"There is also my merit in two Stanley Cups": Kasterova on Malkin's character, life in the USA and plans for the future

"The husband is already thinking about business"

- By virtue of my own biography, I perfectly understand what a family is, in which one of the partners is a professional athlete.

When you started a family, how well did you realize what it means to be with someone who is 100% focused on their profession?

- To be honest, at the very beginning of my relationship with Eugene, I simply did not understand how serious all this was for both of us and how it would affect my lifestyle.

But the process of establishing everyday life happened very smoothly.

Did you have to sacrifice something?

Of course.

With us, if dad sleeps during the day, then we all sleep with him.

If the day of the game - the whole daily routine is somehow adjusted to Evgeny.

But at first it was difficult.

Until the age of 16, I grew up as an only child in the family, I'm used to the fact that everyone concentrates on me and my interests.

- Was it hard to break yourself?

- Not too much.

First of all, I wanted to do everything possible to make Evgeny comfortable with me, so that we have a strong family.

Of course, I was lucky: our marriage was formed out of love, we have a good income.

In general, we got used to each other pretty well, I think.

But overall, it's not easy.

Sometimes I think: if a girl had a softer character next to her husband, he would have suppressed her.

- How wealthy was the family in which you grew up?

- I am from Zelenograd, which until a certain moment was considered an industrial city.

The center of this industry was the Angstrem electronic technology plant, where my grandfather worked as one of the leading engineers and had great privileges, in particular financial.

That is, the family had caviar for the New Year, and some toys, gifts, and so on.

When the crisis hit the country, my grandfather was already retired and, naturally, there was no longer enough money.

I can't say that we were on the verge of poverty, but we had to deny ourselves a lot.

- Complicated because of this?

- Of course, like any girl of this age, I wanted to have some things, but I won't say that I was very complex about this.

Rather, the lack of money at a certain moment served as an additional incentive for me to develop.

- What does it mean to be now a person who can afford absolutely everything, including his own planes?

 - I can't say that Evgeny and I can afford everything.

I myself have never been a spoiled girl, and my husband, despite his income, always knew how to count money.

We do not have some incredible fleet of serious cars, some unjustified chic.

Finances are spent exclusively on what is needed for life.  

- For many NHL players of the previous generation, the situation that happened to Sergei Fedorov became a very significant one, when he was left without a penny overnight, trusting a businessman he knew.

Do you think Malkin's peers are afraid of this option?

- Of course.

For example, Eugene, as a reasonable person, understands that in a good scenario, his career in the NHL can last another five or six years.

Then you will have to somehow think about the next stage of life: where and how to earn money, how to apply yourself, how to dispose of the money earned.

Therefore, the husband is already thinking a lot about business.

I will not name the names, but many famous hockey players of our social circle are thinking about the same.

- Are your inner circle mainly hockey players?

- Hockey players and people close to hockey.

Those who at some point helped our family, supported in some way, or just good people with whom it is pleasant to communicate and spend time.

We have a small social circle, but we value it very much.

“It was difficult to refuse work”

- You left for the United States at the peak of your television career.

Didn't you feel that by leaving you are cutting off a very bright professional life for yourself?

- Yes and no.

The question about my work began to be raised between Evgeny and me about six months after the start of a serious relationship.

The husband can behave quite tough in certain situations, and just then he did just that.

I was presented with a specific choice: either-or.

- And ..?

- It was difficult to refuse work.

I earned a lot of money, interesting projects, proposals, filming appeared, I liked it all.

But I didn't just fall in love, but both of us somehow very clearly understood that we wanted children from each other.

We want a large and very strong family.

This is what stood at the fore.

Another question is that, even after moving to America, all these five years I did not close the opportunity to return to the screens.

Now I am very grateful to the entire Match TV team and Tina Kandelaki for giving me such a chance and showing a lot of loyalty to my comfortable schedule.

View this post on Instagram

Publication from Anna Kasterova (@anna_kasterova)

- At one time I was impressed by a kind of club of NHL wives.

Was it difficult to join him?

- I wouldn't say.

I think, first of all, this was facilitated by my husband's hockey merits.

Everyone initially understood that Eugene was not a passable option, not a person who came for a year, but a player with a serious contract, and for a long time.

In addition, I roughly understand how all these wives' rooms are arranged in Russia.

In America, things are a little different.

I won't say that the relationship is always 100% sincere, but all the girls are very friendly, no one is ever abandoned, any joint events are held very amicably and very warmly.

- By the way, how did you cope when your husband was constantly on the road, and your son was just born?

Did someone help?

- My mother was not able to get out to America then for health reasons, but my mother Eugene, who flew in for childbirth, helped us a lot.

Then the playoffs had just begun, so we tried not to touch Zhenya at all.

But during the day I had the opportunity to sleep - and that in itself was a tremendous help.

I'm not a crazy mom, that is, there is no such thing as to be worn with a child, like a chicken with an egg.

But for the first three months she did not let anyone near her son, she could not even go to the shower calmly.

- Do you feel your own involvement in your husband's sporting success?

- Honestly?

Yes.

We won with him (you see, I even argue in such categories), we won two Stanley Cups.

And of course, it seems to me that this is also my merit.

In correct behavior, in support, in motivation.

- Speaking about Malkin, many of my colleagues emphasize that he is very easy to communicate.

In sports, it can be difficult for such people, because fans often perceive openness as an invitation to contact.

How often do you have to put people in place?

- Hard situations have never happened.

Moreover, when Evgeniy is forced to refuse someone, I see that he still feels some discomfort at the same time, because he sincerely appreciates the fans.

But there are different situations.

For example, when the match ends, the players have their own exit, through the back of the stadium.

Many fans who have been rooting for the team for many years are standing there.

But it is there that Eugene rarely stops.

An exception can only be made if there are children.

In other words, in recent years he has learned to say "no" in some situations.

Let's say when he is somewhere with a child.

- There is a saying about two bears who will never get along in the same den.

Malkin has just such a situation both in the club and in the national team.

I mean Sidney Crosby at Pittsburgh and Alexander Ovechkin on the national team.

- I have never heard from my husband that his interests were somehow infringed upon.

And besides, it's not a question of who plays hockey better - Crosby, Ovechkin or Zhenya Malkin.

Each has its own advantages.

Someone throws more pucks, someone gives more passes, someone is more technical, someone is trite healthier.

My husband and Sid have always had good friendly relations, as well as with Sasha Ovechkin.

They cannot be called bosom friends, but I don’t remember any, even minor conflicts.

Moreover, sometimes it seems to me that all three were very lucky in this regard.

Healthy sports competition at this level helps not to relax, maintain your level, and strive for more.

The fact that such top players as Sid and Sasha are nearby, I personally regard as an additional key to all Evgeny's success.

- For Pavel Bure, it was a huge mental wound for many years that he twice won medals at the Olympics, but never managed to become the champion of the Games.

Malkin played at the Olympic Games three times, but in Pyeongchang, where the Russian national team finally got to gold, he was not in the lineup.

Is this a sore point?

- The last Olympic defeat - in Sochi - happened just at the moment when Evgeny and I became close.

In other words, I watched the development of this whole situation personally.

Knowing my husband, I have no doubt that at those Games he did everything that depended on him, and everything that he was capable of.

Unfortunately, hockey is a team game.

There was a certain coaching staff, there was a team, with certain players, with the arrangement of these players.

What was done correctly and what was not, I do not know, now you can say anything about this.

But morally, it was a very difficult situation for Zhenya, followed by severe depression.

Because the Olympic gold, the Olympic medal is one of the most coveted trophies in the life of any professional athlete.

This medal in Evgeny's collection, for all his regalia, is sorely lacking.

"Father for Nikita is the main authority"

- You are a very beautiful woman, besides, you are quite active in social networks.

The husband is not jealous?

- In most cases, he acts like he's not jealous.

- And in fact?

- I even once asked about it.

And she answered: they say, why be jealous if there is no reason?

But in general, Eugene is a person who keeps a lot to himself.

She will never say an extra word.

- But you yourself feel the line beyond which, as they say, the ax-head?

- Of course.

But first, I really don't give a reason.

During the six years of our life together, there was not a single situation on my part that could somehow shake the degree of trust between me and my husband.

I'm not interested in anyone else.

- In one of the interviews you said that you cannot afford to appear in men's magazines.

Why?

- It was said quite a long time ago, when I was just starting my career in television and I wanted people to be interested in what I say, and not how I look without clothes.

I wanted to show that I still apply for a certain level of intelligence.

It was important to me.

- And then the Maxim magazine happened?

- Editor-in-chief Alexander Malenkov at one time directly sat on me with this request.

Like, let's make a beautiful photo session, Zhenya will definitely not mind.

But the husband said no.

Then the magazine took a different path.

They offered a great interview to Eugene, to which he agreed.

I then even pinned me: they say, at least someone in our family starred in Maxim magazine.

I remember, he was surprised and asked: "What, do you still want to act there?"

In general, we agreed that we would take photographs, but on the condition that it was not I, but Evgeny, who would approve them.

So it all turned out with that shooting.

- What kind of mistress are you?

- You know, I really like to cook.

I have a grandmother from Ukraine.

For the summer she always took me to her mother - my great-grandmother.

And in Ukraine they cook in such a way that the smoke is like a rocker, for the whole village.

I saw all this and absorbed a lot of things in this regard.

My father was a good cook too.

- Does your family have a favorite dish?

- Zhenya really likes sea bass baked with herbs and chicken hearts in sour cream sauce.

Otherwise, everything is standard: pasta, chops, cutlets ...

- Does your husband have to monitor the weight?

- Of course.

On the one hand, he has very serious training, after which a bath and massage are mandatory.

On the other hand, keeping weight becomes more difficult with age.

Therefore, we passed special tests to find out which foods should not be present in the diet in order not to slow down the metabolism.

I, as it turned out, do not want to eat eggs, Evgeny - gluten.

Therefore, all pastas are gluten-free, bread and all kinds of desserts - too.

- How do you see your life in five to six years?

Will it be in America or in Russia. 

- This, unfortunately, is a difficult question to which we do not yet have an answer, despite the fact that I am used to planning in advance.

Probably, first of all, everything will depend on the activities of Eugene.

Well, and from the interests of children.

- Children?

- Now we have one son, but my husband and I want to have more children in our family.

- Is Nikita doing something at the age of four?

- Besides hockey?

- An unexpected question.

Want to say that your son is already skating?

- And how!

This is just normal, since he grows from birth in this environment.

Everywhere hockey, if dad does not play, it means that someone else is playing.

When there are no matches in the NHL, we watch the Gagarin Cup, or some moments of other games.

All guests are somehow connected with hockey, there are a lot of paraphernalia at home.

The first toys were small clubs, pucks.

Not to mention the fact that Nikita's father is the main authority.

The son is very much oriented towards him.

View this post on Instagram

Publication from Anna Kasterova (@anna_kasterova)

- And if, despite all this, Nikita does not want to become a hockey player?

- So far we do not make any far-reaching forecasts.

At the moment, my son really likes hockey.

Zhenya invests a lot in it in this regard.

And you know, it has never happened before that the son said that he did not want to go to training, did not ask for a tennis racket instead of a club, or something else.

So even at his age, this is a completely deliberate choice.

- Have you developed any family traditions over the years of your life together?

- In this respect, everything is rather strange here.

We celebrate, of course, the anniversary of the marriage registration, or rather, we remember it, but we consider February 20 to be a real family holiday - the day when we met in Sochi after the end of the Games and decided not to part anymore.

This is the most romantic day of the year for us.

Once we had a terrible fight the day before, and the mere thought that we might not have time to make up was completely unbearable for me then.

- New Year or Christmas?

- New Year, of course.

Another question is that we live in America, where there are certain command and everyday regulations.

Therefore, on Christmas, we decorate the house, as Americans do, give gifts, go to visit, invite guests to our place ...

- What was the most unexpected gift your husband gave you during your life together?

- Tiger.

It was all related to the same anniversary, February 20th.

We didn't live together then.

Zhenya played in America, while I, being in Russia, used every opportunity to fly to Pittsburgh.

We couldn't spend this day together, and suddenly Evgeny's assistant called me: “Anya, I'm near your house right now, could you come down?

Zhenya asked me to sign some documents ”.

I went downstairs and saw that a real living tiger was sitting in the entrance.

And a banner above it: "We are 1 year old!"

Since then, I have called my husband that - my Tiger.

Signature family recipe from Anna Kasterova:

Chicken hearts need to be cleaned of films and vessels.

You can sauté them and vegetables separately, but I like it when everything is cooked together so that the meat is as tender as possible and absorbs more vegetable juice.

To do this, I pour the peeled and washed hearts with a small amount of boiling water with the addition of olive oil, after 15 minutes I add carrots and onions grated on a coarse grater to the brazier.

After another 10-15 minutes I add the remaining ingredients: sour cream, in which a small amount of not too heavy cream is added for a more delicate consistency of the sauce.

The final touch is pepper, salt and spices to your liking.

Sprinkle the finished dish with finely chopped dill.

Mashed potatoes are ideal as a side dish.

Bon Appetit!