Russian president, and hunka hunka burning love, Vladimir Putin announced his divorce from wife Lyudmila on Russian TV Thursday.
Their marriage has been on the rocks for some time, reports Business Insider.
Putin reportedly placed his wife in a mental hospital against her will in 2011, while he was allegedly having affairs with his photographer Lana Lapikova and gymnast Alina Kabaeva. Putin has also been linked to Russian spy Anna Chapman. The couple wed in 1983 when Putin was a mere KGB agent.
Putin experienced a meteoric rise to power, becoming prime minister in 1999. He then became president from 200-2008, relinquished power to Dmitry Medvedev, and then resumed the position in 2012. Reports compiled by German intelligence in the 1980s and discovered by the Daily Mail in 2011, describe Putin as a “philanderer and a wifebeater.”
The couple has two daughters in their 20s. According to his press photos, his hobbies include race-car driving, shooting guns, hang-gliding, playing piano, Judo, hockey, archaeology and saving endangered animals, all while shirtless.
