Russian-American businesswoman, art enthusiast, philanthropist, and socialite Dasha Zhukov was born into wealth and has spent the past 4 decades doing everything she can to maintain it… including marrying (and divorcing) the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, and most recently, saying “yes” to Greek shipping heir, Stavros Niarchos’, proposal. That’s not to say she’s sacrificed her professional career for her personal one- as well as co-founding the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art and Garage Magazine, she’s found useful employment as the editor-in-chief of Pop magazine, as the creative director of New Holland Island, and even as the co-founder of a clothing line. To find out more, here are 10 fast facts about the soon-to-be Mrs. Niarchos.
1. She moved to the US in 1991
Dasha was born in Moscow, Russia, in June 1981, to parents Alexander Zhukov, an oil trader, and Yelena Zhukova, a molecular biologist. After her parents separated when she was 3 years old, Dasha was raised by her mother, who, in 1991, decided to uproot the family and move to the US. Although they initially settled in Houston, they would shortly move again, this time to Los Angles, California, where Yelena found work as a professor at UCLA. After passing through high school, Dasha enrolled in the University of California, Santa Barbara, graduating with honors in Slavic studies and literature.
2. Moving to the US was a culture shock
When Dasha first arrived in the US, she initially found it hard to adjust, finding it a very different world to the one she’d recently left. “It was a culture shock. I had never seen cereal before! We had cottage cheese and pancakes in Russia, not colorful circles that came in cardboard boxes,” she told the Guardian in 2009.
3. She launched her own fashion label in 2006
In 2006, Dasha teamed up with her long-time friend Kristina ‘Tina’ Tang to create the fashion label Kova. The label produced a range of items described by Vogue as “high-end denim pieces, really comfortable cotton T-shirts and a few stretchy cotton dresses”. The company was founded during the period in which Dasha was living in London, a city she moved to in 2005 and described with praise: “London is like a toy city – everything is clean, polished, taken care of,” she told Vogue. “Russians don’t even mind the weather”.
4. She met Roman Abramovich through her father
While Dasha has achieved a lot in her own right, one of the main reasons she’s won so much public attention over the past 2 decades is down to her (ultimately ill-fated) relationship with Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich. The pair first met at a New Year Party organized by Dasha’s father. Despite both being in relationships with other people at the time (Dasha was dating former Russian tennis star Marat Safin and Abramovich was still married to his second wife Irina Vyacheslavovna Malandina), the sparks flew. After Abramovich’s divorce from Malandina in 2007, their relationship became “official”.
5. .She kept her marriage secret for 6 years
After several years of dating, Dasha married Roman Abramovich in 2008. The wedding was a private affair- so private, in fact, that it wasn’t until 6 years later that it was discovered the pair had even married. The marriage was revealed by the Wall Street Journal in 2015, who let the information slip in an article about the couple’s relationship and joint ventures. While Dasha gave permission for the article to run, she declined to offer further details about the circumstances of the marriage.
6..She’s been accused of racism
In 2014, Dasha set tongues wagging when online fashion publication Buro 24/7 published a photograph of her sat in a ‘chair” designed to resemble a black mannequin. The photograph caused an uproar, with many calling Dasha out for what was perceived as an ill-judged and racist statement. Buro 24/7 responded to the criticism by cropping the chair from the photograph, while Dasha responded by telling the Evening Standard: “This photograph, which has been published completely out of context, is of an artwork intended specifically as a commentary on gender and racial politics. I utterly abhor racism, and would like to apologize to anyone who has been offended by this image.”
7. She quit Pop magazine after just three issues
In February 2009, Dasha landed the position of editor-of-chief at Pop magazine. Her appointment saw her replace Katie Grand, the co-founder of the bi-annual publication, in a decision that many saw as controversial. In an interview with The Guardian, Dasha (who had no history or experience in journalism, and had previously responded to an interviewer’s question about her favorite artists by replying she was “really bad with names”, confirmed many people’s opinion when she replied “I don’t think I have to know everything about art,” when asked if she felt qualified for the position. In the end, Dasha only managed to stay at the magazine for three editions before sensationally quitting in November 2010.
8. Garage was part-funded by Abramovich
In 2008, Dasha launched the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, a non-profit founded with the aim of advancing contemporary art and culture both in Dasha’s home country of Russia and abroad. The Garage was partly funded by Armonvich during the early years of the couple’s marriage. In 2014, the organization changed its name to Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in a bid to more closely align with Dasha’s vision of creating public access to art. “Garage was founded with an international perspective, but now we are increasingly recognized as an internationally significant organization that not only presents but also creates culture. What started as a project to provide a platform in Moscow for great contemporary art has gradually evolved into the forward-thinking contemporary museum we are today,” Dasha has said of her creation.
9. She divorced Roman in 2017
In August 2017, it was revealed that Abramovich and Dasha had spit after 10 years together. The couple, who share two children, have remained on good terms since the divorce, and have said they “remain close friends, parents and partners in the projects we developed together.”
10. She’s engaged to Stavros Niarchos
At a party to celebrate Dasha’s 38th birthday, it was announced that she and long-term boyfriend, Greek billionaire and shipping heir, Stavros Niarchos, were engaged. The pair’s relationship was first reported back in August 2018, shortly following Dasha’s divorce to Abramovich. The pair have worked to keep their relationship out of the public eye, rarely allowing photographs to appear of them together and attending public events separately. Although it’s not known whether the pair have already set the date for their nuptials, a source told Page Six: “The couple is scheduled to get married later this year,” and, “they’re still figuring out the details.”
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