Yelena Lenina is the most famous sexy Russian in Paris. She has the looks, personality and talent, and she’s also willing to put in the hard work. She does a lot of different jobs at once – being a TV host and producer, acting, modeling and singing. Although she is officially a resident of Paris, she divides her time between there and Moscow. LifeStyle met with her at the Aristocrat Cafe when she was in Moscow to collect a "Promoter of Enlightenment" award for her contribution to developing French-speaking culture in Russia.

Where do you spend your time these days?

On planes. My debut French single will come out in Paris in a few days. We’re shooting our next film in[former] Yugoslavia. Today I’m sitting with you here in Moscow. Before that I was writing a book in Monaco. I give a lot of interviews, but after taking part in "Nice People" [a TV reality show similar to Russia’s Za Steklom], there were a lot more people wanting to know about my life. I’m always in planes, though I live and work in Paris.

You’re currently negotiating screening the historical film "Il etait une fois Jean-sebastien Bach" in Russia. What’s this film about?

It’s about Johann Sebastian Bach. I played the composer’s second wife, Anna Magdalena Bach. It’s thanks to her that around 60 percent of the music Bach wrote was preserved for later generations. Bach was played by French actor Christian Vadim, the son of Catherine Deneuve and Roger Vadim. He is a very handsome man, and I really enjoyed acting with him, especially the love scenes. But we didn’t have an affair. He’s good looking, and of course he was after me, but what am I for him? Today he’s here and tomorrow he’s off filming somewhere else. I want to get married, have children and have a good honest marriage, so I’m against just having sex for the sake of it.

In France you’re a star, with your face on posters and magazine pages, but in Russia you’re known more among journalists for being wealthy and making a potentially very eligible bride. Does that annoy you?

I’m not as wealthy as all that, and I earn my own living. Yes, I’m not married at the moment, but I’ve still got time to fix that oversight. It gets to me when people call me a prostitute. People who know me do not see me that way. My way of life and that kind of lifestyle just don’t go together at all. I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t smoke or do drugs, I don’t eat meat and I don’t spend my nights in clubs. I hardly even go to society events. I need to sleep, and I can’t do anything about that. I work from morning until late at night.

Is it easier to make it in show business in Europe than in Russia?

Show business in the West is more civilized, there’s no piracy there and I receive my due from each CD sold. And in Russia? It’s the same with cinema. What kind of movies could I make in Russia that Hollywood would buy? Russia doesn’t yet have the concentration of capital, and to make good movies, you need good money.

Is it hard to be beautiful?

I haven’t tried. I don’t think I could do it now. You can only be beautiful when you’re 16, and then not everyone is so lucky. I wasn’t ever the most beautiful, not at 16, not at 15. Beauty lasts only 30 seconds. The main thing is your inner state. An intellectual man has a lot more appeal to me than an athlete all covered in muscles. I often change my ideas about men. There was a time when I liked men who had authority; I thought it was great when a man can do anything he wanted. Then I realized that these men are just as weak as all the rest. The state of freedom that I have at the moment does have its advantages. I have more time for creative work.

Is it tough always being in the public eye? Your private life is always under watch by the paparazzi.

After "Nice People" screened on [French TV channel] TFI, I discovered, and my neighbors and local shopkeepers told me, that the creme de la creme of the French gutter press had all visited our building. The neighbors said they got offered a lot of money to talk about me and my child. But the neighbors said they sent them packing. After that, I agreed to let Gala magazine put a photo of me and my child on the cover to avoid having bad quality photos appear and to cut the value of photos of me on the gutter press black market. Before Gala came out I couldn’t even go out on the street with my child. Now the paparazzi don’t spend the night camped outside my building. Fortunately, I’m alone, I don’t have a boyfriend. Just imagine if I did? A normal person can change partners without it suddenly being everyone’s business.

How are Russians seen abroad?

Russian women are always seen as either prostitutes or KGB spies. You might laugh, but the Surete Generale, the French domestic intelligence service, called me once and asked me if it was true that I was an FSB agent. I said, "That’s not a very popular profession back home. I’d have joined, but it doesn’t pay well, and they’d never have taken me because I talk too much."

What creative area would you still like to try yourself out in?

None. I have so much to do as it is. Singing is my hobby. I’m an actress and I believe that I’m a good one. If you want to become a factory director, you have to climb the whole career ladder, starting out as an ordinary worker. I became an actress in order to see the process of making a film from the inside. But I like dealing with organizational issues and so I’ve firmly decided to become a film producer.