Anna Sedokova's ex-husband spoke about the show “The Bachelor”
The StarHit columnist met with the hero of the new season of the show “The Bachelor,” which starts on March 2 on TNT // Photo: Sergey Milansky
I remember last summer I came to the casting for the second season of the show “The Bachelor” on TNT. I was lucky - I made it to the second round. They promised to call in the fall, but alas... At first I was upset, but came to my senses when I found out that Maxim Chernyavsky, the ex-husband of singer Anna Sedokova, had become a bachelor. He is rich, but young - only 27 years old, and not just handsome, but perfect, like Ken. Absolutely not my type. How wrong I was, I realized during the interview on the eve of the start of the show.
Face to face
Maxim lives in Los Angeles and flew to Moscow for just a couple of days. I stayed at the five-star InterContinental hotel on Tverskaya. The price of a luxury room here is about 19,000 rubles. A little expensive, but it can be cooler. However, a rich man is rich because he knows how to save wisely. We agreed to meet in the hall. I arrived early, Maxim appeared seven minutes later. Believe me, this is the case when in life he is a hundred times better than in the photo... The standard set of a successful man: a Tom Ford suit, a Swiss Audemars Piguet watch and perfectly polished shoes. It seemed to me that he was short. No! He's an athlete! I regretted that he was wearing a jacket through which I couldn’t see his six-pack abs.
“Hello,” Maxim said and sat down in the chair next to him. A bad sign - he greeted him dryly, and even clasped his hands. But I was told that Chernyavsky does not often give interviews, so he is shy. I decided to start with easy questions and find out where you can meet a handsome guy.
- Oh, it’s hard to remember. I rarely visit Moscow, about five times a year. When I arrived last time, I went to the “16 Tons” club and had dinner at the “Country That Doesn’t Exist” restaurant. You know, Olya, it’s usually the choice of friends; I myself don’t have any specific “nice things.”
It was then that I realized that the cool businessman in an expensive suit was somewhere inside an ordinary 27-year-old guy, the conversation went more softly. It turned out that Chernyavsky is easily embarrassed: “Not a single girl has ever asked me such mercantile questions,” Maxim smiled and answered. How else? I wonder where he got several houses in Los Angeles, a penthouse on the seventieth floor of a skyscraper in Australia, a three-story house in Kyiv worth $1 million...
– You see, I had someone to learn from. Dad had a small business,” Maxim shares. – Grandmother, Maria Chernyavskaya, was engaged in trade all her life, and in the early 2000s she opened the Maxi hypermarket chain in Ukraine. You could say I grew up in an office. As a result, I entered the University of Trade and Economics. And when I was 19 years old, my grandmother helped me organize my own company - she introduced me to the right people. I created my first real estate company. But I always liked the sea and the sun, and three years later I sold the company and started a business in the USA. Founded a development company and is building luxury real estate in the Hollywood hills. I provided my mother with real estate. But not for housing, this is commercial real estate... commercial real estate, she rents it out and makes money.
It seems that life in the States leaves its mark - Maxim often used American words in conversation. At this rate, his future girlfriend will easily learn English. In the meantime, the only lady in his heart is his two-year-old daughter Monica. Maxim broke up with her mother, singer Anna Sedokova, more than a year ago.
– Anya lives in Los Angeles. We rarely see each other, most often we send messages to each other. We agree on when I can pick up my daughter. I understand that in the future Anya will have another man, and Monica will have a stepfather. I can hardly imagine how someone else’s uncle will communicate with my child... But this is life, you need to be prepared. While the ex-wife has no one.
“My girlfriend will live with me in Los Angeles. And he can fly to his family whenever he wants,” admitted Chernyavsky // Photo: Press service of the TNT channel
Father's daughter
When Anna flies away on tour, her daughter stays with Maxim. A nanny helps him. Plus, the singer’s daughter, nine-year-old Alina, is always nearby.
“Alina calls me Max,” Chernyavsky smiles. – The three of us go to the beach, go to the zoo. I try to please the girls with gifts. Last time for New Year I bought Monica Mickey Mouse toys - she loves them. Alina surprised me by asking for a certificate for the bookstore. She’s so small, but she already wants to manage her money.
A caring dad, a successful businessman... just ideal! And I could be one of the twenty-five participants in the Bachelor show. I couldn’t resist asking if he would like a girl like me.
- Lord, that’s a cruel question! I don't know you very well yet. You're asking some pretty pointed questions. And I don’t know what you really are. It's hard for me to judge... Am I blushing already?
He is also modest. Just what you need! The battle for Maxim's heart will be serious! And I had no choice but to smile back at him. Saying goodbye, I could hardly resist hugging the still eligible bachelor Maxim Chernyavsky.
The star of the show “The Bachelor” lives on his grandmother’s money
This year, the second season of the reality show “Bachelor” started on TNT, the hero of which was Maxim Chernyavsky, the ex-husband of singer Anna Sedokova. The young man is presented on television as a “successful millionaire”, the owner of one of the “largest construction companies in Los Angeles, with branches all over the world.” Twenty-five girls are fighting for the heart of a seemingly handsome and rich man, who sincerely believe that he will give them a life like a fairy tale. However, this fairy tale is unlikely to come true. As Heat.ru learned, the hero of the Bachelor program is not a millionaire at all, but an ordinary young man who is even experiencing some financial difficulties and is trying to hide it behind a haze of fake wealth.
As it turned out, Maxim Chernyavsky, however, once had his own development company. However, he embarked on the difficult path of the construction business with the help of his relatives. His grandmother is Marina Chernyavskaya, one of the most successful Ukrainian businesswomen, the owner of the Maxi hypermarkets, which she named after her beloved grandson. It was she who helped him with his first project and introduced him to the right people. However, Maxim’s business did not take off, and three months later the young businessman was left with nothing. However, the hero of the “Bachelor” program, as prudent as a grandmother, managed to purchase real estate in Kyiv and Los Angeles.
According to his close circle, Maxim “never had any millions.” He was not known for his generosity, he always counted every penny, so he was nicknamed. Having dreamed of a luxurious life since childhood, Chernyavsky, after failure in business, decided to achieve his goal in other ways. The young man managed to charm the famous singer Anna Sedokova and tie her to him in marriage. Soon, the former member of the VIA-Gra group became a mother and for some time disappeared from the silver screen and magazine covers. However, at some point something went wrong between the lovers, and soon their union fell apart.
A few months after the breakup, the newly minted bachelor decided to look for new love. He began an affair with Ukrainian model Anna Andres, but the relationship with the 19-year-old beauty soon also fizzled out. The young man who had failed once again, who was slowly beginning to be forgotten, was offered to become the main character of the reality show “The Bachelor.” In the program, Maxim Chernyavsky is surrounded by all the trappings of a luxurious life. In the first episode, he spectacularly arrives in a sparkling Rolls-Royce, and receives guests in an elite house in Los Angeles, where he lives in grand style. Maxim tries to maintain the same status on his pages on social networks.
Maxim Chernyavsky was so carried away by creating his incredible image of a “millionaire” that he thought out to the smallest detail the screensaver - a story about himself with which the show begins. In it, the heartthrob reveals that he is the owner of a successful construction company that has branches all over the world. Under these words, Maxim walks past a sign supposedly of his company. If you look closely, you will notice that the sign is printed on a regular piece of paper and attached to a dirty, rusty wall. Heat.ru called the number indicated on the sign and found out that the phone did not belong to the Bowery company, but to the private individual Lucas. After calling the office of the company that Maxim presents as his own in the program, we found out that Bowery has no employees with that first and last name.
We managed to find out the name of Maxim Chernyavsky’s real company - Monaco Development. The company of the main character of “The Bachelor” does not have a website; there is only a Facebook page that has not been updated for more than a year. At the address indicated on the social network, there is a private village house, but not the office of the “construction empire.”
Sergei Kotenko, the former best friend of Maxim Chernyavsky, from whom the main bachelor of the country turned his back at one point, told Heat.ru about the real face of the “millionaire”:
— Tell us a little about your friend Maxim.
— Friendship is a controversial issue now. His personal qualities interfered with our relationship. We are not friends and do not communicate now. He turned out to be a dishonest person, but this is his personal life and his choice.
— The press writes that Maxim does not own any business, that it’s all his grandmother.
- Yes, it’s all a complete lie, he has nothing!
- What about the real estate agency he owns?
“He had it for two or three months, and it’s not a real estate agency.” So you want to buy a house, remodel it and put it up for sale. A real estate agency is when there are 20-50 properties, staff... but what he did is not a business, it’s something else. In public, any business can be called anything you like, even a real estate agency with a multibillion-dollar turnover.
— Where did he get his houses in Kyiv and Los Angeles then?
- Grandma bought all this.
— My grandmother has one hypermarket in Ukraine. How could she afford this?
“Out of their entire family, grandma is a very smart, very cool person. She has always earned an honest living, she is a hard worker, she has worked hard all her life. In addition to the hypermarket, there is enough real estate and rent there. And it’s all hers, she’s great.
- They say that he earned his first million at the age of 19 - is this true?
- Firstly, it was not a million, but three or four hundred thousand. Secondly, it was not earnings: mom and dad bought an apartment, he sold it for more, and pocketed the difference of three hundred thousand.
— You went to see him in Los Angeles, did you just hang out or work?
- No, of course, we tried to do some kind of construction, but it all came down to the fact that Maxim didn’t want to do anything, he wanted to hang out and relax on the beach.
- How and why did you quarrel?
— I ended up in prison, Maxim erased all the photos of me, removed me from friends. The man didn’t just merge, he simply disappeared. Well, it’s funny, people who more or less understand something, they laugh at him. There are a certain number of youngsters who go crazy about him, believing the luxurious picture with expensive cars and so on. If he tries so hard, creates his image for their sake, then for God’s sake, let him continue.
— What do they say about him in Kyiv?
- Few people actually know him. Or they remember him as Anya Sedokova’s husband. He needed her precisely for PR. He had no one here before his relationship with her: no friends, no one at all.
— What does he do now if the company went bankrupt?
- He's going crazy. If anyone had so much easy money, he would also do nothing and would come up with ways for further PR.
— How does grandma react to the fact that he doesn’t do anything?
- Well, what will she do? He doesn't smoke, doesn't inject drugs, and that's fine.
“Aren’t you upset that he abandoned you after you went to prison?”
- It's a shame. After all, I was friends with Maxim for ten years and never betrayed him. Moreover, I didn’t take a ruble from him, I helped him in business. And when Maxim married Anya and then divorced, how many journalists called me, offered me money, I never told anyone anything in my life. I witnessed all their quarrels.
- How did you meet? Maxim is the son of rich parents, you are from a simple family.
— By chance, when we were children, a boy introduced us. We went through everything together: we learned to drive together, helped each other in difficult times and rejoiced at our successes.
— They say he deprived Anna Sedokova of money?
“He didn’t deprive her, he just didn’t give her money.” If she wanted to take money, she had to ask a week in advance. He's very stingy. Anya didn’t go shopping either in Milan or in Paris; she didn’t even know what it was. Anya, in my opinion, has only one Chanel bag from him, and it’s a small one. They didn’t do this, as often happens: they took his card and went shopping.
— Is that why Anna Sedokova left him?
- No, Maxim had constant whims: please me, cherish me, dance around me, something is always wrong. Anya, poor, tired, decided to leave there. She needed an adult and serious man, and not a boy with whims who needed to wipe his snot.
— In an interview, Maxim said that she left him with the children, went to build a career in Moscow and Kyiv...
- It wasn’t like that. Maxim didn’t suffer much when she left; that suited him. Moreover, there were several nannies there to look after the children, not Maxim. Anya was leaving not from the children, but from his constant whims. She said something wrong, he was offended and left, not talking. Anya at some point became disappointed in him.
— If Maxim Chernyavsky is not a businessman, but the grandson of a rich grandmother, why does he need this image of a successful person? Why does he need this PR?
- These are all complexes. It's like a balloon with a beautiful design, with nothing inside. The child was given money, a lot of money, but still no one in our city accepted him. He failed to earn authority with money. No one was truly friends with him, everyone just used him. Therefore, Maxim was offended and complexes appeared. So he started a relationship with the famous Anya Sedokova in order to promote himself. Like, look everyone, I’m rich and my girlfriend is gorgeous.
Anna Sedokova herself admitted to Heat.ru that everything told about her ex-husband is true.
“For some people it’s more important to appear than to be,” this is about Maxim. Everything that is shown in this TV show is a lie and deception that naive girls and lovers of easy money believed. And I am no longer going to discuss this terrible dream in my life!
We contacted the TNT television channel , which broadcasts the show “The Bachelor”. The TV channel's press service gave a refuting comment:
“We do not confirm the information about Maxim’s financial problems. The creators of the show carefully checked information about it even at the stage of casting candidates. That is why, out of several hundred applicants, only one Maxim became the main character of the show “The Bachelor” on TNT.”
Creative producer of the show “Bachelor” Ekaterina Kostyukova commented on the current situation as follows:
“Maxim Chernyavsky’s grandmother has not interfered with her grandson’s financial affairs since he turned 20 years old. Yes, Marina Chernyavskaya had and still has her own capital, but Maxim’s construction business is not connected with his family’s capital; he founded and developed his company himself. Moreover, his company has not suffered any failures and is developing successfully.
Having collected all possible information about what kind of person Maxim is and his financial successes, we decided to offer him participation in the project. Money is not the main thing, but fortunately he has enough of it to provide for himself, his entire family and his future wife. Having two houses in Los Angeles, land in West Hollywood and his own fleet of cars provides a fairly strong basis for a general understanding of his financial well-being.
Maxim Chernyavsky’s participation in the show “The Bachelor” is not paid, no fees are paid to him.”
“Bachelor” Maxim Chernyavsky for Woman.ru: about his ex-wife Anna Sedokova and his millions
Woman.ru: The show “Bachelor” has been on the air for 2 months, have you achieved recognition or popularity?
M.Ch.: I don’t know, I was in Los Angeles all the time. I just arrived in Moscow last night. There are girls who come up and say: “Oh, we’re watching you.” But mostly people, although they recognize them, try not to bother you.
Woman.ru: What kind of girl are you looking for? Smart, beautiful, rich?
M.Ch.: She doesn’t have to be wealthy, but she does have to be beautiful and smart. I'm looking for a person who will truly love me, and everything will work out with her.
Woman.ru: Yes, but only such people are sought not through shows, not through glamor and show business...
M.Ch.: There are no girls from show business here; at the casting they eliminated all the glamorous and famous ones. What remained were ordinary girls from different cities of Russia. Although some of them came to “appear on TV”, and this is immediately visible. But such people went home in the first episodes.
Woman.ru: How did you determine that a girl needs you, and not popularity and money?
M.Ch.: You can feel it. You spend the whole day communicating with a girl, and at some point the mask falls or opens slightly. They are not actresses and don’t know how to act well. For example, in episode 3, I am sitting with participant Maria, and she says: “You know, I had such a mysterious life, mysterious relationships, but I won’t tell you about them.” I say: “How will I find out anything about you then?” She replies: “If you leave me for another week, then I’ll tell you everything.” And at the first party I left it because of a similar move, only it was more interesting. She said: “Do you see this wreath on my head? I did it for a reason, but I’ll tell you why only if you leave me.” Then I decided to say goodbye to Maria. Because I understand that she is bargaining for airtime.
Woman.ru: Do you really hope that you will find love this way? It’s just that, according to statistics from such shows, more than 90 percent of on-screen lovers a couple of weeks after the finale are no longer connected by anything.
M.Ch.: I hope to find it. And I really like the way things are going today.
Woman.ru: After “The Bachelor,” are you ready to take the finalist to your home and introduce her to your daughter Monica?
M.Ch.: Yes. First, you need to live together a little, get to know each other outside the framework of the show. I will definitely introduce them to Monica. (Monica Chernyavskaya is the daughter of Maxim Chernyavsky and singer Anna Sedokova - approx. Woman.ru) I am sure they will have a wonderful contact.
Woman.ru: What might Anna Sedokova’s reaction be?
M.Ch.: I can’t predict it in any way. But today we have completely different lives and different stories. She has the right to introduce Monica to her boyfriends, and I to my girlfriends. I can’t stay alone all my life just because Anya might find it unpleasant that someone is with me.
Woman.ru: What is your relationship with your ex-wife now?
M.Ch.: We communicate with Anna about children via SMS. We have Monica, but when I come for her, I take Alina with me (Alina Belkevich is the daughter of Anna Sedokova from her first marriage to football player Valentin Belkevich - approx. Woman.ru). We live close to each other in Los Angeles, 10 minutes away. When Anya is in Moscow and I’m in Los Angeles, I send her photos of the children because she’s bored. And that's okay. I have great respect for Anya because she gave birth to my child. Monica is that incredible person for whom I live and who gives me hope for tomorrow.
Woman.ru: What needs to happen for you to start communicating with Anya again, at least as friends: for example, go for a walk with your daughters?
M.Ch.: So far we don’t see the point in this. There is no enmity between us; when we send each other photos or messages, we do not go beyond the limits. It doesn't matter to me what she says in interviews. There are children, and this is the page that cannot be touched.
Woman.ru: When you pick up Monica, do you see Anna?
M.Ch.: No. The nanny takes the daughter out.
Woman.ru: Why do you think, after the scandalous article that you allegedly have nothing behind your soul, Anna Sedokova confirmed this in an interview?
M.Ch.: Anya is very emotional, she has her own experiences and thoughts. Today everything is fine, tomorrow she woke up in a different mood and again worries about our relationship. We broke up a long time ago, but girls tend to “inflate” everything in their heads, after what happened, turn it over, exaggerate it, adding non-existent aspects. I'm not going back to the way things were. I did an analysis for myself and realized that if at that moment I left Anna, it means I had good reasons for doing so. And she is either good or not good. Either everything was great, or not.
Woman.ru: While you and Anya were together, how was your relationship built financially?
M.Ch.: Everything was completely under my control. And regarding that very article that I have nothing behind my soul except my grandmother’s millions, let me tell you everything from the very beginning.
I had a childhood friend from Kyiv, Sergei Kotenko. We stopped communicating more than a year ago, when he finally decided that he didn’t want to work a day, but would do something unknown. I realized that I could no longer communicate with him because he got involved with crime. I told him this frankly. Six months later he went to prison. Sergei has up to 10 years to live. And perhaps he is offended that I, like “Captain America,” did not fly in and magically rescue him from there.
He was always trying to get money. We have met rarely in recent years - a couple of weeks accumulate in 12 months. I didn’t have time, so I don’t understand how he suddenly turned out to be such an “expert” about Anya’s and my budget and supposedly saw that she almost had to beg me for funds for shopping.
Woman.ru: Why would he give such an interview?
M.Ch.: I don’t know. It must be boring in prison. It's a shame that I didn't rescue him. Then he has many photos of me and him together, so he claims that we were together almost every day, and is trying to indirectly blackmail me. And so - he is the person who simply made up this whole story that I supposedly live on my grandmother’s money.
Woman.ru: By the way, how is grandma doing?
M.Ch.: Everything is fine with my grandmother.
Woman.ru: And business?
M.Ch.: Grandmother has long since retired. If I worry about how my business is positioned, then it bothers her even more. She saw me working since childhood, earning money and building my business. And I didn’t share this with anyone else. And the fact that the person who is now under investigation did not know anything about my projects proves that I was right. When you're seriously doing something, you don't have time to sit with your friends in a cafe and tell them how successful your day was and how many deals you made. Especially in Ukraine. I didn’t want to go with security, I didn’t want “certain” guys to come to me and say: “Good evening, we know that everything is fine with you. Be kind to 50 percent, 60 or 70 of the business.” It all depends on who you run into. In Ukraine, telling someone how much you earn means being a complete fool. Even Anya didn’t know anything completely. And she lived with me for 4 years. She saw something was going on, but she had no idea how much money I had in my accounts.
Woman.ru: So you once provided her with an unlimited bank card?
M.Ch.: Of course. She had a card, cash, access to an account, she had everything.
Woman.ru: If you are a successful businessman, how do you position yourself, tell us about your well-being?
M.Ch.: I have 4 cars. One of them is a Lamborghini Aventador (approximate price 17 million rubles, - woman.ru), another Rolls-Royce Phantom (approximate price 25 million rubles, - woman.ru), Mercedes S-Class (starting price from 4 million rubles, - woman.ru note), and Jeep Wrangler (starting price from 1.5 million rubles, - woman.ru note). Own house on Sunset Plaza in Los Angeles - 3 bedrooms, swimming pool, area for walking (approximate price from $3.5 million - approx. Woman.ru)
Woman.ru: How can you prove that it’s really yours and not rented for photos on social networks?
M.Ch.: Who should I prove it to? And for what? If anyone has any questions, I invite the curious to fly to Los Angeles, I will show everything, and organize a tour of all my real estate properties. I have been in the development business for a long time, since 2007. Survived the crisis, sold properties in Ukraine and went to America. I looked closely for a year, and then began to develop a business there. I currently have several large private residences under construction. Everything is being built with my money and according to my designs.
Woman.ru: If you build and sell housing, why did Anna admit in a recent interview with Woman.ru that she has to rent an apartment where she lives with her daughters. Give them an apartment.
M.Ch.: “Give them an apartment” – sounds good! The question is that when we separated, the divorce took place through an American court. And there they wonderfully protect the rights of women, especially those with children. Anya was left with nothing but empty pockets. And the fact that in a year and a half she managed to spend some insane amount of money is her problem. Therefore, she was forced to move to a rented apartment. This is proof of her negative balance, not mine.
M.Ch.: When we divorced, Anya began sending me SMS with the text that she “finally does her business as she wants,” and is immediately involved in five projects. Although I always explained to her that in business everything will not work out right away. You can't do it alone. And she did everything herself, because all the time there were problems with employees, first one did something wrong, then the second... Her efficiency was crazy. But even so, it is impossible to simultaneously sing, take acting classes, look for roles, create clothing and shoe lines, shoot videos, produce a group and try to get on the radio. And I told her that it would be money thrown away. The next sms contained the text: “Finally, I’m shooting videos for 150 thousand dollars, I have a hundred people working on site, and the shooting lasts 2-3 days.”
Woman.ru: Did you limit it before?
M.Ch.: But there must be some understanding that you cannot invest 150–200 thousand dollars in a video. Over 70 is still normal - I paid her for such clips from start to finish. But we all know a bunch of young bands, with a huge number of views, who made their video for 5-10 thousand dollars. Only Anya likes these investments. Although for that kind of money you can easily buy an apartment. But I won’t write this back to her. Who am I to her anymore? Therefore, even today she continues to have a period of money showers, like: “And I’m flying first class!” By the way, I don't fly first class. Business - yes, first - no. There is still a line between comfort and show-off.
Woman.ru: What is the price difference between first class and business from Moscow to Los Angeles?
M.Ch.: The first one costs about 15 thousand euros, and the business one costs about 4. Well, such a “small difference”, right?
Of course, there are things that I can’t resist, and that’s cars. I “burn” with them, I live with them, and this is my hobby. I relax like this because I don’t go to clubs to get drunk and relax like that, I don’t like it. I like cars.
But spending a lot of money just on a flight is too much. Time will pass when Anya changes, we may discuss this again, but today she is confident that she is doing everything right.
Woman.ru: How important is money to you?
M.Ch.: For me, this is a tool that gives me comfort.
Woman.ru: How much is enough money?
As much as I earn now. If I want more, I will work more.
Woman.ru: Imagine a situation: someone from above offers you true love - a person who will become your “everything”, but in return you must give what you have - money, cars, business. Do you agree?
M.Ch.: If this is really my person, with whom we will go through everything together, overcome it and earn money again, then I agree. There are women who support you so much and help you go towards something that tomorrow you will increase your wealth fivefold. But I know how to earn money and am not afraid to lose!
