Sukhankina spoke about the new family member, relationships with her loved one and weight loss surgery

— Margarita, first I would like to clarify an important question. There are rumors in show business that you have a new addition to your family? I can’t help but ask about such an important event…

– Yes, we just got a little puppy at home. You could say it’s like a small child who can’t be left with friends. This dog was thrown away, we picked him up. He turned out to be quite mobile in character.

– What was your name?

— I named Major precisely because he is so major, cheerful, positive, madly in love. Major, or Zhorik for short. He is such an energizer who spins and does not calm down at all, only going to bed to recharge. Then everyone wipes the sweat from their foreheads and says: “Ugh, we can take a break” (smiles). But then, however, he jumps up again – and away we go.

— How many animals do you have now?

— I have three cats and an old cat. I myself am Margarita, and all my animals are “M”: Mark, red as a carrot, Marcel, Max (from Maxim) and old Marusenka, I got from my mother. All animals are handpicked. The dog is from a hunting breed. While he is five months old, from time to time he has some squabbles with other pets, but it’s all in a playful manner. He wants to play with them, he’s small, but they don’t always want to play, they shush him. But we quickly come to the rescue, and everyone runs away.

– And, of course, I can’t help but talk about your wonderful children. What’s new with them?

– The children are studying, they are already grown up – they are 14 and 15 years old, they will graduate from school this school year. Of course, now they are thinking about what to do next. After ninth grade, Seryozha will go to college. Lera will still go to school. She is practically an excellent student.

— What are young people interested in?

“Both Seryozha and Lera have been going to play in small towns for six years now, they have a lot of medals and certificates. Lera is especially good at it because she is left-handed, and it turns out that you can break very complex pieces with your left hand. Leroux is often invited to help the team win. And so it turns out: she, in general, brings the team to first place.

So Seryozha and Leroy are constantly skating for competitions; almost all weekends they go to championships, competitions, and tournaments. They even go on sports tours.

—Have they tried to sing like their mother?

“They studied music, but quickly realized that singing was not their profile. They go to different discos, take part in school events, but music is not their thing. So the focus now is on sports.

— I heard that my son had problems at school, almost some kind of criminal history…

– Yes, they had one guy with inappropriate behavior studying with them. He was holding some sharp object in his pocket and cut Seryozha in the neck. I hit some kind of artery, everyone, of course, was terribly scared. A bunch of police arrived. It turned out that the attacker had had problems before; he had broken someone’s nose. But in the end this guy was expelled from school.

— Has this happened again?

– No, and besides, I monitor the situation all the time, constantly in touch with the teachers. Children come home from school and tell us how they are doing and what happened during the day. Moreover, teachers constantly write me messages about the behavior of the children, who was late, who behaved badly. Therefore, all of us, parents, are aware of what is happening: the child has not yet reached home, and we are already meeting their hands on their hips. At first the children blinked their eyes and didn’t understand how we knew everything (laughs). Now they are going through a difficult period – puberty, their formation is underway. That’s why we talk to them a lot. And about drugs, and about alcohol, and about behavior with strangers.

— So, your children are athletes, and is there some kind of sport in your life?

— And I do sports on stage, I move so much during performances that this is my fitness. Although I had a period when I went to a sports club – swimming pools, saunas, in general, I led such a healthy lifestyle. But then it all somehow went away, and all that remained was sports on stage. As they say, I’m in good shape, I have no time to lie on the couch. I also walk a lot. Sometimes I travel from the Moscow region, park my car somewhere near the metro and travel by public transport, walking along the streets. Just now I walked around the center of Moscow, everything is so beautifully decorated – it’s a pleasure.

On weekends, my family and I often go for a walk in the forest. Our new pet really likes the snow, although we were afraid how he would survive the frost: after all, he is smooth-haired. I bought him a bunch of clothes, but he doesn’t need anything – he runs around, bathes in the snow and just has a blast. Well, together with him we enjoy this amount of snow and the fact that the real Russian winter has finally arrived. It’s very beautiful and very cool.

— Margarita, we all know that you have a soulmate. As I understand it, you have decided not to sign for now?

– Not yet. I’m a superstitious person, I’ve had a certain number of marriages, so I’m afraid: now you put a stamp, and again something will go wrong. Come on! We live and live. It will probably happen someday. But we have been together for six years now, I hope it will last for a long time. I’m happy with everything. The person who is nearby remains interesting to me, I feel comfortable and cozy with him. What else does a woman need?

– He is a military man, as far as I know?

– Former military…

— They say that former military men are unpretentious in everyday life…

– Yes, that’s for sure! And they can do everything themselves. If I go on tour, he cooks soups like these! I always had an A in soups, as the heroine Rumyantseva said in one film, but then I understand that he does it better. He also washes and cleans well, in general, he is a self-sufficient person. Accustomed to providing and serving himself.

— Did he immediately find a common language with the children?

– Almost yes. Because children have always dreamed of a dad. Especially the son, because boys need a father. They now decide purely male issues themselves, without me. They go into another room and explain themselves.

Well, I resolve some purely feminine issues alone with Lera. Because now she is growing up, and there are some points that a girl needs to know. And she and I talk openly about everything.

— Have your daughter already got suitors?

“The boys are interested in her, but she herself still has other interests.” There was a moment when Lera fell in love with one teacher at school. But this is such a childish, platonic love – the teacher himself was married, so, of course, there was no talk of any reciprocity.

And Seryozha actually told me: “Mom, why do I need any girls, I’d rather live with you!” Of course, all this will come to them, but later, while all their thoughts are about studying.

— Not long ago there was a trial regarding the performance of songs by the group “Mirage”. It seems that you are not allowed to perform them. What’s the story, tell me!

“I definitely won’t tell you anything, because I don’t do this.” I sing songs, go on stage and I can only say one thing: as they say, you can’t erase the words from a song. Songs consist of music and words. And the composer cannot unanimously prohibit something, because there is also the author of the words, the legendary Valera Sokolov, who has been my closest friend since the first day of our communication and who has not forbidden me anything. Therefore, the lyrics are in the song, and I have the right to sing them. As for music, everything is not easy. Because our composer managed to sell music to a certain number of people, very difficult ones, who paid millions for the right to use it in one context or another, and now, through some incomprehensible documents, he is trying to impose bans. Although at one time he signed papers that I was the only one who had the right to perform his songs. And I would also like to emphasize that the lawsuits are now going on not against me, but against the program where the songs were performed. So all the questions are not for me.

But, it seems to me, the composer was seriously hurt by the story of the fact that I was awarded the title of Honored Artist. He never expected that I would be a “man in law”, whom the whole country recognized and appreciated; I receive a huge number of letters with words of support. The third generation of people is growing up listening to my voice! And in general, the whole story of “Mirage” began with my voice. So now to start figuring out who can perform and who can’t, and even prohibiting something from being performed is simply unrealistic. The songs are performed everywhere by me, and “Mirage” is associated only with the voice of Margarita Sukhankina.

— And, of course, I can’t help but talk about beauty. Many people know about your story of phenomenal weight loss through surgery. Why did you even decide to do this?

— Because a period came when it became clear that diets were not working. Yes, in your youth you could sit on bread and water, do procedures and lose weight. And after 40–45 years, everything becomes more complicated. I began to gain weight sharply and realized that I couldn’t do anything about it. I had to resort to radical methods. Sasha Morozov (artist of the program “Crooked Mirror.” – Author), my beloved friend, helped me. I remember we met at one program, then at another. I see he is getting more and more beautiful. I ask: “Sanya, what’s wrong with you?” That’s when he told me about the stomach surgery.

And when I already had 30 kilograms of excess weight and I realized that I couldn’t tie my shoelaces, I looked bad and generally had a lot of problems, I called Sashka. He took me by the hand and took me to the doctors.

— Do you often go to cosmetologists and other specialists?

– I’ll go, of course. I won’t say what I cut or trimmed myself there, but I’ll tell you about cosmetologists. Yes, of course, I do beauty injections: Botox, fillers, etc. I have had the same cosmetologist for many, many years; we always consult on what is best to do, what new procedures have appeared. It seems to me that now all artists take good care of themselves. And not only artists, but all women in general. And men, by the way, too. Sometimes in a beauty clinic there are more men walking along the corridors than women. They also inject something into themselves, pierce them. This is a normal phenomenon, no one wants to get wrinkles. If there are drugs that help you visually look younger, why not take advantage of it?

Another thing is that you need to know moderation in everything. Because sometimes there are such faces that it becomes scary. And this does not always depend on the doctor; some specific medications are simply not suitable.

– Well, it’s not easy with doctors. Now the scandal with Khaidarov continues, who, as they say, has “ruined” the breasts of many…

– I’m following this story. I can only say one thing: I know for sure that I will never insert breast implants. After all, how many girls suffered because of this. Well, breasts don’t always take root; the body doesn’t want to accept implants. So you need to think five hundred times before redoing your breasts. But this is health, and sometimes there is no turning back!