Rodion Nakhapetov and Natalya Shlyapnikoff: Almost a quarter-century-long office romance

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

When he left for America, they envied him. When he divorced his first wife Vera Glagoleva, he was condemned and called a traitor. At that time, Rodion Nakhapetov's life changed dramatically, and he himself had to make a difficult choice between the past and the future. He tried to be honest with himself first of all. And now, after a quarter of a century, he understands that then he made the right choice.

Meeting overseas

She and Vera Glagoleva have been married for 15 years. It was he who considered her great acting potential and convinced her to act in films. He took her for the lead role in his film "To the End of the World", after which they never parted. In marriage, two daughters were born, Anya and Masha. Rodion Nakhapetov filmed her in all his films. And the very first film, in which there was no role for his wife, was the beginning of the end of their family life.

It was this film, “At the End of the Night,” that was bought by the American studio 20th Century Fox. Natasha Shlyapnikoff attended one of the film screenings. After watching, she approached Oleg Rudnev, who presented the picture, to express her admiration.

When, six months later, Nakhapetov was invited to participate in an advertising campaign, he himself met Natasha. She invited the director to represent his interests in the States as a manager.

Returning to Moscow, he began to work on ideas for new paintings and sent them to his new acquaintance. She carefully studied each synopsis, almost all ideas were rejected by her, only one found a response. The application, with the assistance of Natalia, was seen by the president of the Paramount studio Barry London, who invited the author for a conversation.

Natasha met Rodion Nakhapetova at the airport. It was at that moment that a spark flashed between them, but each of them drove away thoughts of the possibility of a relationship. Rodion had a wife and two children in Moscow, Natalya had a husband, and a daughter was growing up.

Almost an office romance

Then the Paramount studio still rejected his idea, but Nakhapetov decided not to give up. With Natasha's help, he got to know the right people, conducted a lot of negotiations. When his constant presence in Los Angeles was required, Natalya invited him to stay at her house, where there was just a free room.

He watched Natalia's life and was amazed at how energetic and enthusiastic she was. She was enthusiastic about his affairs, and most importantly, she believed in him.

He was infinitely grateful to this pretty woman, and later his gratitude began to grow into something more. Natasha, too, initially did not even think about any relationship with Rodion. She just wanted to help him.

But when the two halves meet, it is difficult to avoid rapprochement. The more they had to communicate, the clearer it became: they have the same outlook on life, very similar tastes and a similar attitude towards people in need of help.

Divorce

By the time Vera Glagoleva arrived on tour in America, Rodion had already decided to divorce. At the same time, the actress acted very wisely: she brought her children with her so that they could communicate with their father and not harbor resentment against him. No matter how difficult it was for her, she did everything so that the girls did not feel left out.

She never showed how painful she was going through a break with her husband and did not set her daughters against her father. As a result, Anya and Masha were able to come to terms with the dad's departure from the family, and during their stay in his house they made friends with Natalia and her daughter Katya. Later, Masha even lived in their house when she studied in America.

Happiness to be together

Natalia Shlyapnikoff and Rodion Nakhapetov became husband and wife in the fall of 1991, at the same time they got married in the Orthodox Church. Natalya also led Nakhapetov to faith. He saw how important it was for her, and began to think about the meaning of life, go to church.

In their life, far from everything, and it was not always easy. There was a time when they could not even pay the mortgage for the house they bought, and they had to rent it out. The spouses themselves temporarily lived in a summer house with relatives.

Over time, things went smoothly, but one day a phone call rang at their house. An unknown man said that his daughter had a heart defect and that she could only be operated on in America. This man remembered Nakhapetov for his roles in films and decided: if an actor plays good people, then he is a good person himself.

Rodion and Natalia did not have the money to help their inconsolable father. But Natasha, with her usual vigor, in the morning began to call the cardiac surgeons and found someone who agreed to give the Russian girl an operation free of charge.

After a successful operation, the girl returned home, and more and more people began to turn to Nakhapetov and Natalya for help. This is how their foundation for helping children with heart disease, the Nakhapetov Friendship Fund, was born, on whose account more than one hundred lives have been saved.

Natalia Shlyapnikoff and Rodion Nahapetov have been together for almost 27 years. And they know for sure: there is happiness and it has no expiration date. Then, many years ago, they made a difficult but right decision: to be happy together.

Unfortunately, the 15-year-old marriage fell apart, but both had the wisdom to maintain an even relationship for the sake of children. When the actress was gone, he flew to Moscow to say the last "sorry" to the woman he once loved.