Who is Oksana Grigorieva?
Oksana Petrovna Grigorieva is a pianist and singer-songwriter, who besides being known for her talent, came into the spotlight after it was revealed that she is the new girlfriend of the famous actor and director, Mel Gibson.
Mel Gibson is someone who doesn’t need to be specifically introduced, however, let’s just say that people know him for his versatile acting in mostly action movies. He began dating Oksana a year after his wife Robyn Denise Moore, with whom he was in 26-years long marriage, filed for divorce.
If you ever wanted to know more about the girl who stole his heart, you are in the right place. Let us tell you the naked truth about Oksana’s life, career, affairs, and controversies related to her name.
Early life, family, and education
Oksana was born Petrovna Chernukha on 23 February 1970, in Saransk, Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, and her nationality is Russian. She was raised by her parents, both professors, in Ukraine and then Russia when she was 15 years old, moving to Moscow, where she learn to play piano at the prestigious university. She completed her studies at the conservatory in Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, USSR.
Oksana subsequently moved to London, England, where she continued her studies at the Royal College of Music. To provide for herself, she worked as a model using the pseudonym Sasha Chernukha before she changed her name to Oksana Grigorieva.
After a few years in London, Oksana moved to the US, and lived in Los Angeles, California, and New York City, working as a music teacher for children, concurrently writing and composing music.
Music career
In 2006, Oksana gained attention for her work as a songwriter, for the song “Un Dia Ilegara” (in English: A Day Will Come) which was performed by Josh Groban.
Three years later, she released her debut album “Beautiful Heartache”, which was critically acclaimed. The song “Say My Name” which was co-written with Mel Gibson, was featured in the movie “Edge of Darkness”.
In 2012, Oksana announced that she was making a detour into dance and hip-hop music, and in the following year, she released her first album “Love to Dance”, which had little success.
Love life and relationships
Before her relationship with Mel Gibson, Oksana was married twice. Her first husband was Russian lawyer Igor Baranov – they married in 1989, but the marriage lasted only three months.
In 1992, she married British artist Nicholas Rowland, and this love story ended in 1994.
In 1995, she met British actor Timothy Dalton, known for his role as Heathcliff in the 1970 re-make of “Wuthering Heights“. The two met while Oksana was working as a translator for Russian filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov. They began dating soon afterwards, and in August 1997 welcomed their son, Alexander. Although they seemed a happy couple, they separated in 2003.
Mel Gibson Affairs
Oksana and Mel Gibson were romantically linked since 2007, and despite their efforts to keep their relationship secret, eventually, they confirmed that they are dating. They made their public debut appearance on 28 April 2009 attending the premiere of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine“, in Los Angeles.
On 30 October 2009, Oksana gave birth to their daughter, Lucia.
In April 2010, Oksana and Mel separated, and then, in June of that same year, she obtained a restraining order against him. Allegedly, the actor had physically assaulted her, and so he was barred from coming near her and their daughter. Allegedly, the incident happened on 6 January 2010; Oksana claimed that she thought that Mel would kill her.
In the following month, after detectives spoke to Oksana, Mel Gibson was identified as a possible suspect in a domestic violence investigation. Eventually, photos featuring Oksana with broken front teeth leaked onto the internet, taken a day after Mel allegedly hit her.
In the court documents, there is a statement that Mel gave saying that he admits slapping her, but it was with an open hand, and it was not a hard slap. He said that Oksana took their, at that time, two-month-old baby from her crib and hysterically shook her, so to snap her out of her condition at that moment, Mel slapped Oksana.
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The two were also involved in a child custody battle; there were some tapes that contained items which would not benefit Mel Gibson, so he offered $15 million as a part of the settlement, which Oksana refused. In May 2011, Oksana dropped claims against Mel, and the final settlement was that he had to pay her $750,000 and that she gets a house in Sherman Oaks, California, while they have joint legal custody of their daughter.
Oksana is allowed to live in the house until Lucia turns 18, and then, the house will be sold and the money goes to Lucia’s trust fund. Since Oksana spoke publicly about the case on the Howard Stern Radio Show, the judge ruled that she had violated a confidentiality clause, so she lost more than half of her award – Mel Gibson was ordered to pay her just $250,000.
Net worth
In the following years, Oksana had financial problems and had to deal with the bankruptcy court. She filled Chapter 13 Bankruptcy (so-called a wage earner’s plan) in 2014.
Oksana had massive credit card debt and owed a large amount of money to lawyers. According to reports, at that time, Oksana had $10 cash and $7,500 in her bank account. Her assets were a piano worth $5,000, jewelry ($2,000), furniture ($8,000), and interest in Red Piano Music Company, totaling around $50,000, while her debts were over $450,000. She claimed that she could only pay $372 per month towards debts.
In 2019, she finally get on her feet financially, and her Chapter 13 bankruptcy was closed – as of September 2022, her net worth has been estimated at $100,000. Oksana receives $20,000 per month in child support for Lucia, while for her and Timothy Dalton’s son she has $2,500 monthly child support.
