Scandals of Vladimir Kuzmin: Affairs with Pugacheva and Sotnikova, Return to His Wife After Infidelity, and Missing His Brother’s Funeral

The singer has been married several times, but his number of romantic relationships far exceeds that. Kuzmin even managed to charm the Prima Donna of Soviet pop music. The entire country closely followed the development of the romance between Vladimir Kuzmin and Alla Pugacheva.

Born in Moscow to a naval officer and an English teacher, Vladimir Kuzmin spent his childhood in the Murmansk region due to his father’s service. Later, his siblings Irina and Alexander were born, with Alexander also pursuing a career in music.

At the age of five, Vladimir developed an interest in playing the guitar, and by sixth grade, he had formed his first rock band. After two years at a railway university, he transitioned to a music college, finding true happiness in creativity.

By the late 1970s, Kuzmin was performing with the VIA groups “Nadezhda” and “Samotsvety,” before co-founding the band “Carnaval” with Alexander Barykin. He later formed “Dinamik,” establishing himself as a solo artist. However, it was his fateful meeting with Alla Pugacheva that propelled him to widespread fame. On May 31, the singer celebrates his 70th birthday, and we reflect on his achievements and the tragedies he has faced in recent years.([Wikipedia][2])

 Two Stars

In the early 1980s, Soviet media proclaimed that there were only two stars in the music scene—Pugacheva and Kuzmin. Intrigued, Pugacheva attended one of Kuzmin’s concerts, where she was captivated by his talent and charisma. Their relationship blossomed both professionally and personally.

According to Kuzmin, their passion was short-lived, and they parted ways after a year. Nonetheless, he remained grateful to Alla Borisovna for the time they shared, which brought immense popularity to him and his band.

“We had a creative partnership, a brief romance, nothing more. When we were together, I wrote songs for her, and she performed them with gratitude, calling them good and talented works. But… I didn’t want to be in Pugacheva’s shadow. I’m a rocker, and with her, I had to become a pop artist. I realized I was degrading as a musician. I’m a free bird. But with Alla, there were rules. And what rules can there be for a rocker?”

The downside of their relationship was the discomfort associated with being labeled “Pugacheva’s favorite.” Kuzmin shared that fans of Alla Borisovna would flood his concerts, expecting to hear their joint hits. He often had to announce that songs like “Two Stars” and “My Love” wouldn’t be performed. His apartment entrance was constantly crowded with fans, and his phone rang incessantly.

Romances and Marriages

Kuzmin’s first wife, Tatyana Artemyeva, spent 13 years with the artist. A poetess, she authored several of his songs and bore him three children. Tragically, two of them met untimely deaths: in 2002, 25-year-old Elizaveta was fatally stabbed by a lover, and in 2009, 26-year-old Stepan fell from the 18th floor while trying to escape a fire. Only their youngest daughter, Sonya, survives and maintains a close bond with her father.

Tatyana admitted that their marriage ended due to infidelity. She accused Kuzmin of frequent lies and claimed their union dissolved because of Alla Pugacheva. Regardless, the family broke apart in 1985, and over the next two years, Kuzmin fathered two daughters, Marta and Nicole, from relationships with fans.

In the late 1980s, the artist met and soon married American model Kelly Curzon. The love-struck young woman packed her bags and moved to Russia to be with Kuzmin. In 1991, the musician sent his wife to California with all the money and valuables he had earned, hoping to reunite with her after his tour. However, the American dream never came true — Kelly filed for divorce, leaving him heartbroken. Rumor had it that during this difficult period, Alla Pugacheva was there to support him.

After the divorce from his American wife, a new and very strong love awaited the artist. He and Vera Sotnikova never officially married, although they lived together for seven years, from 1993 to 2000. “Just two days later, he was already living in my apartment,” the actress recalled. “As soon as I met him, I realized I was responsible for this genius. I did everything I could — I became his wife, sister, music video director, manager, makeup artist, and costume designer. I was everything to him.”

The stars turned out to be too different, and in the early 2000s, Vera left Vladimir for Renat Davletyarov. According to another version, it was Vera who found out about the musician’s affair and ended the relationship.

Kuzmin met Katya Trofimova from Yelabuga in 2000 on a beach in Anapa. Neither the fact that she was vacationing with her parents nor their 27-year age gap stood in the way of their relationship. The musician invited Katya’s family to a concert, after which he brought her to the capital. A year later, the couple got married, and those around them spoke of their harmony until 2018.

Katya seemed like the perfect wife — she got along wonderfully with the singer’s grown daughters: Sonya from his first marriage, Marta from a relationship with Irina, and Nicole from a fan, the mulatto Tatiana Muingo. Ekaterina united the children and brought them close to their father. So why did news of their divorce break 17 years later?

Soon, Kaliningrad native Svetlana Karpukhina entered the musician’s life — she was 36 years younger than him and was blamed for the collapse of his marriage. Although rumors of a new wedding circulated, the romance quickly fizzled out, and in 2019, Vladimir announced he was returning to Katya. We can only hope it’s for good.

Dark Secrets

A few years ago, rumors spread that the artist was seriously ill. A man named Alexey shared online that he had run into the musician outside a radiation therapy office and offered words of support, believing they shared the same illness. The singer’s brother quickly refuted this claim.

“He’s in great health. He gets checked every year. He’s doing perfectly fine despite heavy physical loads — 20 concerts a month plus a young wife. God bless him with that kind of health. All this talk about cancer and alcoholism is nonsense.”

— Alexander Kuzmin

Later, Alla Pugacheva let slip that her friend and colleague was suffering from a brain vascular disease, but Kuzmin continued to insist he was perfectly healthy. In 2024, new gossip emerged — after a concert in Ufa, some suspected the artist was either feeling unwell or intoxicated, but his representative denied the accusations.

Fans were far more distressed over Alexander Kuzmin. In 2021, it came to light that he had developed a severe alcohol addiction, which caused him to lose contact with four out of his five children — and to distance himself from his brother. His wife Natalia brought their family conflict into the public eye, adding to the artist’s stress.

In 2024, Alexander was diagnosed with diabetes and was advised to stop drinking. Later, on the talk show Live Broadcast, Natalia admitted to platonic feelings for her stepson Vasily — afterward, the musician removed his heir from the will. It seemed the scandal would die down, but on March 24, 2025, Vladimir Kuzmin’s brother passed away from cardiac arrest.

Vladimir Kuzmin fully paid for his brother’s funeral but did not attend the ceremony — according to his niece, due to not wanting to deal with the press and the weight of grief. “Why wasn’t Vladimir Kuzmin at my father’s funeral? Because he knew there would be many reporters invited by Natalia. There’s the personal — and then there’s… When you’re mourning, answering intrusive questions is too much. I know he was deeply heartbroken and cried his eyes out,” said Alexander’s daughter Suzanne on Live Broadcast.