{"id":3654,"date":"2021-07-18T00:23:14","date_gmt":"2021-07-18T00:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mediateka.online\/learnrussian\/back-then-i-was-silent-after-suffering-years-of-harassment-in-russias-entertainment-industry-former-pop-star-zhenya-ogurtsova-decided-to-speak-out.html"},"modified":"2021-07-18T00:23:14","modified_gmt":"2021-07-18T00:23:16","slug":"back-then-i-was-silent-after-suffering-years-of-harassment-in-russias-entertainment-industry-former-pop-star-zhenya-ogurtsova-decided-to-speak-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediateka.online\/learnrussian\/back-then-i-was-silent-after-suffering-years-of-harassment-in-russias-entertainment-industry-former-pop-star-zhenya-ogurtsova-decided-to-speak-out.html","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Back then I was silent\u2019 After suffering years of harassment in Russia\u2019s entertainment industry, former pop star Zhenya Ogurtsova decided to speak out"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"EmbedBlock-module_root__28k9U EmbedBlock-module_cc__1BQ5g EmbedBlock-module_default__LSDny EmbedBlock-module_desktop__SF5a_ EmbedBlock-module_proportional__3lAv4\">Former \u201cRanetki\u201d members Zhenya Ogurtsova (left), Lena Tretyakova (right), and Nyuta Baidavletova Zhenya Ogurtsova\u2019s personal archive<\/figure>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_lead__35nXx\">In the late 2000s, Ranetki was one of the most popular pop-rock groups in Russia. Their concerts drew thousands of fans and an eponymous series based on their lives had a prime-time slot on the television network STS. But as their popularity gradually faded, Ranetki fell apart. In June 2021, one of the girl group\u2019s original members, Zhenya Ogurtsova, published a memoir titled \u201cRanetki: A Winning Ticket to Hell.\u201d In her book, Ogurtsova talks about the psychological pressure and harassment that she and her bandmates (who were minors at the time) were subjected to at the hands of various producers and other people from their \u201cmanagement team.\u201d Other former Ranetki members have also confirmed that they suffered emotional and sexual abuse during that time. Meduza spoke with Zhenya Ogurtsova about the harassment the group members faced and why she decided to finally speak out about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD\">After years of keeping quiet about the abuse she faced in the music industry, Zhenya Ogurtsova says stories she heard from other young women who worked with Ranetki\u2019s former producers and managers motivated her to write her new memoir. \u201cAs it turned out, the situation there remained the same: the same violent actions, harassment, alcohol, jokes below the belt, and very lewd behavior toward girls,\u201d she tells Meduza. \u201cEach time I asked myself: am I to blame for this? Back then I was silent, now other girls are silent, and this horror continues. I needed to talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD\">Though she\u2019s \u201ca little afraid\u201d to name names, Ogurtsova says that \u201cbig and influential people\u201d in the industry (directors and producers specifically) put \u201csevere emotional pressure\u201d on the teenage members of the all-girl group. Fear of backlash from these powerful individuals almost stopped Ogurtsova from writing her book. \u201cAt one point I deleted everything and thought \u2018What if a brick suddenly falls on my head?\u2019 I know these people and I\u2019m not very convinced that they\u2019re psychologically healthy, so I\u2019m not ruling out this possibility,\u201d she says. \u201cI wrote an [additional] little booklet that reveals all the details, including last names \u2014 in case a brick does fall on my head.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD\">Nevertheless, Ogurtsova believes that shedding light on harassment and abuse in the entertainment industry is still worthwhile, even without identifying all of the perpetrators. Most of all, she hopes her experiences serve as a warning to young performers and their parents. \u201cA lot of people dream of getting into show business, going on stage, they see a perfect picture when in fact a lot of obscene things are happening behind the scenes,\u201d she explains.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD\">Ogurtsova says her book has elicited mixed reactions. \u201cMany people who worked closely with us didn\u2019t always know about what was happening. For example there was a PR woman [who] worked for us \u2014 after the book was published, she wrote that she was very sorry. She was horrified,\u201d Ogurtsova recalls. \u201cFormer Ranetki fans were very supportive. Their opinion was divided: some wrote \u2018we knew it\u2019 and some were in complete shock.\u201d The group\u2019s former producers, directors, and managers, on the other hand, \u201cfell silent\u201d after the book came out, she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"EmbedBlock-module_root__28k9U EmbedBlock-module_cc__1BQ5g EmbedBlock-module_default__LSDny EmbedBlock-module_proportional__3lAv4\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"\/impro\/x3GRNG1wtpkR5AGMBQKe92hYE6mL5reEcA7jzjJe0GM\/fill\/325\/0\/ce\/1\/aHR0cHM6Ly9tZWR1\/emEuaW8vaW1hZ2Uv\/YXR0YWNobWVudHMv\/aW1hZ2VzLzAwNi85\/MDIvMzcwL29yaWdp\/bmFsL1FBSV9kOXlH\/LTFuc1FkVk81bUh3\/SWcuanBn.jpg\" class=\"lazyload\" alt=\"Zhenya Ogurtsova\u2019s new book, \u201cRanetki: A Winning Ticket to Hell\u201d\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/impro\/x3GRNG1wtpkR5AGMBQKe92hYE6mL5reEcA7jzjJe0GM\/fill\/325\/0\/ce\/1\/aHR0cHM6Ly9tZWR1\/emEuaW8vaW1hZ2Uv\/YXR0YWNobWVudHMv\/aW1hZ2VzLzAwNi85\/MDIvMzcwL29yaWdp\/bmFsL1FBSV9kOXlH\/LTFuc1FkVk81bUh3\/SWcuanBn.jpg\" alt=\"Zhenya Ogurtsova\u2019s new book, \u201cRanetki: A Winning Ticket to Hell\u201d\"><\/noscript>Zhenya Ogurtsova\u2019s new book, \u201cRanetki: A Winning Ticket to Hell\u201d<\/figure>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD\">Ogurtsova was 15 years old when she became part of a Ranetki and she says that the group of teenage girls was always encouraged to think of their producers as \u201cfamily.\u201d \u201cThis idea was hammered into our heads from the very beginning. The producer was \u2018Paper Ranetka.\u2019 You need to go only to him with all your problems. Trust all your secrets only to him. And don\u2019t tell anyone anything,\u201d she recalls. \u201cWe really believed in this. If something happened I\u2019d say nothing to my mom, but I\u2019d go to the producer or to the girls.\u201d Ogurtsova explains that this created a \u201cvacuum,\u201d which, in combination with the fact that many of the girls in the band had problems with their own families, ensured that nothing got out: \u201cWe kept everything secret from everyone, because this was our \u2018family\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD\">According to Ogurtsova, \u201c99 percent of the emotional abuse\u201d came from the group\u2019s main producer, Sergey Milnichenko \u2014 who married Ranetki\u2019s lead guitarist, Natalya Shchelkova, in 2009. In her book, she recalls how the group\u2019s drummer, Nyuta Baidavletova, turned to Milnichenko after a member of the management team harassed her. \u201cIt really scared her and she told the producer about everything. He replied that she was making it up,\u201d Ogurtsova says. As she describes in her memoir, the girls were actually encouraged to form relationships with older men to help Ranetki professionally: \u201cWe were advised to fall in love with someone from the STS TV channel\u2019s production staff or from among the concert organizers.\u201d (Sergey Milnichenko read Meduza\u2019s request for comment but didn\u2019t respond to it. In conversation with RIA FAN, the producer called the contents of Ogurtsova\u2019s book \u201cfantasies\u201d and underscored that he has \u201cthe warmest memories\u201d of her).\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"EmbedBlock-module_root__28k9U EmbedBlock-module_cc__1BQ5g EmbedBlock-module_default__LSDny\"><iframe class=\"lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fphoto.php%3Ffbid%3D857488594291738%26set%3Da.346892428684693%26type%3D3&amp;width=650&amp;show_text=false&amp;height=433&amp;appId\" style=\"position: absolute; top:0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;\"  width=\"650\" height=\"433\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share\"><\/iframe>Sergey Milnichenko<\/figure>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD\">At the time, Ogurtsova didn\u2019t tell anyone about what was happening, not even her mother. \u201cIn your mind you understand that this is wrong, but if I had told my mother about this, perhaps she would have taken me away from there, and I would have lost this \u2018family.\u2019 And at the time, it seemed that it was impossible to live without them,\u201d she tells Meduza. \u201cI told my mom all of these stories three or four years ago. Of course she was horrified and very upset. She hated the producer for a very long time.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD\">Ranetki\u2019s tours kept a grueling schedule \u2014 Ogurtsova says they sometimes played as many as 36 concerts in 30 days: \u201cWe played three concerts a day. Each day was a new city.\u201d The girls always flew economy and were put up in hotels where they had to do their own laundry between shows; at one point, they were expected to feed themselves on 1,500 rubles per day. \u201cIt was absurd: one of the coolest bands in the country and they didn\u2019t even provide meals for us,\u201d Ogurtsova recalls. \u201cWe also didn\u2019t receive a single ruble from the sale of merchandise. As was explained to us, the TV channel STS had the rights to all of it, but at STS they said that the record label had the rights. We had no way of knowing what was actually the case. We only made money from the concerts.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD\">The girls in the band thought they were making good money at the time. For their starring roles on the television show \u201cRanetki,\u201d they were paid the average monthly salary in Moscow. But Ogurtsova recently found out that according to documents from STS, obtained by the group\u2019s former bassist, Lena Tretyakova, their official salaries were higher. \u201cMoreover, we gave around 30 percent of pay to our producer,\u201d Ogurtsova explains. \u201cAccording to the contract, our producer received exactly the same amount we did. That is, he was like a sixth member of the group. But in fact there were completely different amounts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD\">At 16 years old, Ogurtsova developed acute pancreatitis and went on tour despite \u201cconstant attacks.\u201d \u201cThey would give me an injection of painkillers before the concert. I had terrible anemia, I couldn\u2019t eat anything, during the concert I\u2019d faint three or four times. I had a technician who ran around all the time and caught me, he gave me smelling salts,\u201d Ogurtsova recalls. \u201cAfter the concert they\u2019d give me another injection and it was all repeated the next day.\u201d When she asked to leave the tour, her managers said they\u2019d \u201ctalk about it tomorrow,\u201d and she kept on working.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD\">In fact, Ogurtsova stayed with the group until 2013 \u2014 she says she believed in the project \u201cuntil the very end.\u201d \u201cWhen the [other] girls abruptly announced their departure, I was shocked and condemned them. At the time, I was on the side of the producers and didn\u2019t support their decision,\u201d she recalls. \u201cIt was only when I went to a psychologist for therapy that I realized how right they were.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD\">The group\u2019s lost popularity after 2011 and Ranetki disintegrated as the money dried up. \u201cWe stopped going on tours, the concerts fell off, and we found ourselves without a livelihood,\u201d Ogurtsova explains. \u201cOur earnings were zero, meanwhile they [the producers and managers] continued to pressure us and say that all the unsuccessful projects were because of us. This pressure and lack of money prompted the [other] girls to just leave.\u201d Ogurtsova says she suffered a nervous breakdown around this time. \u201cI was completely lost. I didn\u2019t understand who I was because I thought if I wasn\u2019t Zhenya \u2018Ranetka,\u2019 then who was I at all?\u201d she tells Meduza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD\">Ogurtsova tried pursuing a solo career, but says she didn\u2019t make much money. Eventually, she went home to live with her mother and spent three years working as a part-time sales assistant in an adult sex store, while doing \u201cmini-tours\u201d on her days off. \u201cI was able to get back on my feet by 2014, I got married and in 2015 I went on maternity leave and since then I\u2019ve been living a normal life,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD\">Over the years, Ogurtsova tried to organize Ranetki reunions, but the performances always fell through. She and her former bandmates then decided to become bloggers and launched a YouTube channel (it has 250,000 subscribers). These days, Ogurtsova is most active on Instagram.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"SimpleBlock-module_p__Q3azD\">Reflecting on her experiences and the release of her new book, Ogurtsova says she hopes it leads to more open conversations about harassment and emotional abuse. \u201cWhen you start telling these stories, many people see themselves in them and begin to treat it differently,\u201d she explains. \u201cI believe that the more we talk about this, the more people will advocate for [their personal boundaries].\u201d As for working in the entertainment industry, Ogurtsova says that at the end of the day, she still thinks it was cool. \u201cIn this sense, I\u2019m an inappropriately positive person,\u201d she concludes. \u201cBut there are girls from the group who think this was the worst period in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"DonatesTeaser-module_title__hs-yr\">\u0421\u043b\u0443\u0448\u0430\u0439\u0442\u0435 \u043c\u0443\u0437\u044b\u043a\u0443, \u043f\u043e\u043c\u043e\u0433\u0430\u0439\u0442\u0435 \u00ab\u041c\u0435\u0434\u0443\u0437\u0435\u00bb<\/h3>\n<p>\u0414\u0430\u0442\u044c \u0434\u0435\u043d\u0435\u0433<\/p>\n<p class=\"MaterialNote-module_note_caption__1ezSo\">Interview by <strong>Alexey Shumkin<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"MaterialNote-module_note_credit__PuFyX\">Summary by <strong>Eilish Hart<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--noindex--><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/meduza.io\/en\/feature\/2021\/07\/16\/back-then-i-was-silent\">Source<\/a><!--\/noindex--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former \u201cRanetki\u201d members Zhenya Ogurtsova (left), Lena Tretyakova (right), and Nyuta Baidavletova Zhenya Ogurtsova\u2019s personal archive In the late 2000s, Ranetki was one of the most popular pop-rock groups in Russia. Their concerts drew thousands of fans and an eponymous series based on their lives had a prime-time slot on the television network STS. But [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"\/impro\/x3GRNG1wtpkR5AGMBQKe92hYE6mL5reEcA7jzjJe0GM\/fill\/325\/0\/ce\/1\/aHR0cHM6Ly9tZWR1\/emEuaW8vaW1hZ2Uv\/YXR0YWNobWVudHMv\/aW1hZ2VzLzAwNi85\/MDIvMzcwL29yaWdp\/bmFsL1FBSV9kOXlH\/LTFuc1FkVk81bUh3\/SWcuanBn.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news-from-russia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018Back then I was silent\u2019 After suffering years of harassment in Russia\u2019s entertainment industry, former pop star Zhenya Ogurtsova decided to speak out - Learn Russian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/mediateka.online\/learnrussian\/back-then-i-was-silent-after-suffering-years-of-harassment-in-russias-entertainment-industry-former-pop-star-zhenya-ogurtsova-decided-to-speak-out.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Back then I was silent\u2019 After suffering years of harassment in Russia\u2019s entertainment industry, former pop star Zhenya Ogurtsova decided to speak out - Learn Russian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former \u201cRanetki\u201d members Zhenya Ogurtsova (left), Lena Tretyakova (right), and Nyuta Baidavletova Zhenya Ogurtsova\u2019s personal archive In the late 2000s, Ranetki was one of the most popular pop-rock groups in Russia. 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