First Mel Gibson.. (Yeah yeah I know he’s not married to his Russian girlfriend.. yet)
And now Mickey Rourke..
Always nice to know that some Hollywood types are understanding something many of us already know.
Well Congratulations Mr. Rourke.
I’m sure you will find great happiness with your new beautiful bride.
Rourke to Russia, with love – New York Post, Dec 8th 2009
Reformed Hollywood hell-raiser Mickey Rourke is making plans to wed Russian beauty Elena Kuletskaya in Russia this spring, sources tell Page Six.Rourke, 57, has been dating stunning blond model Kuletskaya, 24, for several months and popped the question to her over dinner last week. The star has told friends he’s planning a Moscow wedding in April.“They haven’t booked a venue or made any solid plans. He just knows he wants to do it in April, and he’s been asking what is involved in a traditional Russian wedding ceremony,” a friend of Rourke said.Kuletskaya reportedly dumped Russian pop star Dima Bilan for Rourke, whom she’s been tutoring in her native tongue for his role as Russian villain “Whiplash” in the upcoming “Iron Man 2.” She and Rourke have recently canoodled their way through New York and Europe. She was dripping in diamonds as she accompanied Rourke to pick up his GQ Man of the Year award at London’s Royal Opera House in September.In Manhattan last week, the lovebirds went puppy shopping to replace Rourke’s beloved dog, Loki, who died right before the Oscars.Rourke has already hit it off with his mother-in-law-to-be: our spies spotted him giving Elena’s mom the star treatment a while ago at The Bank at Wonderland in LA.It will be the third trip to the altar for Rourke, who cleaned up his bad-boy image and revived his career with the 2008 hit “The Wrestler.” He and actress Debra Feuer ended their eight-year marriage in 1989. Rourke later said that his role in the steamy “9½ Weeks” “was not particularly considerate to my wife’s needs.”In 1992, he wed “Wild Orchid” co-star Carre Otis. He was arrested for beating her up in 1994, but they stayed together till 1998.Rourke’s rep didn’t return our calls.(read the original article here)
Please enter your email for special updates, news & upcoming offers 
Glad to know I’m not the only twenty-something attracted to Mickey Rourke! :p He was so very charming in The Wrestler…
Congrats to them both. They look very happy!
–Anna M.
Russian women are so confident and sure of themselves. I love it.
Hey! I’m going to watch The Wrestler tonight!
She looks like a far more beautiful version of me- I have the same colouring and build.
I hope they are happy together.
Very beautiful lady indeed, even though she’s young enough to be his daughter. Even so, I wish the best for both of them.
Taras
I think it’s great that Mickey and Elena have found romance together and I wish them the very best.
To be completely honest though, there is a different reality when people like Mel and Oksana or Mickey and Elena hook up than there is for the rest of us. For anyone who is not a famous Hollywood star or world renowned fashion model life plays out in a slightly different manner. Some of us don’t have the global recognition or million dollar payrolls that these people have, nor do we have the luxury of being able to run in such a broad social circle. While these guys can afford the intercontinental dating, and of course so could their ladies, the rest of us need to plan, budget and schedule a $1,600 airfare and a couple of weeks free of obligation just to make an exploratory visit to the FSU. Subsequent journeys would only increase the strain on finances and commitments further.
The ‘success’ stories that I would be much happier seeing would be the middle aged NA factory worker, car salesman or children’s book author who somehow connects with the beautiful young FSU office worker, clothing saleswoman or school teacher and then they somehow, despite monetary struggles and other real world personal issues, are able to get together and build a loving relationship that leads to marriage and family.
I’m not knocking the idea of any NA man seeking and finding love abroad, even if it is a movie star, since that in some slight manner reinforces what we all seem to believe is common sense, but it really doesn’t validate our personal struggle at all.
Hollywood types are well known for their infinite lack of understanding what love is as evidenced by their propensity for numerous marriages and divorces. They work together on a movie and they are ‘in love’. Then they are married until the next hot co-star dazzles them, and they are ‘in love’ again. Divorce, remarry and then it’s on to the next big co-star affair. Not exactly the role models that I follow when thinking of true love.
My first true love and I still remain friends and still have some strong feelings for each other after nearly 40 years and we still frequently talk about ‘what might have been’ had we stayed together. While many factors contributed to our drift apart, lack of mutual love and respect were never among them.
Hear, hear! Celeb couples may mean well but it’s just fast-laning your relationship bringing it into the public eye.
Although 2 celebs might start out in a down to earth connection in their relationship, god-complexes brought by fame will eventually undo it.
Hollywood coupling’s main purpose (whether their conscious of it or not)is cross-promotion. He gets attention from his fame, she gets attetention
from hers. I like Raurke. Nothing against him. But if I were a celeb, I just wouldn’t be doing carpet-runs and photo-shoots with the woman I’m crazy about.
Becauseif what that girl and I have in is truely deep then fame seems unnecessary and even a hinderence. Yet, If you dont have a deep relationship, then fame may seem necessary.
Living in a televsion rooted culture, fame becomes an common ambition such as a doctor or lawyer. Ive never visited Russia, but it seems one advantage they have is they were not raised by television sets.
I admit that my first-sitter was a black and white Zenith.
I admit I don’t quite fit your template Richard, but as a 25 year old, English, up-until-recently software developer with a budget I’m having a crack at making my own success story.
In fact I’m writing this right now from an apartment in the centre of Novosibirsk, while I wait for a certain beautiful 23 year old office worker (accountant) to arrive, so we can attend her brother’s wedding today.
This is the start of my third day here, and I already feel like I’ve made two amazing friends here – the guy who’s apartment this is that I’m renting, and the girl with whom I attend the wedding today. This trip has been partly born from my own determination and partly from luck – hopefully the news will be just as good by the end of my 21 day adventure here.
Jonathan,
I am totally psyched for you, man. Not to mention a tad jealous as well.
From what I have read about Novosibirsk I would suggest a nice day at the zoo with your lovely new friend. It is one of the great zoos of the world and a real nice way to spend time with someone you would like to get to know. I’ve also noticed that even though you are in a relatively ‘new’ city, compared to the rest of the region, there are some fine places to walk and talk and enjoy each other’s company. I don’t know how the analogy would go there but Novosibirsk has been called the Chicago of Siberia because of it’s rapid industrial growth back in the 30s.
I am looking forward to hearing a lot more about your journey. After you return with all sorts of stories I might ask you about the travel arrangements and prices.
Remember that your heart and your brain work best as a team.
I stopped dating American woman for years and figured I would just stay single. Then a Russian man wondered why I was single saying I would make a good husband. I was decent looking guy, in good shape with a decent career. I had little trouble attracting local women and in my 30 something age group, I was a magnet actually. I just did not find women I was attracted to especially in the suburbs.I thought maybe I would just be single. Then he showed me Russian women. I am a complete sucker for femininity. If I had been in Russia there is no way I would have been single. That was it for me. I started contacting them and found a 26 year old beauty when I was 34. I swept her off her feet and have been married to her for 6 years. Russian women are a gift from God.
Richard,
One reason there seem to be more breakups/divorces among Hollywood couples is that we all hear about them. It may actually be the case that celebrity divorce rates are the same as or lower than the general population. We would need to see some empirical studies.
There are at least two selection biases at work here:
1) You tend to hear more about failed marriages than long-term successes among celebrities. After all, what tabloid/newspaper would write about celebrity couple X who have been married for 30 years?
2) Unless we know them or have some kind of connection with them, we tend not to know or care about the divorces of everyday people.
I’m a Black male and I’ve always liked Russian women but never had to chance to date one. I love their names, their looks, their accents and a few months ago I met a Russian woman named Anna who is totally lovely, smart and the most romantic woman I’ve ever known. I can’t stop thinking about her and hope to marry her one of these days. As another poster said, Russian women are a gift from God. That is the truth for sure
I will assume for the moment your motives and intentions are honorable, but you must be aware Russians are not at all like Americans when it comes to race relations. Russia is not a racially tolerant country, thanks to the repeated brutal, genocidal invasions and massacres her people suffered and died through. You will encounter dirty looks or hostility, and young Russian men may even attack you. Russia has suffered much at the hands of Islamic and Asian invaders, not to mention the Germans and Jews as well. There is a good bit of xenophobia and mistrust of outsiders there for good reason as well as nationalism, as in Russia for Russians. There are real cut throats there, and you especially as a black man had better watch your step. Be careful, and whatever you do, don’t add to the “Ugly American” perception many Russians already have about us.
Taras
For a black man, Moscow is probably the only place you could go relatively safely. I know reading an Dave’s ESL Forum that in Ukraine, a number of black people get killed every year, and the police never bother to investigate. I haven’t looked through the Russian forum there however as my interest of going there is less.
However, From what I hear from Russians here, relations with Asians and Islamic peoples, as well as Germans are not at all strained… Now, this is on a country to country level.
According to one of my friends who used to work in a branch of foreign relations, the relationship between Russia and Germany is the best in Europe. Even better than the EU countries. They have come to deals which are unique for country to country trade.
Russia also has an excellent relationship with Iran… Iranian students are more than welcome in Russian schools according to this man…
However, Russians don’t seem to be tolerant of east Indians, or blacks for some reason…
I suggest that you try to find some russian type of meetings, or ukranian youth club, or something like that. Attend one of these meetings, and watch their reaction to you. It could be a good way to test the waters…
Guess they didn’t get married in the end, because now Mikey has got another girlfriend who turns out to be a russian model as well.