- Zarema Salikhova: general information
- Zarema Salikhova biography
- Where was the girl born and raised?
- Education
- Career and social activities
- Zarema’s hobbies and hobbies
- Personal life of Zarema Salikhova
- Social networks
- Interesting Facts
- Zarema Salikhova interview
- About acquaintance with Leonid Fedun
- About relations with Fedun
- About Fedun’s ex-wife Marina
- About modeling past
- About his shooting for Playboy
- About rumors about working as an escort
- About raising children from Leonid Fedun
- On leaving the board of directors of Spartak
- Photo
Zarema Salikhova: general information
- Full name: Zarema Salikhova
- Date of Birth: September 13, 1986
- Place of birth: Ufa, USSR
- Height: 175 cm
- Weight: –
- Short biography: Zarema Salikhova is an oriental beauty who became one of the most influential people in Russian football and the mother of three youngest children of billionaire Leonid Fedun. There are a lot of white spots in the biography of the native of the Urals, but the businesswoman, who in her youth participated in a candid photo shoot for Playboy, shocks interviewers with her deep football knowledge.
- Education: After graduating from school, Salikhova became a student at the Ufa branch of Moscow University. The girl chose the Faculty of Economics, specialty “Accounting and Audit”.
Zarema Salikhova biography
There are many white spots in the biography of Zarema Salikhova, the second wife of Leonid Fedun. It is not known for certain whether she is the legal or civil wife of the media mogul. Since 2020, Zarema has been officially in charge of the Spartak for Children charity foundation, and she is secretly called the “grey eminence” of the football club. In May 2021, Leonid Arnoldovich introduced his wife to the board of directors of Spartak, now she leads the audit and remuneration committee.
There is no exact data on the nationality of the girl. It is known that her surname comes from the name of the prophet Salih. Bashkirs predominate among other famous namesakes.
Where was the girl born and raised?
Model and businesswoman Zarema Salikhova was born on August 13, 1986 in Ufa (Republic of Bashkortostan). Artistic and graceful, according to her parents, at the age of 3 she told them that she would become the winner of a beauty contest and a model.
Having grown older, the girl changed her point of view. She dreamed of holding a leadership position, wanted to organize beauty contests.
Education
After graduating from school, Salikhova became a student at the Ufa branch of Moscow University. The girl chose the Faculty of Economics, specialty “Accounting and Audit”.
Career and social activities
In 2005, Zarema won her first victory in the Miss Russian Radio, Ufa beauty contest. Although the girl was not tall (only 175 cm), Salikhova was able to charm the jury members. In the final of the competition, which was held in Moscow, she did not win, but was able to enter the top 10. Zarema was awarded the Miss Smile prize. Representatives of the press suggest that Salikhova and Leonid Fedun met at this competition. There are no documentary facts confirming this version.
The following year, the model took part in the Beauty of Russia contest. 18 of the 20 jury members voted to award Zarema the victory. One of the influential leaders was going to patronize another contestant, a serious dispute broke out between the judges. As a result, the victory was awarded to Salikhova. After that, the girl changed her mind about becoming a model.
In 2010, Zarema posed for the men’s glossy magazine Playboy. In several photos, the girl appeared before readers in a bathing suit, in the rest nothing hid the natural beauty of the Ufa woman.
She began to appear in public places in the company of Leonid Fedun Salikhov in 2018. After the first joint appearance, journalists unearthed that the former winner of beauty contests is actively involved in shaping the policy of the Spartak club.
Zarema’s hobbies and hobbies
Salikhova is an ardent fan of football. She not only accompanies her husband to matches. Starting from 2019, under the leadership of Zarema in the Moscow “Spartak” there were castlings of personnel. After her audit, it turned out that the former CEO misused the allocated funds. In addition, the transfer prices of the players turned out to be too high.
Salikhova expressed dissatisfaction with the previous actions of the Spartak administration, which acquired Gus Thiel for 16 million. Fedun’s wife said that he was a good player, but not adapted to Russian football, not adapted to Moscow. For Zarema, his purchase was a negative surprise.
After the dismissal of Thomas Zorn, Shamil Gazizov (according to unconfirmed reports, a distant relative of Zarema) was appointed to the post of CEO. In August 2019, Salikhova forced Fedun to buy football player Larsson. The wife of the media mogul herself shared this news with the press. The last argument in favor of his purchase was Zarema’s statement to her husband that she would not accept any gifts from him if the Swede did not play for Spartak.
Personal life of Zarema Salikhova
Journalists failed to establish whether Salikhova and Fedun were officially married, but he himself calls Zarema his wife. The wife is 30 years younger than her chosen one. They first appeared together in public in 2018, the love relationship between the former Playboy star and the owner of FC Spartak was discussed in 2019
Together with Marina, who gave birth to Fedun’s son Anton and daughter Ekaterina (as of September 2020 they were 35 and 32 years old, respectively), Leonid Arnoldovich has not been published since 2017
Omnipresent fans reported that Fedun and Salikhova have 3 common children: two sons and a daughter. Given that the eldest child of the couple turned 10 in 2021, Leonid Arnoldovich and Zarema were in a relationship even before his separation from his first wife.
The billionaire himself, in an interview for 2020, when the press discussed personnel changes at Spartak, asked the journalists to leave his wife (Zarema) alone. He mentioned that she had no time to look up the mountain, since Salikhova was raising four children.
Social networks
Zarema Salikhova does not have social media accounts. Once upon a time, she had a page on the VK social network, but the ex-model did not update the information for many years. Much to the dismay of fans, Fedun’s wife does not have an Instagram profile where one could track news from her personal life.
The only application in which Zarema Salikhova is registered is Twitter. But most users are sure: the page is fake.
Interesting Facts
- From an interview with Shamil Gazizov for Russia 24 about the influence of a young woman on what is happening in Spartak: “Why do you ask others about this? First of all, it is worth asking Leonid Arnoldovich himself on this topic. Well done CEO, skillfully ignored a dangerous topic.
- She made a wish as a little girl to become a model, and the dream came true. They say that Zarema also made one wish – to move to live in Paris. This dream came true, but there was a geolocation mistake (not at all unfortunate!): Mrs. Salikhova lives in London between visits to Russia.
- From time to time there are rumors that the Twitter account “zaremasalihova” is fake. Twitter post August 5, 2020: “Funny! Who maintains this account? Only one person knows for sure – me. I received a call allegedly on behalf of Leonid Arnoldovich and demanded to delete my account. Do you know what she answered? “Go (hereinafter, the direction is purely in Russian)!”
Zarema Salikhova interview
Zarema Salikhova about relations with Lukoil vice-president Leonid Fedun, children and her modeling past
In June 2021, Ksenia Sobchak’s YouTube channel released the next episode of the show “Beware of Sobchak!”, The main character of which was the 34-year-old former model Zarema Salikhova, the beloved of the 65-year-old vice president of Lukoil and the owner of the football club “Spartak”. In this conversation, Zarema, who is famous in the sports world for the one who rules the country’s main football club, spoke about the beginning of an affair with Fedun, raising their four children, her work on the board of directors of Spartak and her modeling past. Spletnik collected the most interesting quotes from Salikhova in a new article.
About acquaintance with Leonid Fedun
We met in Croatia in 2005. I was 18 years old, and I didn’t know who Fedun was (Leonid at that time was about 48 years old. – Note ed.). It was June, and the weather was atypical for Croatia: only six degrees, and snow fell at night. The girls were preparing for the competition (we are talking about the Miss Russian Radio contest, in which Salikhova participated. – Approx. ed.) in Croatia, and not in Moscow, and he played tennis there. There were a lot of girls, and everyone froze because no one had clothes that were designed for snow in June. We were walking around Dubrovnik, and he drove everyone into the store. He said: “Buy clothes. Whoever takes away how much – I pay for everything. “Everyone ran and began to collect beads, swimsuits, everything. And I stood at the entrance and thought:” This is a circus. “What am I, will I run into the crowd, or what? warm clothes, I’m prudent. He asked me why I don’t go to the store with everyone. Then he went himself and found some pink tracksuit three sizes too big for me. He said: “Here, get dressed, you will freeze!” There were no dates, it was just Fedun, he gave me a suit, and I left with this suit.Then I lived and studied safely.
Then we met at the Golden Gramophone. We met in the wardrobe: he stepped on the long train of my black dress and tore it. I turn around, and he says: “Damn, you again?”. Well, he didn’t ask me for any phones. Then he just called and offered to meet. But I didn’t go because I had a session, exams. Then we still called each other for six months.
About relations with Fedun
I knew that he was married, so I didn’t run away right away. I told him: “What can you give me? You are 30 years older than me, you have a wife, children.” He replied: “Money.” I said that I was not interested. I lived in Ufa and could date younger men. Yes, I would not have a private jet and a super expensive hotel in the Maldives. I let him know that family is important to me. Since childhood, I wanted many children, because I was alone in the family, I had my own guidelines. He asked to wait. I asked how long to wait, he told me. I asked if it was true. He said, “Yes, exactly.”
About Fedun’s ex-wife Marina
There is actually some complicated story. He thinks he is divorced from her. However, legally it is connected with rather large assets. We are not officially married. He told me: “If you want a wedding – make boobs!”. I said no”. In the end, I didn’t do it.
About modeling past
I went into the modeling field for only one reason – I had a terrible jumping gait, because from childhood I played only with boys and did not even know how to move like girls. When I was 16 years old, there was a casting at the school where girls were selected, as scouts usually do on the streets. I then lived in Ulyanovsk, and I came across a scout who selected Natasha Vodianova. He even brought me to Moscow, went with me to the Tretyakov Gallery, and then offered to fly to Japan, but I refused because I chose to study. But I soberly assess that I was not tall enough. If you really become a model, then the level of Victoria’s Secret, but just for a photo it was not interesting to me. But I corrected my gait.
About his shooting for Playboy
Playboy was a challenge because I didn’t need it at all. I have a school with a medal, the first university, I myself entered MGIMO at the same time. Shooting in such a photo shoot is absolutely not in my character. Again, we can say that he (Fedun. – Approx. ed.) Was to blame for this and pushed for this. He had a lot of fans before me, so to speak. Once he showed me his ex-girlfriend in Penguin magazine and began to admire her. It was some kind of infernal silicone, plastic of the early 2000s, not a centimeter of a living body. I understand that a person spent a third of his life under anesthesia. And he tells me how beautiful she is: “She has beautiful boobs, not like yours!” And it offended me so much. I thought: “Well, I’m Miss Bashkortostan, and you tell me that I have something ugly.”
Then I sent my decent photos to Playboy myself. I was invited to shoot, paid a thousand dollars. I come and put the photo on his table. He asks what it is, and I answer that I was paid: “I starred in Playboy. You paid your woman for a photo shoot in your magazines, and they paid me.” He tensed, and then calmed down. The magazine came out two months later, and he was in shock. We didn’t have children then, but he said: “I’ll show the children what kind of mother they have.” And I say: “Why are you admiring someone in front of me?” Therefore, for this shooting, he never rots me. If he had not shown me this Penguin magazine, I would never have gone there in my life.
About rumors about working as an escort
In fact, this is absolute nonsense. It seems to me that any pretty girl in our country will definitely be tied up somewhere. Firstly, escorts and prostitutes have a certain appearance, behavior, manners. And if you look at my character, do you really think that I can adapt to someone?
About raising children from Leonid Fedun
In the upbringing of my first son Leo, I constantly showed overprotection. Then I moved away, he had a tutor. Now he walks in karate and walks more not with nannies, but with security guards. We only have nannies for two small children.
Children sometimes get upset when their peers tell them: “Here, we flew on a big plane.” And we only have a small one – it happens. They never flew on a regular plane. However, our grandmother takes them to the subway, they love to ride in it. On trolleybuses, buses.
But I think that children need to be spoken to differently, and upbringing does not particularly depend on this. I always create difficulties for them, especially for my daughter. Since childhood, I have been explaining to her that she is beautiful, smart, but also rich, so it will be hard for her in life. I explain that she will always be told that she was helped somewhere, somewhere she did not enter herself.
On leaving the board of directors of Spartak
I joined the board of directors back in January, but this is a kind of formality, which actually does not give anything. What is a board of directors? These are Leonid Arnoldovich, Yusuf Alekperov and Leonid’s brother. In fact, this is such a family business, and disagreements are possible there, as in any family. There used to be other people who were there for years, and they were of no use. And most importantly, they did not bear any responsibility. At some point, everything got to me, and I said: “Why is only Fedun always to blame?” I suggested personalizing the responsibility, because he’s not alone there. Even if he makes a mistake somewhere, he bears financial responsibility for it.
I disagreed with the official procedures. I asked to see at least three candidates for the post of head coach of Spartak since December. I didn’t need this long wishlist with coaches who will never join us. I needed a list thanks to which, if the first coach refused, you could immediately call the second one, and he would arrive tomorrow. I needed a list of working options. I didn’t receive it. And, it turns out, I betray my own concepts and principles when I demand fulfillment from everyone, but we ourselves, it turns out, do nothing. Therefore, I believe that my departure was logical.