Anthony's childhood
On October 17, 1984, a boy was born to the family of jazz performers Irina Ponarovskaya and Weiland Rodda, who was named Anthony. This was the second marriage for the 31-year-old singer of the hit “Rowan Beads,” and her 38-year-old husband’s sixth.
The child was a long-awaited gift from a favorable fate. Before his appearance, Irina had a diagnosis that was incompatible with hopes for a happy motherhood. Desperate and having lost hope of getting pregnant, the pop artist decided to adopt a girl, Nastya, who, due to the ill-will of her husband, had to be returned to the orphanage after the birth of her son.
Anthony Rodd with his famous mother Irina Ponarovskaya
Anthony's childhood can hardly be called happy. The young man still remembers the beatings and rude shouts of his angry father, who allowed himself to have intimate relationships with women of easy virtue in his presence. Father's cruelty and indifference are the reason that Anthony and Weyland have not communicated for thirty years.
The boy saw true parental love only from his caring mother, who separated from her husband because of his adultery and inadequate attitude towards his own son.
Because of his exotic appearance, Eric was not favored by his peers. His dark skin was a reason for ridicule and contempt.
One day, a teenager was beaten by a group of 12 informals and ended up in intensive care. Passers-by did not stand up for him, and his friend, who set off in a cowardly flight, did not call anyone for help. After this outrageous incident, a loving and caring mother took her son to Norway, thereby ensuring a safe existence for him.
Waylond Rodd's parents sailed across the ocean in the 1930s, met and married in Russia. His father graduated from GITIS, played at the Meyerhold Theater, acted in films (played Hercules in “The Fifteen-Year-Old Captain” and the Papuan Tui in “Miklouho-Maclay”), his mother was a pianist (she later went back to the USA, lives in Miami).
Weiland was born in Moscow. From the age of 12 I became interested in karate, jiu-jitsu and oriental medicine. However, his parents’ genes took their toll, and Weiland went into art - he became a pop singer.
Weiland's family life was (and remains) turbulent. He lived with his first wife, the daughter of a major Moscow architect Nadya, for 8 years. However, then she fell in love with someone else and went with him to France.
Then there was a second marriage - with the ballerina Tamara, a third - with the linguist Irina, a fourth - with lawyer Natalya, a fifth - with the ballerina of the Souvenir ensemble Galina (in Weiland's last marriage in 1981
year a child was born - son Theodore). And finally, Irina Ponarovskaya became the sixth wife of Weyland Rodd.
At that time, Weiland’s name, although not widely known among listeners, was known to everyone in the musical community. He had his own team (it was headed by Stas Namin, Arkady Ukupnik played bass guitar), in which Val performed the functions of an administrator: he recruited artists and coordinated the work. They performed at the newly opened Hammer World Trade Center.
Weiland Rodd recalls: “I first saw Ponarovskaya in the late 70s on TV - beautiful, extraordinary, singing so passionately. I’m not a fan of Soviet pop music and I didn’t listen attentively. But I was struck by her beauty and sexuality, in the broadest sense.
“It’s good to work with such a woman,” I said and, after thinking, added: “And maybe live with her.” Many years later, my mother reminded me of these words - but I myself forgot!”
“Our mutual friend matched us. Ira could not “pull” two sections, she was very tired, so he told her, they say, there is such a singer, take him to you. She agreed. When he told me about this, I didn’t believe it, because rarely anyone agreed to work with me. I told my friend, “This woman is a star. Why does she need a complex figure like me with that skin color?” But he replied: “She’s not like everyone else...” To which I said: “Okay, she’ll hear me sing and that’ll be the end of it.”
But everything turned out the other way around. Ira heard me singing and grabbed me with a death grip. She appreciated me as a woman, and not as a businessman..."
A few months after they met, Ponarovskaya and Rodd got married and began to live in two houses: either in a three-room apartment with Weiland, or in a one-room apartment on Novatorov Street with Irina. Weiland really wanted them to have a child, but doctors, after an operation in Kursk (Ponarovskaya’s heart stopped twice - V.K.), forbade Ponarovskaya to give birth. And then chance intervened in their fate. While on tour in the provinces, an unfamiliar girl came to Irina and persuaded her to adopt an 11-month-old black girl (the girl said that her mother abandoned her). Irina agreed. However, Weiland did not like this act of his wife - he dreamed of his own child. In the end, when his wife was on tour, he sent the girl to an orphanage, and Ponarovskaya told her that her own mother had suddenly appeared and taken her (In the summer 2000
year, thanks to the TV show “Wait for Me” on the ORT channel, Ponarovskaya found this girl, whom she still considers her daughter, and she still considers her her mother.
- VC.). Irina believed him, because in those days her thoughts were occupied with one thing - her own childbirth. On October 17, 1984
, a boy was born who was named Anthony.”
“The birth of a child put an end to Ponarovskaya’s creative career for some time. Her husband, who now saw in her only the mistress of the house, but also a mother, forbade her to go on stage and generally engage in any creativity. For example, when Ponarovskaya was offered a role in the film “The Life of Samghin,” Weiland tore up her photo tests and did not let his wife go to the shoot. But this couldn't go on forever. IN 1986
Ponarovskaya finally managed to persuade her husband, and they began performing in the same musical program.
That period can be called one musical program. That period can be called one of the most creatively successful in the singer’s biography. Then many significant events happened in Ponarovskaya’s life, both personal and creative. On January 14 , 1986
, together with her son Anthony, she was baptized at the Elokhov Cathedral in Moscow. She changed her appearance - from a brown-haired woman she turned into a blonde. Finally, hits appeared in her song repertoire, which topped the charts (the most famous song of that period was “I Know - I Loved”). Many factors contributed to the singer’s rise, but Weyland Rodd sees his own considerable merit in this.”
Weiland Rodd states:
“Everyone remembers the powerful leap she made when we were all together. She sang songs by Leningrad authors - rock, pop, jazz. I prepared everything to reveal her dramatic talent. She is a great actress and moves beautifully. I have already seen a real musical, a whole dramatic line. I enrolled boys in ballet... And that’s where our divorce began. She began an air romance with one of these boys. When I found out this, I told her: “I understand everything. Live through this situation, go to your apartment. Let the child live with me. And when you get tired of all this, you’ll come back and you’ll still have a family. Know that you have a family."
And she accepted my terms. She does not and never has had time to raise her son. I’m a real nursing father, but I don’t know how to give birth.”
Three years later, Ponarovskaya divorced her black husband.
“Then we broke up. The reason for the divorce, unfortunately, is indecent. He cheated on me like the last yard dog. He could bring home, to my bedroom, the neighbor's girl and have a relationship with her there. I found out about this later. But I’m not the kind of woman who can be cheated on so dirty. I understand that the man who has not cheated on his wife has not yet been born. But, nevertheless, everything can be done beautifully. I am an adult, not a prude, and I am perfectly aware of everything. But it’s so disgusting to do this in front of everyone! This is the reason for our divorce, and not at all the one he talks about, that two great creative personalities could not get along on the same stage. I deliberately formalized our divorce publicly, insisting in court on the wording “marital infidelity.” With the help of a lawyer, I ensured that the court extract read: “the child was awarded to the mother’s upbringing.”
Then that famous incident happened. When I was on tour in the summer, and Anthony lived with his grandmother in the country, his father came there and fraudulently lured the boy into the car. Moreover, the child was in shorts, a T-shirt and barefoot. Rodd took him to Moscow. My mother raised all the traffic police posts. I found them in Moscow, and we managed to agree that Anthony would stay with his father for a month. Only I suggested to Val that he should take him somewhere on vacation, so that it would be an alternative to what I give to the child. However, then it turned out that he stayed with the child in the city, hiding from me. And then he went on tour with him and carried him on planes and trains. A month later, at the appointed time, I called him back at home, but found no one. I asked his neighbors, and they said that at night he runs around somewhere with a child under his arm and does not spend the night at home. I did my research. And after another month I found out that he and Anthony were in Voronezh. She got behind the wheel of the car and immediately went there. There I contacted the local police department and, together with the inspector of the department for work with minors, went to pick up my own child from the apartment where, according to my information, he was located. What I saw there made the hair on my head stand up. In the middle of the room there were two pushed together beds, on one of which sat a half-naked girl from Rodda’s ballet, and a completely naked Anthony was crawling on it with a piece of black bread. When my son saw me, he became hysterical: “Mom, mom, where have you been? I've been waiting for you for so long! He was then three years and ten months old. I immediately took him away and for a long time afterwards I could not recognize him. He was dystrophic, with terrible bronchitis, sinusitis and cried for any reason. Doctors diagnosed him with asthenic neurosis and sexual deviations. Anthony told me what Dad did with the girls in front of him. After that, I forbade the father to meet with the child, and not a single call about this came to my apartment again...”
I note that after his divorce from Ponarovskaya, Weilond Rodd married three more times. The seventh wife was Judy, a horsewoman and dog trainer. In this marriage 1990
The boy Michael-Robert was born.
A year later, the eighth wife, ballerina Victoria, also gave birth to Rodda’s boy, Robert. And finally, his ninth wife, Tatyana,
gave Rodda his fifth son, Milan-Jonathan, 1995.
Personal life
While abroad, Eric gained confidence in himself and his abilities. The young man received a higher education as a jewelry designer. And although he, unlike his famous parents, has nothing to do with show business and is in no way connected with the film industry, his profession is very creative. He is successfully engaged in jewelry art and is proud of his profession as a jewelry artist.
His wife, Muscovite Anna Chainikova, also a talented artist, moved to live in Estonia in order to always be with him.
Happy spouses are connected not only by strong marriage ties, but also by common professional interests. They travel a lot and appreciate the luxury of contemplating beauty.
Anthony Rod with his wife Anna, son Eric and daughter Charlotte
Three loves
Ponarovskaya was also unlucky with her personal life. The first marriage - with the lead singer of the "Singing Guitars" team, where the singer worked, did not survive even a year. Close couples note the musician’s special love of love, which Irina could not stand.
The breakup did not have the best effect on the singer: in order to forget her love troubles, she went to work. Unable to cope with the exorbitant load that she had to shoulder, Ponarovskaya time after time ends up in the hospital with exacerbation of congenital ischemic disease. All this time, first just a close friend of the singer, and then her second husband, jazz musician Wayland Rodd, was nearby.
Irina Ponarovskaya and second husband Wayland Rodd
This marriage seemed to Irina sent from heaven. The couple really wanted children, but Ponarovskaya could not get pregnant. Together they decided to take their adopted daughter Nastya from the orphanage.
Many years later, a scandal will erupt around her daughter: having already become an adult, Anastasia will claim that she was treated poorly in the house and accuse Wayland of beatings and violence. On a talk show where the girl will appear, it turns out that the girl’s relationship with her adoptive mother went wrong when she, in front of Irina’s eyes, began to seduce her own teenage son.
Doctor
The singer admits that after a terrible divorce she almost became an alcoholic, but was able to pull herself together in time. He helped Soso Pavliashvili come to his senses, the whole country started talking about the affair. Ponarovskaya did not want to live in the center of a scandal: the man was married, and such a beauty was not going to be content with the role of a mistress. The relationship was quickly broken off.
Irina Ponarovskaya and Soso Pavliashvili
The singer’s new love, Dmitry Pushkar, was far from show business. A famous doctor and researcher in the field of urology fell in love with a celebrity at first sight, but always treated him like a woman, and not like a cold, inaccessible star. Dmitry’s care and belonging to another world was captivating. Irina agreed to marry him.
The couple were happy for nine years, but throughout the entire time the scientist could not get used to the close attention of the press and fans of the singer to their family. As a result, they decided to separate: Ponarovskaya will never cease to be a star, although she has repeatedly made attempts to disappear from the sight of her fans.
Career of Irina Ponarovskaya
Of course, she entered the conservatory. And Irina’s dad’s friend was the artistic director of the vocal and instrumental ensemble “Singing Guitars”. I was looking for a soloist, my dad offered to listen to my daughter... so in her first year Ira became a singer. She sang Eurydice in a rock opera - the first in the Union, by the way! And then she went to Moscow and worked in Oleg Lundstrem’s jazz orchestra. At the same time, she managed not to leave the conservatory! Then there was a concert film “Irina Ponarovskaya. The lead singer of VIA “Singing Guitars” sings, and the girl began to be invited to the cinema!
