Personal life of Vladimir Pozner: his third wife gave him a second youth

Political commentator and TV presenter, Vladimir Pozner, is confident that there are no taboo topics. A popular television journalist can speak openly about his rich personal life, as well as about political issues. Vladimir Pozner’s wife is Nadezhda Solovyova, their love story is simply amazing.

Vladimir Pozner

Personal life of Vladimir Pozner

Pozner Vladimir Vladimirovich (04/01/1934, Paris) not so long ago became a great-grandfather. Vladimir Pozner's first wife is a philologist, Chemberdzhi Valentina Nikolaevna (1936), whose parents were famous composers. She worked as a translator of modern and ancient texts. The family happiness of Valentina and Vladimir lasted not much more than 10 years (1957-1968). The children of Vladimir Pozner were born in his first marriage.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Pozner with his first wife Valentina Nikolaevna Chemberdzhi

Journalist Ekaterina Orlova, the second wife of Vladimir Pozner, also worked as a TV presenter, and at that time she had a son, Petya Orlov (1961). The wedding took place in 1969. With Ekaterina Orlova, the famous journalist founded the “Posner School”, created specifically for aspiring journalists. Ekaterina Mikhailovna herself worked as the director of this school. The couple were together for thirty-six years, until 2005.

In the photo: Vladimir Pozner with his second wife Ekaterina Orlova

In 2008, on the eve of his 74th birthday, the academician of the Television Academy of the Russian Federation married again. The wife of Vladimir Pozner was the famous creator of the promotion company Sav Entertainment, Nadezhda Solovyova (1955), who introduced many foreign pop stars to Russian viewers. Vladimir Pozner met his third wife on the advice of friends. At that time, he decided to launch a very important, in his opinion, program to combat AIDS.

Vladimir Pozner and his third wife Nadezhda Solovyova

To do this, he needed a producer, who was Nadezhda Solovyova. The romantic relationship that arose between them destroyed Nadezhda’s previous marriage, and Vladimir Posner’s personal life changed dramatically after his marriage. He always had enough determination to not only create, but also change his own program, abandoning the principle of “survival” that is familiar to most people.

It should be noted that in 2020, Nadezhda Solovyova, according to the rating of GQ magazine (Gentlemen's Quarterly), became one of the “150 most influential people in Russia.” By the way, her husband, Vladimir Pozner, is also on this list... He is the permanent host of the “Posner” program, popular in Russia and abroad, which was attended by many prominent people of our country, as well as France and America, including Hillary Clinton. The photo shows how kindly she smiles at Posner, an expert on women’s hearts.

In the photo: Hillary Clinton in the Posner program

Valentina, first wife, did not forgive the betrayal

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his first wife, Valentina Chemberdzhi , at Moscow State University, where he studied at the biology department, and a beautiful girl, Armenian on her father’s side and Jewish on her mother’s side, at the philology department. The love between them flared up instantly. In 1958 they got married.

And 9 years later they broke up. An event occurred that left a deep mark on both Posner’s soul and Valentina’s soul: he had an affair with another woman. My wife found out about this. Vladimir left home. It was so hard for him that he was one step away from committing suicide.

Then he returned - with Valentina’s permission. However, it was no longer possible to glue together what was once broken.

Daughter Ekaterina from Posner’s first marriage is already 59 years old. She lives in Germany and plays a lot of music. She has two adult children and a 6-year-old grandson, Valentin , the great-grandson of Vladimir Pozner.

Children of Vladimir Pozner

In 1960, Vladimir Pozner’s beloved and only daughter, Katya, was born, now a famous pianist, Ekaterina Chemberdzhi. Now she is also a composer, married to a German, and since 1990 she has lived in Berlin with her family. Katya has two children: the eldest Mashenka (1984), and Kolenka (1995). There is already a grandson - Valentin (born 2014), who is Posner’s great-grandson.

Vladimir Pozner, his daughter Ekaterina, son-in-law and two grandchildren: Maria and Nikolai

In their second marriage, Vladimir and Ekaterina, as they say, did not have children together. During 36 years of married life, Posner was engaged in raising his adopted son Pyotr Orlov, who pleased Vladimir Vladimirovich and Ekaterina Mikhailovna with the birth of their dear grandson Georgy (1999). Pyotr Orlov is a journalist, TV presenter, works for NTV. In his third marriage, the famous journalist and writer does not yet have children.

Vladimir Pozner with his younger brother Pavel, scientist, orientalist

“I got married at seventy-four. The ability to win the affection of nice women: either you have it or you don’t. When they told me that I would get married for the third time, I would sincerely laugh. But I’m probably still quite young at heart. I like to play tennis 2-3 times a week, I go jogging every day, and I don’t miss fitness classes. I have always respected and still respect people who work on themselves,” says Posner.

Posner’s second wife Ekaterina Orlova: biography, children, grandchildren, photos

Already in 1969, Vladimir Pozner created a new unit of society by marrying Ekaterina Orlova. This marriage turned out to be the longest in his life. The wife was also involved in journalism. Together they created the “Posner School” and began to train real professionals in it. Katya held the position of director there.

In the photo: Vladimir Pozner with his second wife Ekaterina

By the time of the wedding, Orlova already had a son, Peter, whom she gave birth to in a previous marriage. But the spouses never managed to have children together, despite the fact that their union lasted for 35 years. The adopted son Peter gave Vladimir and his ex-wife a grandson, who was named George. In October 2015, the press reported the death of Catherine. Posner divorced his wife back in 2005; he did not give official comments about her death.

Biography pages of the famous journalist

The television journalist, well-known in our country and abroad, has triple citizenship: French, Russian and American. His father, Vladimir Alexandrovich, emigrated to France in 1922. Having given birth to Volodya, his mother, Geraldine Lutten, moved to the States, where both Volodya’s grandmother and aunt, Spiri-Merkanton Victoria Alexandrovna, nee Posner (1911-2006), lived then.

Parents: Vladimir Aleksandrovich Posner and Geraldine Lutten

Geraldine's family looked after the future famous television journalist while she worked at Paramount Pictures. Vladimir Alexandrovich was able to come to America only five years later, and in the spring of 1939, the Posner family returned to France again, where Posner Sr. had his favorite job. French and Russian writer, Vladimir Solomonovich Pozner is the cousin of a Russian television journalist.

French and Russian writer, Vladimir Solomonovich Pozner - cousin of Vladimir Pozner

In the forties, fascist occupiers were operating in France, so the Pozner family returned to the States, and in 1945, Vladimir’s brother, Pavel, was born. It should be noted that, starting in 1943, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Pozner was a Soviet intelligence officer who worked as a director in the American Military Department.

Vladimir Pozner with his father and younger brother

In 1948, Vladimir Alexandrovich was invited to work in Berlin. The Posner family lived in Germany for four long years, and in 1952 the future writer, author of 12 works, moved with his parents and brother to the capital. He graduated from Moscow State University, worked as a secretary for the famous poet Marshak, translating his poetry and prose. In Russia, the personal life of the future journalist has changed dramatically.

Vladimir Pozner in his youth

Posner Vladimir worked both in the Russian Federation, France, and America. In addition to his native French, he is fluent in English. For his great contribution to the development of television and radio broadcasting, his work was awarded with five orders and medals, both in the Russian Federation and in France, as well as numerous prizes and special awards.

Vladimir Pozner with his car collection

Vladimir Pozner's wife: Trump asked me: “Can I sit with you?”

Vladimir Polupanov, AiF.ru: Nadezhda Yuryevna, in your office there are a lot of photographs of world stars, including Donald Trump. How did you meet him?

Nadezhda Solovyova: In 1996, we did a Tina Turner in Moscow. On the eve of her performance, Zurab Tsereteli and asked: “Nadya, you’re doing a Tina Turner concert. A friend from America came to visit me. He really wants to go to the concert. Can you arrange a ticket for him?” “Zurab Konstantinovich, I would be glad,” I say. “But for three concerts in the Kremlin everything was sold out, not a single ticket left.” “Can I give him your phone number, you can tell him everything yourself,” says Tsereteli. Trump then came to a meeting with Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov , he wanted to build a Hilton here. I told him the same thing over the phone: “Sorry, Donald, there are no tickets, I can’t do anything.” “Will you go to the concert yourself?” - he asked. “Of course I’ll go,” I answer. “I’m the promoter of this concert, I have to be there.” “Where will you watch the performance?” "On the stairs to the left of the stage." “Can I sit with you?” - Trump asked me. I gave him a pass along with the musicians. And we watched the concert together from the steps of the stairs.

American singer, songwriter, actress and dancer Tina Turner performs a solo concert at the State Kremlin Palace, November 5-6, 1996. Photo: RIA Novosti/Yuri Abramochkin

After the concert, we went with him and Tina Turner to have dinner at the Tsarskaya Okhota restaurant. That's how we became friends. Then we organized a press conference for him in Moscow and concluded an agreement. I was warned that Trump has a reputation for screwing everyone over. But he paid us everything beautifully. When I ended up in America after that (not long before that, the Trump Tower skyscraper was built on 5th Avenue), we met with Trump in New York. And he tells me: “You need an apartment in New York. I still have one left, I kept it for myself. Do you want me to show it to you and give it to you for 100 thousand dollars?” I had that kind of money. But I looked at this apartment and thought: “Why do I need real estate in America?” And she refused. Now it is worth at least 10 million dollars. When Posner and I were in New York 8-10 years ago (Trump was not yet president), we went to dinner together, and Donald told Vladimir Vladimirovich what a profitable business deal I had missed.

American rock star Jon Bon Jovi (right) introduces to the public the head of the Moscow Music Center, one of the main organizers of the Moscow International Music Peace Festival from the Soviet side, Stas Namin. 1989 Photo: RIA Novosti/Boris Babanov

— On May 31, the Bon Jovi concert that you organized took place at Luzhniki. You're hosting a Chemical Brothers concert on June 7th and Kiss on June 13th. Are Western musicians still willing to come to us?

- Not certainly in that way. Previously, we could bargain with the artists and ask: “We are poor, we can’t pay much, cut your fee.” And they came to meet us halfway, because they had a motivation to come here, they were interested in visiting Russia at least once. It doesn't work now. Jon Bon Jovi first came to Russia 30 years ago (at that time Stas Namin and Doc McGee , who is now the manager of the Kiss group, were organizing a rock festival in Moscow, and we were in the role of apprentices) and dreamed of coming here again. This is very nice, especially in a situation where few people in the West love us. Bon Jovi arrived here 4 days earlier with his family and walked around Moscow everywhere he could. He is generally the sweetest, charming person. We wanted to bring him here for a long time, but it didn’t work out. Because he works a lot in films as an actor and producer. And his last concert tour was 7 years ago. This is a big break for a musician. In an interview, Sting was asked: “How long have you been touring (meaning how many concerts he has given in a year)?” He thought about it and answered: “Yeah, probably 40 years.” That is, without interruption. Sting cannot live without live performances. And Bon Jovi takes long breaks.

Vocalist of the American band Bon Jovi Jon Bon Jovi performs at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. May 31, 2020 Photo: RIA Novosti/Vladimir Astapkovich

— What kind of cultural program will the musicians of the Kiss group have?

— They are veterans of glam rock, very cheerful and funny. They have every rocker request you can imagine.

— So, no museums, mostly strip bars?

- They are educated people. But I don’t remember that they were interested in museums. They announced that this was their farewell tour, and they were bringing a lot of equipment here (40 trucks with equipment), in fact, just like Bon Jovi did. Since the time U2 performed in Moscow, I don’t remember there being such a quantity of everything.

— Who is now the number one artist in the world in terms of box office receipts, demand, and fees?

— Probably the rapper Drake. No one has broken his records. Of course, artists such as Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Madonna also pack the halls, but hip-hop artists are now in first place. This is surprising, because they, as a rule, do not have any shows or music as such. I remember how wonderful Justin Timberlake’s concert was, which we did at the Olimpiysky. Visually it was beautiful: the costumes, the show. Roger Waters had a wonderful concert . It was interesting from all points of view. But now, alas, something else is in demand.

— Is it difficult for you to come to terms with the fact that not rockers, but rappers today are the main stars who sell out stadiums?

“It’s not hard to come to terms with, but it’s hard to understand.” This is not my music at all. I don't listen to it for pleasure. After Drake received all the possible Billboard awards, I decided to listen to him after all. It's pretty funny music. But I grew up listening to rock, where lyrics matter a lot.

— In rap, lyrics are also important.

- But there is no music there. Drake's lyrics are funny, not arrogant. And his songs are still melodic. So I'm not surprised that he completed 10 Wembleys in a row. What's going on with the artist Post Malone ? In September we tried to buy it for the same price. During this time, the price of his concert increased 10-12 times. Last year the amount was approaching six figures, became seven figures.

We were also going to do a concert of the very popular rapper Lil Pump . But only 30% of tickets were sold. The date of the concert was postponed, and then the concert was canceled altogether. And we crossed ourselves. At the same time, his songs have a colossal number of downloads. From this I concluded that the number of downloads does not in any way translate into ticket purchases. We never know which artist is in demand and which is not. We talk with representatives of the record business, radio stations, look at the number of subscribers on social networks, downloads. But, as it turns out, this is not at all necessary. There are artists who have few subscribers and no downloads. And they are putting together huge venues. And there are artists who have a lot of downloads and millions of subscribers. But they don’t go to their concerts.

Hip-hop and rap conquered everything. Musical results of the year Read more

— Previously, musicians released an album, and then went on tour to support the release of the album. How are things now?

— Now the release of an album is nothing more than an informational occasion. The main source of income for artists now is live performances. That's why the fees have increased so much. Previously, artists thought: “I want to go to Russia. I won’t earn much money from performing. But I have an album coming out, and I’ll make money from selling it.” Record companies handled billions of dollars and were like banks. Now it's not the same money. I know, for example, that Adele was paid 300 million dollars for a new, not yet written record. Beyoncé's manager told me that they sold the live concert rights to Live Nation. And the company never even used these rights. And now Beyoncé’s management is buying back the rights to broadcast concerts from Live Nation. Because the artist needs promotion. I worked for many years in a situation where everything was clear. In the last 10-15 years, everything has changed dramatically.

— You once said that we pay Western artists more than they charge in other countries. Is this really true?

— Of course, we pay more, as a rule. This has to do with logistics. I have said this many times, I can repeat it again. In any band, all members of the group, except the frontman or the main three or four musicians, receive a salary on a weekly basis. The main artist (or artists) receives a fee for the concert. And the rest of the team - it could be 80, 100, 150 people - receives it weekly. In Germany they can give 4-5 concerts in a week. And in order to give one concert in Moscow, you need to spend the same week. Where would they be more willing to go? It is clear that to Germany, where they will give more concerts in the same time.

— The first concert you held on your own was Elton John’s performance in 1994. What did you have to deal with in the “dashing” nineties?

“I still remember the letters that Elton John’s to the agent who sold us the concert: “We’ve had enough of these “green” (that is, young) promoters who don’t understand anything.” The biggest problems were with customs. We called the chairman of the customs committee to get the equipment cleared through customs. Duran Duran to us , we cleared their trucks through customs without any documents at all. For a long time they could not get permission to land Elton John's private plane. The dressing rooms were scary. And we did repairs at our own expense in the dressing rooms of the Kremlin Palace. New sockets were installed. There was no Internet. And so that they could call from the dressing rooms and from the production office, we installed international lines. Thank God, at that time there was already a decent hotel “Balchug”, where it was not a shame to accommodate a star of this level. Elton John even loved her. He had a luxurious room overlooking the Kremlin. Amidst the chaos of the nineties, the hotel offered an island of Western life. Elton John visited the Soviet Union for the first time in 1979. And therefore I was not surprised at anything. We surrounded him with care: the same people who accompanied him on his first visit to our country worked with him.

Elton John on tour in Moscow. State Concert Hall "Russia". 1979 Photo: RIA Novosti/Boris Babanov

— What gave you the biggest trouble was the visit of David Bowie, who was forced to spend 10 whole days in Moscow because the St. Petersburg concert was cancelled?

- It was horror! And not because we didn't know how to entertain him. He didn't want to have any fun. He sat in his room, and his nanny, who called herself his manager, walked around and collected all sorts of gossip. And she took our soul out with claims that ticket prices were high and they were sold by resellers. It was very unpleasant.

— So, Bowie spent all 10 days in his room?

“Maybe he went somewhere, but without our participation.” He was a very private person. In 1973, he, a musician from his band, a UPI reporter and a photographer, sailed on a ship from Japan to Nakhodka, boarded a train there, then changed to another train in Khabarovsk and traveled along the Trans-Siberian Railway. He himself told me that he had no rubles. And during the trip he sang songs of The Beatles to the conductors. And for this they fed and watered them. He said they had a great 8 days on the train.

David Bowie at the Intourist Hotel. Moscow. 04/30/1973 pic.twitter.com/PwSWy8JSH5
— SvobodaTruthRocknRoll (@RockZaSvobodu) March 28, 2020

— You also had a hard time with Whitney Houston when she came here in 2009. Was she already in very bad shape?

“It was the most tragic visit and concert in my entire practice. She was already so sick, it is impossible to express in words. And all the managers in her team are relatives (brother, brother’s wife, sister). And all these people didn’t care about her. They were busy with their own affairs. In St. Petersburg, her sister woke me up in the middle of the night. “She's having a seizure. We need to find drugs,” she says. I answer: “I won’t look for anything. You're crazy. In our country people go to prison for this.” We called a narcologist for her, who somehow brought her back to working order. And it was still very cold in St. Petersburg, she caught a cold. She worked somehow, sang with difficulty. All these 5 days I, one might say, held her hand. Because she understood that if I let her go, she would simply disappear. Her relatives abandoned her, went shopping and bought clothes. And 2 hours before the concert they came to me and said that she didn’t have shoes for the stage. I tell them: “You were just in the store. Why didn’t you buy her shoes?” “Well, we didn’t know she didn’t have shoes. Don’t you have any shoes you can lend her?” "I have. But let me still buy her new shoes,” I said. What is it like to lose your shoes for a concert?! With Whitney on this trip was her daughter, whom we sent home to my translator friend. She has a daughter the same age as Houston’s daughter. And she spent this time at their home so as not to see her mother in this terrible state. At a Moscow concert, Whitney tried to sing a song from the film “The Bodyguard”, but could not. And she cried. When I remember this, my tears flow too.

Whitney Houston performing on stage at the Olimpiysky Sports Complex. 2009 Photo: RIA Novosti/ Alexey Penkov

— Have there been any criminal cases in your practice from which you had to rescue musicians?

- God has been merciful. Although my colleagues working in other countries can tell you many such stories. What saved me was that here they were afraid to go wild. The reputation of our country, where many things are prohibited, plays a positive role. Therefore, they behave more or less decently here. In the rooms - yes, they walk around, it happens. Furniture and equipment are destroyed. But then they pay. But there was no such thing as going out into the street and making a brawl there. But among Russian musicians there are many rowdy people. In 1999, I was involved in the “You’re Right” campaign during the “Right Cause” election campaign. We held 100 concerts of Russian rock and roll musicians in stadiums. Here I could tell you a lot of interesting things.

- Maybe without naming names?

— For example, there was a case: a TV was thrown out of a hotel room, and it fell on the expensive car of a local authority. I had to deal with the bandits. Or, for example, the whole group arrives in Samara and tries to check into a hotel. They call me from this hotel and say that one of the group members stayed at this hotel some time ago and caused such a pogrom in the room that they refuse to let him stay there. Foreigners do not behave this way in Russia. I remember only one incident. A famous Western group arrived, their production manager came up to me and said: “Where are our production supplies?” I was very surprised: “What is production supply?” He says: “Everywhere we go, in order for the musicians to be in a good mood, they are accompanied by a person who gets them weed.” I told him that we don’t have such a “service”. "How?! - he was surprised. “It should be in the rider.” But this was once in the thousands of concerts that I have done. I also remember that there were musicians who gave up alcohol. And they asked us to take them to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. And with the help of translators they communicated with their fellow sufferers.

Ozzy Osbourne and his wife, director of the British rock band Black Sabbath Sharon Osbourne at a press conference in Moscow. 2014 Photo: Collage AiF

— And how did Ozzy Osbourne, known for his scandalous antics, behave here?

— He was here more than once and each time he came with his wife, who, it seems, bought the entire collection of Manolo Blahnik shoes at TSUM. He behaved very decently in front of her.

— You did several concerts on Red Square, in particular, Paul McCartney. This is a security facility, next to the Kremlin. What were the difficulties there?

— I did my first concert (it was Pavarotti’s ) on Red Square in 1997. Scorpions, “Time Machine”, Hvorostovsky and Netrebko also performed there The biggest challenge with the Paul McCartney was that St. Basil's Cathedral was in scaffolding. And they were filming a concert film, and they needed a beautiful picture. In order to remove the forests, they had to pay. The scaffolding was removed and installed back the next day after the concert. There was another difficulty: there was a lantern hanging on GUM that shone directly onto the stage. How to turn it off? I had to get special permission. We agreed with Uncle Vasya, who was supposed to turn it off for 2.5 hours during the concert. Only he had access to the switch. At 18:00 we are waiting for him at the elevator, but he is not there. Half an hour passes, an hour. McCartney waits for the lantern that shines directly onto the stage to be turned off. The president has already arrived, but the concert still hasn’t started. In general, we found this Uncle Vasya lying around the corner of GUM. He "rested" there. They pushed me apart and doused me with cold water. The lantern was extinguished.

Legendary singer and composer Paul McCartney on Red Square. 2003 Photo: RIA Novosti/Yuri Abramochkin

— I remember when Rod Stewart came to Moscow on tour, we (in the company of our artists) played football with him at Luzhniki.

— It was a shame for Russian musicians and journalists. Rod Stewart and his two technicians beat you 7:1.

“I don’t remember the score, but it wasn’t that devastating.” In order not to offend the famous musician, we gave him the opportunity to win.