Alexey Chumakov and Yulia Kovalchuk who were born. Alexey Chumakov first published a photo with Kovalchuk’s child

On the eve of the happy event, the spouses Yulia Kovalchuk and Alexey Chumakov met and talked with the editor-in-chief of OK! Vadim Vernik. Julia was the first to arrive at the meeting. Lyosha appeared a little later: he is working in the studio on a new album.

Julia, are you driving yourself?

In Spain I often travel by myself, but in Moscow I travel with a driver. And I am ready to erect a monument to all pregnant girls who even get to the maternity hospital on their own, since this is physically very difficult. And this happens - I know.

Why did you need to drive in Spain yourself?

How why? I absolutely love driving and enjoy the process, especially when it’s the traffic-free roads of the Costa Brava and my mother is sitting next to me. But in the presence of my husband, I am always just a passenger. Perhaps he is the only one I completely trust, and in my current situation it is also much more convenient. Moreover, this was the first such a long vacation in my life.

You know, I remember this picture, it was several years ago. We met with you in Sheremetyevo, you were in transit there - from one tour to another: exhausted, tired, in a huge hood, only your eyes were visible, curled up and instantly fell asleep.

I love this, yes. To be precise, I have been living in this mode for 17 years.

With such a schedule, there’s probably no time for a child.

But I’m still a girl and subconsciously, of course, I thought about it and understood that, of course, there would come a time in my life when I would want to take a short break and enjoy motherhood.

Have you changed in any way in your new position? Have you become capricious or sensitive?

I can honestly tell you, Vadim, I’m not one of those girls who fanatically spend time on the Internet, delving into women’s forums or thematic sites. I really trust my feelings and believe that my body itself will tell me how to react to the magic that happens to me.

Besides, pregnancy is such a universal joy! From the very beginning I knew that I would not have the whims and speculations characteristic of a large number pregnant girls. It seems to me that this only angers and pushes away the man I love.

And you stoically withstood this attitude?

Now Lyosha will join us and tell us. ( Smiles.) But I admit, I tried. Although, of course, I’m not a robot and anything can happen. Still a change hormonal levels leaves a certain imprint on a woman’s behavior, but I didn’t have many such emotional outbursts. And strong whims about food or lack of attention too. Although at some points I could be unrestrained, overly sentimental and could even cry. For example, funny story. I wanted to treat Lyosha to homemade freshly brewed compote. I’m bringing him a decanter and suddenly on the way I break it. Lyosha jokingly says to me: “Well, I tried the compote.” And it hurt me so much! Basically, I start crying.

I don’t understand why I’m crying: either it’s a pity that I never gave my husband something to drink, or because I’m careless, or because his words pricked me at that moment. Within a few minutes I realized the absurdity of the situation, went to wash my face, and I myself felt both funny and sad. But this is an isolated case.

Tell me, Yul, what about courses for young parents? Or are they not needed?

I don't think they are unnecessary. But firstly, we are not twenty, we are very conscious guys, and secondly, we just somehow didn’t even think about it. I repeat, we trust our inner voice and to each other. On November 12, I will be thirty-five, and I could not even dream of such an anniversary gift. Thank you God! ( Smiles.)

Was Lyosha internally prepared for such a turn of events?

But for Lyosha and me this topic is so intimate that we decided to talk about it only now. And we realized that we could trust and tell it so sincerely, in a family way, only to you, Vadim.

Thank you, Julia, I really appreciate your trust. You said that you have only recently matured for motherhood...

It was important for me to achieve success at work - it's no secret. I was a real careerist, especially at the age of 25, when I left Blestyashchie. It was morally necessary for me to prove to everyone that I could assert myself in this difficult business and become needed in the profession, even without having a producer. At that moment, important career changes were taking place for Lyosha. He left producer Evgeniy Fridlyand, and he also had to build his own from scratch musical history. Therefore, to be honest, we didn’t even have time to think about children. But from the age of thirty, thoughts about motherhood and the fact that with all my being I was ready for this began to come to me more and more often. But here our schedule made its own adjustments. We just weren't physically there at the right time in the right place. And at some point we decided to relax, realizing that everything would happen when it was supposed to happen.

Many of your friends and colleagues became mothers early, and they probably shared with you some of their thoughts on this matter. Didn't your heart skip a beat at that moment?

In fact, I admire and rejoice at the girls, my peers, who are raising adult children. Yes, Lyosha and I recently discussed that it would be great, maybe to think about it a little earlier, but everyone has their own destiny. And so, returning to my colleagues, I, of course, am delighted with Vera Brezhneva, who looks like older sister their daughters, or from Natasha Ionova - she and her eldest daughter are already friends. And they both look amazing. And I will try.

I'm sure it will be so. Even now, on the eve of giving birth, you look great!

Thanks a lot. It's all tan. ( Smiles.) I have a sporty character and a choreographic background, so, of course, I don’t relax much. I don’t have any terrible gluttony, and, most importantly, I don’t want it. I somehow negotiate with my body.

Well, you haven't recovered much.

Doctors say no. In the middle of the term, I did yoga with a specialist, and then on my own. In Spain I swam every day and, by the way, I filmed my “Dance” video when I was four months pregnant, dancing and running so that no one noticed my position. Well, and most importantly, I made it a rule to walk at least five thousand steps every day, in any condition, in any weather.

Well done! Lyosha tours and records all the time. Who is helping you?

Lyosha helps me regardless of the tour. We have been able to find a balance between personal and work for almost 10 years. But we must admit, we seemed to feel changes in our lives: a year ago I moved my parents here from Volzhsky. They doubted it for a long time - after all, there were still friends there, father’s hobbies (fishing and hunting), mother’s students and students with whom she is still friends. But after the move there was not a moment that they regretted it. Now they live side by side and, naturally, help as much as they can: dad supervises the reconstruction of the house (we are finishing the nursery), mom was with me in Spain when Lyosha flew off on tour.

(Alexey appears.) Lyosha, hello. Handsome, all in white!

Julia: It seems to me that I have already told you so much, now you will complement me.

Julia said that at your age there is some certain wisdom that allows you to look at expecting a child differently. Do you agree with this?

Alexey: Absolutely. I heard that God gives a child when people are ready for it. Everything is on time. If I were seventeen years old, I don't think I would quite understand what was in her belly.

Yu.: In fact, like a true man, he says: “Well, let’s hurry up, you communicate there, I also want to see you.”

Lyosha, tell me, was Yulia capricious? I'm interested in your version.

Yu.: Yes, tell me.

A.: In general, I noticed her pregnancy less than she did. She real man. (Laughs.)

Yu.: I told you about that stupid incident when I burst into tears because of a broken decanter.

A.: Well, of course, a woman without a slight brainwash! ( Smiles.)

“Yulia is like a man” - what do you mean?

A.: She treats everything normally, without any unnecessary facial expressions. She's not capricious. Julia is basically quite pragmatic. And pragmatism plus romance give rise to realism, and it exists in this realism. Therefore, to say that I ran into the desert for pickles - this did not happen.

Maybe this is a stupid question, but still. Has your relationship changed somehow, have you started looking at Yulia differently?

Yu.: Can I tell you while Lyosha is thinking? I kept worrying: “Honey, I’m probably plump, unsexy and ugly.” And Lyosha always said words that were very important to me.

A.: I just immediately told her, “You are fat and very unsexy,” so that at the time of pregnancy she would not feel the difference.

“Good” Lyosha!

Yu.: In fact, he said: “You know, there is something attractive in the shape of a pregnant woman.” This was very important for me to hear. Now every time I go up to him and say that I am a bun, and Lyosha always answers that I have hardly gained any weight.

A.: One hundred fourteen kilograms and seventeen grams do not count.

Certainly. Yulia says that you are finishing the nursery.

A.: Yes, but in fact we are chic, to be honest. I remember how I was raised...

Yu: And me.

A.: Lord, it was some kind of small fifty-meter apartment in which the four of us lived.

In Samarkand?

A.: Yes. Then there was a house, very small, about seventy squares. And nothing, they raised me well!

Yu.: And when I was born, my parents lived in a dormitory, there was only one room. I am the second child, there were four of us too. We were given the long-awaited apartment when I was eleven months old. Mom stood in these lines for a very long time, and in the end a miracle happened. True, the apartment was on the fifth floor without an elevator, so it was very “convenient” to carry strollers. They let me into this apartment, and that was the first time I went.

My sister and I lived in the same room, we didn’t have our own personal space, but I, as a little girl, always wanted to have it. I found a way out: we had a big table, my dad made it himself, I covered it with a blanket, and I had mine under the table. own world, no one went there.

When did you get your own real space?

This was the first rented apartment in Moscow. She was small, ugly, black, all covered with carpets.

A.: You describe me exactly as a child - small, black, ugly. ( Laughs.)

Yu.: ( Laughs.) And I was happy, I was nineteen years old then. I had already joined the “Brilliant” group, worked for a year and saved up money to rent an apartment for two hundred and fifty dollars. This was my small victory and pride. But I was able to truly feel what my personal space was only when Lyosha and I bought a house.

How old is this house?

Yu: Four years.

And as it turned out, there is still not enough space.

A.: I want it to little man played and didn't bother anyone. Just kidding, of course. I understand that I will have to leave my comfort zone.

For example, we like to watch TV series at night, but the children’s room is right through the wall. We soundproofed it to such an extent that now you can't hear anything at all. Such things will not hurt the child’s pride in any way, but they will help us.

Yulia says that she began to think seriously about having a child only after she was thirty. And you?

A.: Creative people are mostly selfish, you know that. We do everything for the sake of attention to ourselves. Music, songs, concerts are nothing more than an attempt to attract attention. You revel in your work, you have a lot of plans and a lot of problems that need to be solved, and, let’s say, you have no time for children. But now I understand that I probably should have done it earlier.

Yu.: That’s what I said too.

A.: If I had an adult son or daughter now, I would already have something interesting to tell them. And so, when the child grows up, I will already be old.

You'll be in the juice.

A.: Maybe. I'll see how I survive. It also depends on how our songs will be listened to, how long our creative longevity will last, hence the moral state. We depend on the viewer.

In this sense, everything is in your favor. You gave me two of your books, I will read them with pleasure. You will have big concerts in Moscow very soon - at Vegas City Hall on November 4 and 5. This says a lot.

A.: Yulia is also doing great in this sense. Although, of course, she devoted these months more to herself and her pregnancy.

Yu.: I managed to release the track “Dance”, and the album is now being mixed in America, so in a musical sense there will be no breaks. At the same time, I really gave myself the opportunity to take a break from concerts and television projects.

Was there a creative itch?

Yu.: At first it was.

A.: She still has it.

Yu.: Lyosha means that I cannot be a woman who just sits at home, turns on the TV, lies down and enjoys pregnancy.

A: She needs to do something.

You know, I love that you guys are both on your own creative paths. Lyosha, you don’t adapt to any specific formats of show business, you sing as you feel. Julia also chose her own path. You have proven yourself wonderfully as a TV presenter, as an actress, and in parallel, of course, your vocal history.

A.: Each of us is independent, we have not had producers for many years. Freedom is important to me in creativity.

Have you ever wanted to slightly adjust your views so that, for example, you could be on the air more on radio stations?

A.: I am certainly looking for a compromise. But the viewer who comes to my concert loves what he loves about me. And if now I adapt too much to the general trend, change myself to suit all sorts of formats, then I will simply lose all those who love me and those whom I love. And most importantly, I will lose myself. Let my small but high-quality listener remain with me, so that millions of those who do not care about sincerity in music will join.

A duet album Have you thought about writing it down?

A.: There was a successful duet song “To Notes”. As for the album, no, we don’t plan. Yulia and I have completely different audiences. My audience is people 25–45 years old, wealthy, comfortable in life, who have the right to listen to the music they want. Yulia is loved by younger viewers. More reckless, like herself. That’s why we don’t give joint concerts. Some people will wait for me to come out, and the other part will wait for me to leave.

Returning to what's to come important event. You have now spent so much time in Spain. Have you thought about flying from there to New York or Paris, for example, to give birth?

A.: No, we deliberately chose Russia. We are patriots and we don't joke. We adore Russia so much, we are so grateful to it for what we have here, that...

Yu.: ...we didn’t even consider other options. I can’t imagine how it’s possible in these important points communicate in another language, not feel or see your loved ones nearby.

Will Lyosha be present at the birth?

Yu.: All my adult life I thought that a man should not be present at childbirth. I swear. But how normal woman I am inclined to change my mind, and now, when this miracle is about to happen, I just need him to be nearby. Although he is a very restless young man.

A.: I’m just balanced, just impressionable, I take everything to heart. I know that I won’t be able to stay at home, because I will be nervous, I will need to control everything. And there I will worry no less... I make up my mind. I'm still afraid.

Julia, how are you setting yourself up - do you plan to quickly return to duty or not?

A: Man proposes, but God disposes.

Yu: That's right. But to be honest, we are already planning concerts for November-December. Pregnancy and a child are, of course, a qualitatively different format of life. But this does not mean that Lyosha and I need to reshape our lives.

A.: We are so free in our profession, so much on our own, that even tomorrow we can say: “Okay, stop. Don’t touch me this month, I left.” We don't sit in offices. Because of this, the child is absolutely not a story that pulls the ground out from under your feet. Independence and freedom are the main reward for creativity.

Now you are both excited.

Yu.: Of course, I already dream every day that I am giving birth. I thought I was crazy, but the doctors confirmed my mental stability with a smile and said that it was very good sign. It’s impossible to remain completely pragmatic, both in dreams and in life, my thoughts are now mainly occupied only with preparing for this incredibly happy event.

You talk about it and beam. And Lyosha, although wearing dark glasses, too. Keep shining, dear ones!

Thanks a lot!

Photo: Dimitry Fainstein. Style: Konstantin Koshkin. Makeup: Alina Starkova. Hair: Kristina Konstantinova. Producer: Anna Chernavskikh