The trip to Indian Goa turned out to be fateful.
Mikhail Efremov's ex-wife passed away at the age of 55 in Moscow. Ksenia Kachalina, despite a successful start to her film career, abruptly left the profession, became addicted to alcohol, and even gave her young daughter to Efremov. The actress, by some terrible twist of fate, died ten months after the death of Efremov's third wife, Evgenia Dobrovolskaya.
Once, Ksenia Kachalina was a regular at social parties, and Europe applauded her. At the age of 20, she burst onto the film scene rapidly and brightly. The beautiful and talented actress became recognizable after her leading role in the drama "Wild Love." The film "Above the Dark Water" earned her an award for Best Actress at a film festival in Italy. She last appeared on screen in 2007 in the film "The Price of Madness," where she played the lead role. Since then, she had not acted.
She mourned for a short time. She quickly married musician Alexey Paperney, but after five years of marriage, the couple divorced. Kachalina, while pregnant, left the musician for Mikhail Efremov, whom she met during the filming of the movie "Romanovs: The Royal Family."
The actor was so enchanted by Ksenia that he was determined to raise her child from another man and even announced that the actress was pregnant with him. But the newborn daughter lived only a few days. In 2000, the actress became pregnant by Efremov and gave birth to a daughter, Anna Maria. After the child was born, their relationship began to deteriorate rapidly. In 2004, the couple divorced.
Ksenia went to Goa with her daughter, where she spent a couple of years. There, she became addicted to alcohol and drugs. Upon returning to Moscow, the woman lived as a recluse with her cats in an elite building on Bryusov Lane. Directors did not offer her roles. Her apartment was in chaos: scattered belongings, torn wallpaper, piles of garbage, and empty bottles of alcoholic beverages. The only place in the apartment that was not neglected was Anna Maria's room. As the actress admitted, she missed her daughter terribly.
The former screen star drank heavily. "Perhaps for good health, I need one bottle a day," Ksenia said. Neighbors kept their distance from her. The actress wandered the city at night with a plastic parrot on her shoulder. She was rarely seen sober.
Efremov supported both his daughter and ex-wife. Later, the actor was forced to take their common daughter from his fourth wife in exchange for support and established sole custody over the heiress.
Ksenia continued to spiral downward. Due to her alcohol addiction, her daughter did not communicate with her mother. "She smells of alcohol halfway down the street... Mother is slowly fading away. Her mind is fading. My memory of her is fading too. Except for the nightmares. The nightmares sing brightly, like never before. Honestly, I constantly forget her face. When I fade away too - in mind or body - let flowers bloom on my body where she left me bruises and scratches," she confessed.
Anna Maria noted that her mother beat her and threatened her with a knife in childhood. "Mother, lying in depression for eight days, when I say there is no food at home... My mother beat me extremely hard. I sat in the closet and prayed," said Kachalina and Efremov's daughter.
Actor Vladimir Konkin is convinced that one of the reasons for the tragedy that befell the actress was her separation from Efremov: "A tragedy occurred in Ksyusha's life... She was left alone. She lost both her director and her beloved husband. So much was left unfulfilled... It seems to me that Ksenia was overwhelmed by this love."
But Kachalina herself did not want another life. "I can quite call myself a recluse. In the city center, I love to smoke cigarettes or hang out in cafes. With cats, books, or alone. An intelligent person is never bored alone with themselves. Moscow was such a gloomy city, and now it resembles Paris more. I have such time gaps... I live wonderfully and, most importantly, very quietly," said the star of the film "Wild Love."
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