes personal gratitude from the President of the Russian Federation, the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, and the Medal of Armenia Movses Khorenatsi. Now Margarita Simonyan, in addition to Rossiya Segodnya, is the editor-in-chief of this MIA’s “subsidiary” project, the Sputnik news agency.

Personal life

At the age of twelve, a determined girl who dreamed of a separate apartment and a good job told her mother that she would never get married! “Mom even choked on her favorite mint tea“Margarita later recalled this scene. She probably thought so categorically because she “didn’t see absolutely happy families,” again the words of the journalist. And here is another quote from her interview: “I was sure that a white veil forever turns a woman into a downtrodden creature, chained to the kitchen and patiently “digesting” her husband’s infidelities.” Until almost thirty, Margarita had no idea of ​​getting married, much less having children.

In 2012, the “iron lady” of Russian television unexpectedly lifted the curtain that covered her personal life. It turned out that she had a personal life: “Common life, ficus and plans for the future,” and this “ficus” was her colleague, Andrei Blagodyrenko. Common work, similar views (Andrey was also famous in the media for his uncompromising and toughness) should have pushed the couple towards marriage, but both were in no hurry to formalize the relationship.

And in the same 2012, when it became known about the relationship between Margarita and Andrey, a man burst into her life, “who turned everything upside down with the ficus trees.” This is how the woman later described the appearance of Tigran Keosayan in her life (words taken from an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper). The acquaintance took place on Facebook: someone, introducing himself as director Keosayan, wrote to Margarita that he admired her work on TV, and was especially struck by the reports from Beslan. “What if it’s a fake, you never know how many Pedrovs are in Brazil (paraphrasing words from a famous comedy)?” – Rita thought, but answered the fan.

The mysterious admirer turned out to be not fake, but real: correspondence on Facebook was followed by phone conversations, and a first date was set. “We had lunch, and it was so delicious that we wanted to have dinner. And then everything quickly turned into breakfast,” another quote from the interview. “Ficus” named Andrey Blagodyrenko was still relevant, Keosayan had a beautiful wife Alena Khmelnitskaya... “Tigran and I tried to end the relationship - we didn’t want to hurt our loved ones. They quarreled on purpose and broke up. The first time the separation lasted a day, the last – twenty minutes,” again Margarita’s words.

Rita and Tigran did not plan to immediately “overgrow” offspring, although both were far from young. But “despite all sorts of precautions” (according to the woman), she soon learned that she would be a mother. This is how she told about her feelings at that time: “I sobbed, as soon as I found out, for three months... I “sobbed” at the threat of miscarriage, the doctors insisted on hospitalization and hormonal treatment.” Having trusted God, having gone through a terrible period of toxicosis and several hospitalizations, Margarita gave birth to a daughter, Maryasha. A month of maternity leave, and the woman goes back to work, and after another five months - a new pregnancy! When Bagrat was born, the journalist did not sit at home for a day: “I took my son from the maternity hospital to his grandmother and went straight to work: I was just undergoing an audit by the Accounts Chamber.”

Now, judging by the pictures on social networks and the behavior of Rita and her common-law husband Keosayan, they are absolutely happy. They have not formalized their relationship, and this causes considerable surprise among friends. The couple explains that this is a normal phenomenon among Armenians: more than half of their parents’ peers, for example, live happily together without stamps in their passports. The children of Margarita and Tigran receive an excellent education from an early age; their parents invited teachers in drawing and foreign languages, music and yoga. Maryana is fond of dancing, Tigran is fond of Thai boxing.

Such a tough, “iron” person on TV, Margarita in life is a very well-mannered and “plastic” woman. She managed to make friends with ex-wife Tigran, Alena Khmelnitskaya. Women meet and organize holidays for children together. There is a photo of them together on the Internet, captioned “ High relationship", where Margarita and Alena stand hugging each other, like good friends. Tigran’s current wife says this about Alena: “She is phenomenal - kind, smart, and what a beauty! She's happy (she is) new husband, Sasha), I’m happy, thank God we have nothing to share.”

Interesting facts about Margarita Simonyan

1. She calls her daughter Maryasha “shrimp.” The nickname came during pregnancy, when there was a threat of miscarriage, but the child “miraculously stuck like a shrimp and survived,” as the doctors said.
2. Margarita is categorically against her children studying abroad. “You can learn foreign languages ​​here, but you can’t learn culture abroad,” are her words.
3. An ethnic purebred Armenian, Rita Simonyan visited her historical homeland for the first time during the president’s trip to the countries of the former CIS in 2014.
4. Margarita learned to write scripts from Tigran, and she’s great at it. They called their first joint painting “Sea, mountains, expanded clay.” Another of her works, where the journalist starred in one of the main roles, was the thriller “Actress”.
5. Keosayan’s ex-wife Alena Khmelnitskaya also starred in this thriller. “The entire film crew watched us warily as we managed to maintain friendly relations,” Simonyan later said.
6. And again about the thriller “Actress” - the plot of the film was dreamed by a woman in a nightmare: “I woke up in a cold sweat at midnight and realized that I had to write down the dream, otherwise I wouldn’t fall asleep.”
7. Picture " Crimean Bridge, made with love” Rita and Tigran also filmed together, and again Margarita is the scriptwriter, and her husband is the director.
8. Being the director of a large agency, earning very good money, Margarita almost did not spend money on herself, except for buying costumes for the broadcast. “Everything was scattered for mortgages, to help relatives,” she explained.
9. The first expensive handbag was bought for her by... Tigran. She liked a bag from a famous brand, but it was prohibitively expensive in her opinion. Keosayan noticed just one glance at the window display while they were walking, and secretly bought it. “I was like a child, I laid her on the pillow next to me for several days,” Rita recalls with tenderness.
10. The first of January in the Keosayan-Simonyan family is called “Khash” open doors" All the couple's friends know: they are in New Year's Eve they cook this famous “anti-hangover” dish, and you can come to them for khash without an invitation.

Personal life of Tigran Keosyan now

Name: Tigran Keosayan Patronymic: Edmondovich Birthday: January 4, 1966. Place of birth: Moscow Height: 173 cm Weight: 75 kg Zodiac sign: Capricorn Eastern horoscope: Horse Occupation: director, actor Twitter Wikipedia https://uznayvse.ru/

The famous actor and director Tigran Keosayan has always been in the spotlight, both among women and journalists. Everyone was endlessly concerned about the question of the star’s personal life: Who is Tigran Keosayan’s wife at the present time and how many children does he have in total? During his life, the actor had two marriages, one of which is still valid to this day. The actor’s first marriage to Alena Khmelnitskaya lasted quite a long time long time, but, unfortunately, fell apart. But Tigran Keosayan’s second wife, Margarita Simonyan, is building a happy life with her husband family life and to this day.

Personal life of Tigran Keosyan photo:

Tigran Keosyan and his wife - Margarita Simonyan photo

Tigran Keosayan - husband of Margarita Simonyan

Tigran Keosayan is 14 years older than his second wife. Born and raised in a rich and famous family. Therefore, the actor’s early years differed from the childhood of Tigran Keosayan’s new wife, Margarita Simonyan. Some were convinced of Keosayan's mediocrity, but this, on the contrary, strengthened his position. While still at university, he made a short film with his friend Fyodor Bondarchuk, who played in it main role. Then the army interrupted him labor activity, but then Tigran continued his studies again.
He also starred in the films “Joker” and “Katka and Shiz”, in which he played a significant role. Also, Tigran was seen on television and even hosted several TV shows.

Tigran Keosyan in his youth see photos

Biography of Margarita - Tigran's second wife

Margarita Simonyan was born in Krasnodar on April 6, 1980. Tigran Keosayan's second wife grew up in a very poor family. Margarita’s father repaired refrigeration equipment, and her mother sold flower products at the market. The difficult living conditions of Margarita and her sister Alice, on the contrary, added motivation and a great desire to get out of poverty. When Margarita Simonyan turned 10 years old, her family was given an apartment.

Margarita Simonyan in childhood photo view

At school, the girl studied well and was distinguished by her diligence and education. She read better than anyone and knew foreign languages. Margarita's teachers were always pleased with her and invited her to read works in front of the whole class.
When Margarita was in 9th grade, she had the chance to go to study in the USA as an exchange student. I greeted the girl very warmly new family, and she did not want to return to Russia. But the longing for the breed region took over.

Career of Margarita Simonyan

After school, Margarita entered the Kuban State University to study journalism. The girl’s constant desire contributed to the fact that Margarita, even in student years, became a correspondent on the Krasnodar TV channel. The previously published collection of poems attracted the editor so much that the TV channel decided to film the story of such a talented girl and offer her a job on television.
Margarita Simonyan, real wife Tigran Keosayan was a very brave and courageous girl. At the age of 19, she went to film a story in Chechnya. For such a test, the girl was awarded and her popularity began to grow at tremendous speed.

Having visited Abkhazia during the war as a journalist, Margarita’s direction in professional activity. She talked about military operations, “hot spots” and many other different military facts.

The work of a war correspondent is very difficult and requires a large supply of nerves, Margarita said. In 2005, the girl became the editor-in-chief of the Russia Today channel, and literally 6 years later, Margarita, together with Tina Kandelaki, became the host of the Iron Ladies show.

Tina Kandelaki and Margarita Simonyan photo

Personal life of Margarita Simonyan

Since 2012, the young journalist began to be often noticed in the company of director and actor Tigran Keosayan. At that moment, the man was not alone. With him was Tigran Keosayan’s first wife, Alena Khmelnitskaya, whose photo was uploaded all over the Internet. While Tigran Keosayan’s new wife, shown in the photo, that is, Margarita herself, not so long ago lived in a civil marriage with another man.

Margarita Simonyan and her common-law husband - Andrey Blagodyrenko photo

At that time, Tigran Keosayan and his future wife were simply opening a restaurant business. Only this activity and common interests were able to unite two people. In 2013, Margarita had a daughter from Tigran, who was named Maryana. After this moment, Margarita Simonyan and her husband Tigran Keosayan took joint photos and rejoiced at the birth of their child.
The most interesting thing is that Margarita also gave birth to a son, Bagrat, in 2014. Georgian roots are felt in his name. Therefore, there were rumors that both children were from Tigran Keosayan, and not from her common-law husband. In the same year, Tigran Keosayan and his new wife Margarita Simonyan together opened a restaurant business in Sochi, which is becoming successful. In 2014, the director and Khmelnitskaya had a divorce, and soon one could see photos of Tigran Keosayan, his new wife and children together.
Tigran Keosayan’s new wife communicates well with her husband’s children from a previous marriage. According to her, if her husband has children from a previous marriage, then divorce should not affect the upbringing of the child. Therefore, Tigran Keosayan’s wives sometimes meet and maintain communication, and both are not against such contact.

Tigran Keosayan's first wife

In 1992, Tigran met Alena Khmelnitskaya. Alena Khmelnitskaya is an actress who stars in very good films, but not only that, she plays her roles brilliantly. Alena's parents were artists of the Bolshoi Theater, so they always toured. From an early age, the actress began acting in films. Someone said that she was destined to be born an actress. Already in 1991, the star played in the films “The Tale of the Merchant’s Daughter and the Mysterious Flower”, as well as “Murder at Sunshine Manor”.

Literally the next year, the couple had a child, a girl, Alexandra, and the family officially registered their marriage. Alena, married to Tigran, bore him two children, Alexandra and Ksenia. Alena Khmelnitskaya’s husband, Tigran, worked alone, as his wife was caring for the child. The couple quickly overcame financial difficulties, and their personal life began to improve.

Alena Khmelnitskaya and her daughter Alexandra photo

Alena Khmelnitskaya and her daughter Ksenia photo

They constantly went out to events together, and one could see a lot of photos in which Tigran Keosayan and his wife were satisfied and happy. But already in 2012, the couple’s public life faded away.

New personal life of Alena Khmelnitskaya

Table of contents
Height, weight, age. How old is Alena Khmelnitskaya
Biography of Alena Khmelnitskaya
Personal life of Alena Khmelnitskaya after divorce
Family of Alena Khmelnitskaya
Children of Alena Khmelnitskaya
Daughter of Alena Khmelnitskaya - Alexandra Khmelnitskaya
Daughter of Alena Khmelnitskaya - Ksenia Khmelnitskaya
Alena Khmelnitskaya's ex-husband - Tigran Keosayan
Photo of Alena Khmelnitskaya before and after plastic surgery
Instagram and Wikipedia Alena Khmelnitskaya

The most pressing question that torments many viewers is: who is Alena Khmelnitskaya with now? The star officially confirmed her relationship with Alexander Sinyushin. Moreover, Tigran Keosayan’s wife, Margarita Simonyan, posts joint photos with Alena. This worries many, but not Keosayan’s ex-wife. It will be funny for someone to catch such a moment where both wives of Tigran Keosayan look happy in the photo.

Name: Alena Khmelnitskaya Patronymic: Alexandrovna Birthday: January 12, 1971 (47 years old) Place of birth: Moscow Height: 173 cm Weight: 63 kg Zodiac sign: Capricorn Eastern horoscope: Pig Occupation: actress, TV presenter Wikipedia https://uznayvse.ru/

Alena Khmelnitskaya with Alexander Sinyushin photo

Alena Khmelnitskaya and Margarita Simonyan photo

Instagram and Wikipedia Alena Khmelnitskaya
In the age of Internet technology, many are looking for Alena Khmelnitskaya’s Instagram and Wikipedia to see what they say about her. If we talk about the encyclopedia, then it presents to fans a fairly wide list of films in which different years the actress took part. Here you can see:

"Ondine", released in 2003;
“The President and his granddaughter”, 2009;
“Petya the Magnificent”, 2006, etc.
Popular social network The actress also pays quite a lot of attention to Instagram, regularly sharing beautiful photos with her subscribers.
More recently, it was with the help of Instagram that Khmelnitskaya congratulated her eldest daughter Happy next birthday, being several thousand kilometers away from her.

Margarita Simonyan is a famous Russian journalist who holds the post of editor-in-chief of the Russia Today TV channel and the Sputnik news agency. This woman began her career from the very bottom, being an ordinary correspondent for a provincial television studio. Now she occupies one of the leading positions in domestic television journalism. Forbes magazine names Margarita one of the hundred most influential women in the world.

Childhood and youth

Margarita Simonyan was born in Krasnodar on April 6, 1980. Her parents raised two daughters; Margarita has a younger sister, Alice. This family did not have much wealth; Simon, the girls’ father, was engaged in repairing electrical equipment; in the city he was famous as best master for refrigerator repairs. Mom, Zinaida, sold flowers at the local market. Margarita’s parents, Armenians by nationality, spared nothing for their children. Girls have always had beautiful dresses, good toys

A family with young children lived in very difficult living conditions. They were waiting for an apartment, but for now they had to live in an old house on Gogol Street. One could only dream of improvement; there were no conditions for a normal life in the house; there was no running water, no sewage system, no gas. Water had to be carried in buckets up rickety stairs.

But the biggest horror for the girls was the huge rats scurrying around the corners. It was at this time that Margarita began to desire achieve success in life so that you never experience such problems again.

The girl was almost 10 years old when their family received nice apartment in a new microdistrict of Krasnodar.

Rita was an incredibly capable child from early childhood. Already in kindergarten she could read fluently. The teacher encouraged the girl, she gave her the opportunity to entertain other children and read fairy tales to them. Margarita studied at a special language school, her father insisted on this, dreaming of a good education for his daughter. Studying was easy for her, the girl was an excellent student. She was often sent to the Olympiads to defend the honor of the school.

In the 9th grade, a talented girl was very lucky. She was sent to study in the USA under an exchange program. Margarita ended up in a wonderful family, which she still remembers with great gratitude. She really liked it in America; there was a period when she wanted to stay in this country forever. But all this turned out to be a temporary fascination with a foreign country; love for the homeland turned out to be much stronger.

Margarita graduated from school with a gold medal and entered the Faculty of Journalism at KSU. This is not Simonyan’s only education; she also studied in Moscow, at “ New school theatrical skill."

Journalism

Margarita has always been a very active, active person. She truly deserved her first job. This was the position of a correspondent for the Krasnodar television and radio channel, which the girl had long dreamed of. In addition to studying at the university, Margarita wrote poetry. In 1998, she published a collection of her poems, and the TV channel began filming a story about the young poetess. TV crews could not ignore the fact that a real talent had appeared in their city, because Simonyan’s poems were talked about on all corners.

When Margarita talked with the film crew, she voiced her long-time dream - she admitted that she would like to work on a TV channel as a journalist. The girl was offered an internship. So in 1999 she began working on the Krasnodar TV channel.

Margarita is a very brave woman. She was only 19 years old when she went to Chechnya to film a series of reports there. In this hot spot, a short, fragile girl, whose height is only 160 cm, showed all the strength of her character. So that her parents would not worry about her, Margarita did not notify them where she was going. Only after returning from where the war was raging, the girl told her family about her business trip to Chechnya.

The series of reports that she filmed there glorified the young journalist and brought her well-deserved awards. She was awarded “For Professional Courage” and was given the first prize All-Russian competition regional television and radio companies and the Russian Order of Friendship.

Margarita Simonyan received the position of editor-in-chief of the Krasnodar channel

The girl’s career took off; a year after she got the job, she became editor-in-chief of the Krasnodar TV channel. In 2001, the girl was offered another position; she became a correspondent for VGTRK in the city of Rostov-on-Don. Simonyan continues to travel to hot spots. During this period, Margarita visited Abkhazia, filming a story about a clash between militants and the state army. All these events took place in the Kodori Gorge.

Talented and fearless journalists are needed everywhere. In 2002, she was invited to the capital, offering the position of correspondent for the Vesti program. There was a time when Margarita was part of the presidential pool of journalists and accompanied Vladimir Putin. The tragedy in Beslan required her participation on the scene; in September 2004, she covered the hostage crisis in high school. This event had a very strong influence on the worldview of the young journalist. She strongly discourages her young colleagues from starting a career as war correspondents.

Margarita Simonyan editor-in-chief of Russia Today

The creation of the Russia Today TV channel (2005) became an important project of domestic television. The broadcast here was supposed to be on English language, to inform about the position Russia takes in relation to international events. Simonyan became the editor-in-chief of the new project. And this appointment raised many questions.

The founders of RIA Novosti approved Margarita for the position based on the following considerations. They needed an editor-in-chief who had not seen Soviet news. At the same time, he was obliged to have his own ideas about what Russian news should look like when shown to foreigners. Margarita was ideally suited for the high position of editor-in-chief of the new project. After some time, her responsibilities began to include overseeing the Arabic and Spanish versions of the TV channel.

Since 2011, Simonyan has been hosting the news project “What’s Going On?” on the REN-TV channel. This is a very interesting program, during which the journalist covers the most significant events of the week. She works with those news about which viewers were not sufficiently informed on federal channels. It is always interesting to learn news first hand, from the words of eyewitnesses. "What's happening?" was structured in exactly this way, the presenter involved direct participants in the events and spectators in the conversation.

In 2013, Margarita became the co-host of the “Iron Ladies” program, which was broadcast on NTV. In tandem with she asked in live Questions for famous politicians and businessmen. These were topical issues that worried the audience, and of course, they were not always convenient for the guests of the program. As a result, the channel's management decided to close the TV show. It didn’t even last on the channel for a year. In the same year, Margarita was appointed to the position of editor-in-chief of the international news agency Rossiya Segodnya.

Writing activity

Simonyan is still in early childhood dreamed of becoming a writer. This woman tries to make all her dreams come true. Margarita was only 18 years old when her first collection of poems was published. Thanks to this book, Margarita got her first job. The work schedule of this bright, active journalist and editor leaves very little free time. Despite this, Margarita wrote the book “To Moscow” (2010). It took her 10 years to create the novel; it is a story about the generation of the 90s, about people with a difficult fate, their unfulfilled dreams. A year after the release of the novel, Simonyan received an award for the best book by a journalist.

In the magazine “Russian Pioneer” for 2012 you can find an excerpt from Simonyan’s new story called “Train”. Margarita writes culinary articles for the same magazine. In addition, Simonyan constantly polemicizes with foreign media. It was she who exposed the fake photographs associated with the “injury” of the boy Omran. With the help of fake footage, enemies tried to prove how aggressive Russia is behaving on Syrian territory. Omran Daknish's father told how everything really happened in an interview with RT.

Margarita was invited many times to visit a program with Vladimir Solovyov. Early last year, she took part in an interesting interview, reflecting on freedom of speech in Western countries and in the Russian Federation. In collaboration with the journalist, she participated in the creation of the film “Crimean Bridge. Made with love!". The film was released at the end of 2018. Star actors filmed here - Sergei Nikonenko, Yuri Stoyanov, Artem Tkachenko, Alexey Demidov.

Not long ago, Margarita interviewed suspects in the Skripal case - Ruslan Boshirov, Alexander Petrov. She commented on her vision of the outcome of this conversation on the Ekho Moskvy radio. The journalist got the impression that no one can be taken at their word in this matter - not even Western intelligence services, not even Russian citizens who came under suspicion of poisoning.

Personal life

Margarita is not inclined to advertise her personal life. Sometimes she talks about her, but very briefly. So, in 2012, it was from Simonyan’s words that it became known that she had a common-law husband, journalist Andrei Blagodyrenko. This union was quite long, it lasted 6 years, and Margarita at that time was not at all worried about an official marriage, a beautiful wedding. She approaches such questions very wisely, believing that the main thing is warm feelings, not surroundings.

Her family at that time was opening the restaurant “Zharko!” in Sochi. Around the same period, the famous journalist began to increasingly appear in company with Tigran Keosayan. A bright, charismatic man at that time was not free; his official wife was Alena Khmelnitskaya. The romance between Margarita and Tigran began on his initiative. At first it was virtual, Tigran supported the girl by writing a warm message to her on Facebook, who at that time was going through a difficult period in her professional activities.

Margarita Simonyan is a native of Krasnodar. Born into the simplest family, she was always interested in everything around her. From an early age I followed all the news and could learn a lot from memory quite quickly and by heart. The girl was smart and talented. Despite the poverty of the family, she tried to participate in various Olympiads. While still a schoolgirl, she already dreamed of becoming a journalist. And get out of poverty. Successfully enters higher education educational institution and the School of Television Arts. She reported in hot spots. Has awards for courage. The biography of the little girl is not as eventful as the life of the older Margarita. Margarita Simonyan’s husband, with whom the girl now lives, is the father of her children. He also has children from his first wife.

Margarita Simonyan's husband - photo

Margarita Simonyan gave an interview only once, where her personal life was touched upon very little. Then Simonyan was in love and lived with a journalist. Margarita's first civil marriage lasted several years, but she was in no hurry to officially legitimize her relationship with her common-law husband, preferring to live more freely. They had no children together. Margarita was absorbed in her career. Simonyan became not only a famous journalist who was a participant in the raid in Dagestan, but also a TV presenter.

No one understood how the couple separated. But everyone noticed how Simonyan began to appear in the company of actor Tigran Keosayan. Then the man was engaged in the restaurant business, in which Margarita helped him. He was married at the time. And when Margarita gave birth to a daughter, whom she named Maryana, there was talk that the father was a certain director who was 48 years old. A year later, the journalist becomes a mother for the second time. She had a son, Bagrat.

But it turned out that Tigran had not lived with his wife since 2013. He was already in love with Simonyan. It was in that year that Margarita's daughter was born. After the birth of the journalist’s second child, Tigran divorces his wife and begins to live with her. It turns out that Margarita Simonyan simply took her husband away from the family. However, Tigran is not going to leave his two children from his first marriage. Simonyan's husband believes that children should feel the love of both parents. Margarita, being at that time the editor of one of the TV channels, meets Tigran’s ex-wife at her son’s birthday party. They have become friends and believe that this will be good for the well-being of the children. Margarita Simonyan and her husband live together to this day.

After the birth of children, Margarita became very busy. She had to break apart. I had to be a journalist and a reporter and a good mother and wife. There was no time to fulfill my dream. Tigran, having learned that his wife had long wanted to have the skills of a writer, decided to help her with this. Her husband taught her to write scripts. Margarita turned out to have a natural gift for this. And they began filming series based on Simonyan’s scripts. The very first series created a sensation and brought the first channel extremely high rating. What Konstantin Ernst himself decided to tell the couple first about.

Margarita always amazed those around her with her mental abilities. It was not surprising that she graduated from school with a gold medal. While I was studying to become a journalist, I wrote my first collection of poems. As a result, I ended up on a local TV channel. But this was not enough for her. For a long time Conducted reports from hot spots. And she was happy. Margarita Simonyan's life with her husband Tigran changed a lot in her attitude towards the world around her.

If earlier she thought that becoming a wife meant doing the same thing every day, now she knows that you can be successful, cheerful and quite lucky. Now Margarita and her husband are raising children, doing what they love and telling bedtime stories of their own composition.

Margarita Simonovna Simonyan. Born on April 6, 1980 in Krasnodar. Russian journalist, TV presenter, screenwriter. Chief Editor Russia Today TV channel (since 2015), Rossiya Segodnya agency (since 2013), Sputnik agency (since 2014).

Father - Simon Sarkisovich Simonyan, was born and raised in Sverdlovsk, later his parents moved to Krasnodar. Our ancestors come from Crimea, where they fled from the Turkish genocide at the beginning of the 20th century. He worked as a refrigerator repairman.

Mother, originally from Sochi, sold flowers at the market.

Grandfather - Sarkis Simonyan, participant of the Great Patriotic War. My grandparents' family was repressed in 1944.

Younger sister - Alice.

Most of her relatives live in Adler.

Although Margarita’s parents are purebred Armenians, they, according to her, had an absolutely Russian family. Her parents speak Armenian, but in different dialects. Margarita herself does not speak Armenian at all. I visited Armenia as an adult for work reasons.

Graduated from special school No. 36 in Krasnodar with in-depth study foreign languages. In the tenth grade, she was sent on exchange to New Hampshire (USA) to improve her English. After graduating from school, she entered and graduated from the Kubansky Faculty of Journalism state university and the School of Television Excellence.

From February 1999 to January 2000 - correspondent for the Krasnodar television and radio company. She worked as a war correspondent, covering the Chechen conflict. In January 2000, for a series of war reports, she received the Kuban Union of Journalists Award “For Professional Courage.”

In May 2000, she received the prize of the II All-Russian competition of regional television and radio companies for her report on Chechen children vacationing in Anapa. Appointed leading editor of information programs of the Krasnodar TV and Radio Broadcasting Company.

In September 2000, she received a presidential scholarship.

In February 2001, she was appointed VGTRK’s own correspondent in Rostov-on-Don. Then she became a special correspondent for Vesti. Covered military clashes in the Kodori Gorge of Abkhazia. In the fall of 2002, she became part of the presidential pool of journalists. In September 2004, she covered the terrorist attack in Beslan.

Since the founding of the first Russian news channel broadcasting in English around the clock in 2005, Russia Today (now RT) has been its editor-in-chief. She took up this post at the age of 25. Subsequently, she also became the editor-in-chief of the Arabic-language (Rusia al-Yawm) and Spanish-language (RT Español) versions of RT.

In 2010 she published the book “To Moscow!”. She said about her work: “This is a story about the country, about love and about provincial boys and girls born in the 1980s. We all dreamed of going to Moscow for better life, and none of us knew that we had to be careful in our wishes - they could come true."

From April 2011 to February 2012, she hosted the weekly analytical program “What’s Going On?” on the REN TV channel. From October to November 2012 - host of the weekly column “Point of View” on the Kommersant FM radio station. From February 17 to June 23, 2013, together with she was the host of a political talk show on the NTV channel “Iron Ladies”.

In 2012, she played the role of a journalist in the melodrama “Three Comrades.”

Margarita Simonyan in the TV series "Three Comrades"

In 2012, she was included in the list of the hundred most influential women in Russia, taking 33rd place. In 2013, she entered the top five most influential women in Russia in the field of media.

December 31, 2013 CEO information agency "Russia Today" Dmitry Kiselev appointed Margarita Simonyan as editor-in-chief of the international information agency "Russia Today", who also remained at the post of head of RT.

On November 10, 2014, she became the editor-in-chief of the Sputnik news agency, affiliated with the Rossiya Segodnya news agency.

In 2014, she received the national award “Media Manager of Russia” for successfully winning the RT television channel a foreign audience. At the end of 2017, Margarita Simonyan was included by Forbes in the ranking of “100 Most Influential Women in the World” and ranks 52nd.

Since 2013 he has been working as a screenwriter. She was the author of the script for the melodrama “The Sea. Mountains. Expanded clay." In 2017, she acted as a screenwriter for the crime detective film “Actress,” starring.

Social and political position of Margarita Simonyan

Since 2008 - member of the Academy of Russian Television. Since 2010, he has been vice president of the National Association of Television and Radio Broadcasters. Since June 2011 - member of the board of directors of Channel One.

In 2010-2012 she was a member of the Public Chamber Russian Federation third team.

In 2012, she was a member of the “People's Headquarters” (in Moscow) of a presidential candidate.

In August 2014, the Ukrainian National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting published a list of 49 journalists and heads of Russian television channels who may be banned from entering Ukraine, which included Simonyan. In May 2016, she was included in the Ukrainian sanctions list by President Petro Poroshenko and was prohibited from entering Ukraine.

Until 2017 - Member of the Public Council at the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the city of Moscow. Since 2017 - Member of the Public Council under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

In January 2018, it was registered as an authorized representative of Vladimir Putin on presidential elections March 18, 2018.

Margarita Simonyan's height: 160 centimeters.

Personal life of Margarita Simonyan:

She lived in a civil marriage with journalist and television producer Andrei Blagodyrenko. They have been together since 2005. However, this relationship eventually ended.

Since 2012, she has been in a relationship with the director. At the time their romance began, Keosayan was married to an actress and had two daughters, but divorced in 2014.

In August 2013, the couple had a daughter, Maryana, and in September 2014, a son, Bagrat. At the end of 2018, it became known about Margarita’s third pregnancy. October 19, 2019, which was named Maro.

The couple is in no hurry to formalize the marriage. : “I have always had a very wary attitude towards legal marriage. I have never been officially married, these are some kind of childhood complexes, I saw enough in my childhood of very unhappy women in marriage. And I had a rejection. I once shocked my parents by declaring at the age of 12: “I will never get married.”

The family owns a restaurant in the Krasnaya Polyana area of ​​Sochi. Margarita said that she opened a restaurant there, fulfilling an old family dream. However, the restaurant business was not a success: “This happened a couple of days before the start of the Sochi Olympics, and whoever dined with us during these fabulous two weeks: Dmitry Kozak, Konstantin Ernst, Oleg Deripaska, Mikhail Prokhorov, Andrei Malakhov, Yana Churikova... But the Olympics ended, the guests left, but the restaurant remained. It was built against the main rule of this business - not where there is high traffic, but right in the courtyard of my grandmother’s house, where my mother was born and raised, and now her sisters, nephews and, "Actually, my grandmother. The location is unfortunate - not in the mountains or by the sea, on an old highway that few people drive on anymore. In general, the restaurant has withered away, we are now trying to rent out the building."

Filmography of Margarita Simonyan:

2012 - Three comrades - journalist
2012 - Deadline (documentary)

Scripts by Margarita Simonyan:

2013 - Sea. Mountains. Expanded clay
2017 -

Bibliography of Margarita Simonyan:

2010 - To Moscow!

Awards for Margarita Simonyan:

Medal "For Strengthening the Military Commonwealth" from the Russian Ministry of Defense (March 9, 2005)
- Order of Friendship (June 27, 2007) - for his great contribution to the development of domestic television and many years of fruitful work
- Order of Friendship (South Ossetia, December 25, 2008) - for objective coverage of events during the period of armed aggression of Georgia against South Ossetia in August 2008
- Gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation (2010)
- Movses Khorenatsi Medal (Armenia, November 18, 2010) - for significant contribution to the development of the field of journalism and high professionalism
- Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree (2014) - “for objectivity in covering events in Crimea”