How is the "new Russian" Steven Seagal doing in Russia: an actor, a Buddhist saint, and a thunderstorm of chickens
It seems that the 68-year-old action hero Steven Seagal has finally decided on a place of residence and will still live in Of Russia. The actor came to develop his own school of martial arts, but soon this idea faded into the background and Segal found a lot of more interesting and profitable activities. How does a new citizen of Russia live and why do new compatriots still not take him seriously?
American Steven Seagal is only in the third generation — his grandparents came to the United States from St. Petersburg. By the way, they arrived in their new homeland under the name of Sigelman and became Sigals in America. Steven Seagal's interest in Russia — not a tribute to fashion. The actor from a young age is sensitive to his roots and always really wanted to visit his historical homeland.
Despite this, Stephen's statement that he intends to leave acting and is moving to Russia, many were shocked. The idol of the youth of the 90s said that he was no longer interested in acting and that his goal was to establish a martial arts school in the homeland of his ancestors and teach there. Segal also hinted that he was interested in a musical career — everyone has known about Stephen's passion for music making for a long time.
It all happened on November 5, 2016 — Steven Seagal received a passport of a Russian citizen personally from the hands of President Vladimir Putin. As a place of residence, the actor chose the city of Elektrostal, where he issued a residence permit. When asked by journalists why he made such an unusual choice, the newly-born Russian citizen replied that he needed to pay taxes somewhere, like every decent Russian, and he had not yet acquired his own housing. It sounds touching, but we know it!
Segal's house on Rublevka
Sigal was a resident of Blagodatnaya Elektrostal for a very short time and soon moved to the famous Rublevka, where he bought a nice and spacious mansion. The actor moved into the new housing together with his family — his wife, a native of Mongolia, and his young son. But he was a Muscovite for a short time and in 2019 expressed a desire to move to warmer climes, or rather-to Krasnodar Region. There Segal bought a house and vineyards, but kept the same registration, Rublevskaya.
Despite the fact that Russians should be proud of their new compatriot, most people treat the" new Russian "Segal with irony, as they previously treated another "Russian" - Gerard Depardieu. It's all the fault of Segal himself, who created an ambiguous reputation for himself as a balamut and a dreamer, while still being a Hollywood star. So, here are a few facts that prevent you from taking Stephen and his ideas seriously.
Many celebrities like to invent different stories about themselves to look even cooler in the eyes of fans. This fate did not pass and Sigal. In 1990, in an interview, the actor said that he was born and grew up in Brooklyn and was such a street "bad boy", with which it was impossible to cope.
But the movie star's mother, Patricia Segal, messed it up and blurted out that he was born in Lansing, Michigan, and grew up in Fullerton, California, where the family moved when he was five. As for the stormy childhood, there was also a problem — Mother Segal told reporters that Steve grew up a timid child and suffered from asthma.
If you believe Segal, then from 1968 to 1973, he could not be pulled out of the Japan, where he drew handfuls of the wisdom of spiritual mentors and the skills of Aikido teachers. Here again there was a puncture — in the college of the city of Fullerton, there are documents confirming the fact that Segal in 1970-1971 gnawed the granite of science within its walls.
It is known that the actor is very proud of the fact that he studied martial arts from the very founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba. It was not possible to ask Sensei himself about this, since he died in 1969, but Terry Dobson, a real student of the Master, who was near him from 1961 until the day of his death, does not remember the talented fighter Segal.
In any biography of Steven Seagal, launched to the masses with his blessing, you will find information that in 1997 Lama Penor Rinpoche, who heads one of the Buddhist spiritual schools, proclaimed Sigal tulku. This means that Stephen is a saint, but not a simple one, but a renouncer of nirvana in order to bring enlightenment to other people.
Saint Sigal descended to the Buryat lamas
In addition, the lama said that the actor was the reincarnation of Chorgen George-the Lama and the founder of a famous Buddhist school, who lived in the 17th century. There is a controversial point in all this, since Buddhism denies violence and a tulku cannot become a person who has made a name for himself by waving his fists.
Even more doubts about the sanctity of the actor appeared after several women accused him of rape. So, most likely, Stephen simply purchased the title from Penor Rinpoche for a substantial donation to his school.
Steven Seagal has repeatedly stated his involvement in the training of UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) fighters. In 2011, during one of the fights, Anderson Silva knocked out Vitor Belfort in the first round with a kick to the head. A couple of days later, Segal said that it was he who taught Silva the crushing blow that brought the fighter victory. Many believed this, as Steven Seagal was present in several pictures with Silva and it was believed that they were good friends.
Rare photo: Segal teaches UFC champion Anderson Silva to fight
But the UFC champion clarified the situation, saying in an interview that although he is familiar with Stephen and thinks he's a good guy, he's never been his coach. The embarrassment taught the actor nothing, and he soon took some credit for Lyoto Machida's victory over Randy Couture. There were rumors that Segal even challenged Couture to a duel without witnesses, but the fighter refused, either because he was afraid, or because he would have to fight for free. There is a version that Segal invented this story himself.
In the films with Steven Seagal, the mafiosi are terrified of his characters to the point of screeching and are constantly badly beaten by them. But in life, everything turned out to be a little different. In 2002, Peter Gotti, the head of the Gambino clan, told an interesting story about the relationship between the actor and Cosa Nostra.
The same Peter Gotti who was paid by the mob-intimidated Segal
The defeated mafia boss told under oath that the courageous cinematic fighter against organized crime paid his family a total of 700 thousand dollars so that he would not be touched. Such a tribute to the actor was imposed because of a quarrel with the producer Julius Nasso. In the 90s, Segal and Nassau made several films together, but then they did not share the profits and quarreled. It seems that the actor behaved badly and a former business partner complained to the mafia.
Segal was caught in the street, punched in the neck, and pushed into the car. He was taken to k's office. Anthony Ciccone, the captain of the Gambino family, and explained that for each movie masterpiece, you need to pay $ 150 thousand "commission". This is exactly what the frightened Seagal immediately did, after which he was mercifully forgiven.
Animal rights activist, Buddhist and strict vegetarian Steven Seagal has been implicated in the deaths of at least 100 roosters and one dog. One day, Seagal came up with the idea to create a police show Steven Seagal: Lawman, in which he would perform feats together with the cops and fight crime on camera. The project lasted for three seasons, but was overshadowed by one ugly incident.
Stephen has already left to kill your chickens
In 2011, in one of the show's episodes, Segal and Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona raided one muddy type-farmer Jesus Llover. No, the scoundrel did not sell cocaine and did not want to blow up the White House — he just conducted cockfights, which are prohibited by law.
Arpaio and Segal, accompanied by 40 special forces soldiers, a squad of sappers and K-9 employees, stormed the farm, which was not defended by anyone and won a complete victory over someone. Segal spectacularly broke into the yard of the farm in an armored car and saved everyone from Jesus. After the arrest of the farmer, about 100 roosters and a guard dog were left unattended on the farm. Sigal and Arpaia, without hesitation, decided to euthanize the poor birds and the dog.
We can say that this was the debut of the actor in the role of an animal defender. Soon after this incident with the roosters, he began to position himself as a "green" activist and a fighter against meat eaters. So the hero of the militants and without five minutes a Mongol (according to him) from the Sigelman family, turned out to be another fruit.
Keywords: Actor | Action movies | Fighter | Buddhism | Hollywood | Star | Mafia | Expats