Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Is Abramovich making overtures at the ballet?
Russian media’s claims on £7bn footie boss
were no complaints.” But Dasha, who divorce lawyers are predicting could get hundreds of millions, has always presented a more equal match for him. Despite being 15 years his junior, she has introduced her husband to a cultured world. It was Dasha who whetted Abramovich’s appetite for the ballet and the pair support it together, say friends who deny the rumours in the Russian press. Dasha once owned fashion label Kova & T, was editor of fashion magazine POP and now runs her own magazine, Garage.
She is also on the board of New York’s Metropolitan Museum.
By her side, Abramovich became a leading art collector and they launched an arts centre in Russia’s Gorky Park. But ballet in particular seems to have grabbed his attention. A Bolshoi source once said his passion for it is almost obsessional, reflecting the way he got into football – which he is said to have once had no interest in.
The source said: “With the passion of a neophyte he likes everything, classical and contemporary. When he becomes interested in something he wants to know everything. He sits nearer the stage as he likes to see the dancers close-up. But he’s always very low-key when he visits.”
He would often have Dasha by his side and it is said they supported a festival called Context run by Vishneva.
Another ballerina once said: “He likes to interact with the dancers. At first they were a touch intimidated and shy but have now become used to seeing him.”
And it has been reported Abramovich was one of the first to offer help when the Bolshoi’s artistic director, Sergei Filin, was blinded in an acid attack in 2013. He and Dasha made perfect foils to one another, spanning sport, business and art with pals including Vladimir Putin, Princess Beatrice and Leonardo Dicaprio. It makes the split more of a surprise.
Some sources say it happened after Christmas and they have lived apart since. Dasha seems to be putting on a brave face, pictured in recent months with pals such as supermodel Karlie Kloss.
But a social media message this week from an old friend, TV presenter Kseniya Sobcha, seemed to hint that she might be struggling. Writing directly to Dasha, who was “in her thoughts”, she advised: “We’ve got to appreciate what’s coming into our life, enjoy what we have and, the most complicated, let go when it is all over...”
A spokesman for Abramovich refused to comment when the stories circulating in Russia were put to him.