Her mother had to wait in lines for two to three hours to get diapers, there was no washing machine in their home, and she was left fatherless at 14 years old. These hard beginnings at the foot of the Ural Mountains in the small town of Yemanzhelisk strengthened Irina Shayk, who turns 40 on Tuesday, January 6.
Her dream of becoming a literature teacher or a concert pianist was cut short because as a teenager, she had to switch her studies to marketing and work as a flyer distributor and hospital window painter to help her mother.
Despite her current fame and wealth, the Russian top model remains attached to her childhood, especially because she was protected by a matriarchy formed by her mother, her older sister, and her two grandmothers.
Therefore, when she became a first-time mother to Lea De Seine, from her relationship with actor Bradley Cooper (51), the Russian top model was aware of the "sacrifice my mother made for us. Having a baby is the greatest act of love that exists, and for that reason, I will do everything possible to ensure she lacks nothing," she revealed in several publications.
Now everything seems like a fairy tale, as according to Celebrity Net Worth, Irina is estimated to have a fortune of 25 million dollars. However, she does not forget that when she arrived in Paris in 2004 at 19 years old, she only had 50 euros a week for expenses. Of these, half went to public transportation, and many weekends she went without eating.
Although Paris was the birthplace for any aspiring model, what Irina needed was to start making money quickly to send home. She found good fortune in Barcelona, where Elite Model Management agency hired her to do her first catalog for the brand Lacoste, for which she earned 4,000 euros.
2007, at 21 years old, marked a turning point in her career as she became the first Russian woman to appear on the cover of the prestigious Sports Illustrated.
From there, a plethora of contracts came with Versace, Valentino, Gaultier, Bottega Veneta, numerous editorials, image contracts, and appearances at the most important red carpets in the world such as the Oscars or the Met Gala.
Not one to publicize her private life, after several failed relationships, Irina captured global attention in 2010 because during an Armani campaign, she became infatuated withCristiano Ronaldo (40), with whom she dated for five years. At that time, the Portuguese star played for Real Madrid.
Throughout their relationship, rumors of infidelity on the part of the player constantly circulated, although it is also true that the couple even got engaged. However, they ended up breaking up in January 2015 when Ronaldo confirmed it through a statement.
Every time a journalist has tried to pry into her romantic life, Shayk chooses to become an ice queen. But several weeks after that much-publicized breakup, the model felt relieved when she confessed on an American television show that "(...) I think I like honest men who are faithful to women." She didn't stay single for long, as in the spring, the paparazzi caught her with Bradley Cooper (51).
The couple, who broke up in June 2019, was one of the most photographed in the entertainment industry, but all that pressure did not affect them. What they did carefully choose were the high-profile events they had to attend.
During those years, Bradley Cooper was at the top of the Hollywood whirlwind. His role in The Hangover (2009) made him a star, but undoubtedly, his directorial debut with A Star is Born (2018) propelled him to the top of the spotlight.
While they were together, the couple lived in a spacious duplex of over 370 square meters in southern Manhattan where they initially paid 44,000 euros in rent, but eventually, the actor bought it for 12 million euros.
During the filming of the musical, rumors surfaced that Cooper had been unfaithful to Shayk with Lady Gaga (39), the protagonist of this story who also won the Oscar for Best Original Song with Shallow. No one confirmed or denied it, but the shadow of doubt remained indelible.
The breakup with someone Time has considered at times as one of the most influential men in the world was a tough blow for the top model. In one of her rare concessions regarding her privacy, Irina revealed in January 2020 to the British version of Vogue: "(...) we were very lucky to have had what we had together. Life without Bradley is completely new territory for me."
As expected, Irina left the apartment and acquired another not far away, specifically in the West Village, which she sold for a little over three million euros last April.
After splitting from Bradley, the model had two brief relationships with the art dealer Vito Schnabel (39) and Kanye West (48), until Tom Brady appeared (48) in 2023, who had broken up with Gisele Bündchen (45) a few months earlier. Their relationship got off to a rocky start, as the couple broke up and reconciled several times.
While the former American football player seems to have found a replacement in influencer Alix Earle (25), with whom he spent New Year's on the island of St. Barts in the company of Leonardo DiCaprio (51) and his girlfriend, model Victoria Cerretti (27), Irina Shayk is focused on her career and, above all, on her only love, 8-year-old Lea.