Irina Shayk

Irina Shayk
(real name Irina Valeryevna Shaykhlislamova) is an
international level model with Tatar roots. Due to
her luxurious appearance, the girl became known
outside of Russia, first winning the heart of famous
football player Cristiano Ronaldo and then
Hollywood actor Bradley Cooper.

Now Irina Shayk has everything - fame, money and

fans. But the girl’s path to the top was thorny.
Irina was born on January 6, 1986, in the mining town of Yemanzhelinsk, 50 kilometers
from Chelyabinsk. The Shaykhlislamov family lived poorly: Father Valery worked in the
mine, mother Olga was a kindergarten piano teacher. Irina’s older sister Tatiana also
grew in the family. Irina inherited the best from her parents: hard work, persistence and
oriental beauty from her father, and love for music from her mother.
We had a very small town, in fact, a village, the girl recalled, everyone lived on the
same street and knew each other. We also had our own garden - it was difficult to
survive without it. We grew potatoes, tomatoes, and cucumbers on our own. Since
childhood, I helped my mother with the garden. Irina turned 14 when her father
died of lung cancer. To raise both daughters her mother had to work a lot.
 Irina studied at school and had been having hard times there. First teachers
tried to retrain lefty to write as she should, not paying attention to the girl’s gap
in many subjects. But by the end of high school, Irina became an excellent
student, and she even began to be set up as an example to her classmates.
Because of her height and thinness, boys didn’t pay attention to Irina, except
that they teased her with insulting nicknames: Chunga-Changa and Calancea.
 Her sister Tatiana was attending beauty classes at the modeling studio. She
invited Irina too, who turned out to perfectly match the parameters of a Lingerie
model. At the age of 18, she made her debut at the regional Supermodel beauty
contest and won, receiving 60 thousand rubles, fabulous money for her. Later the
agency paid the young model a trip to Moscow to participate in the federal
Supermodel of Russia competition and photo session.
 At the competition, the beauty was noticed by a member of the jury the president of the
international Grace Models modeling agency, who had opened many top models,
including Natalia Vodianova. He invited the girl to Paris. Irina was not going to become a
professional model, but she understood that the contract would help her earn money to
help her family, and she agreed. So, in 20 years Irina went to Europe, taking the
pseudonym Shayk. It was too late to start a modeling career at that age and many girls
who came to work with Irina made fun of her, her lack of language skills, and her
inexpensive clothes.
Already by 2008, Irina Shayk had been shooting for the Elle, Glamour, Annabelle,
GQ, Bolero, and Intimissimi had invited Irina to take part in an advertising
campaign. World-famous photographers Pamela Hanson, Steve Early, Rennie
Maifredi worked with the girl in the photoshoot. At different times photos of Irina
Shayk decorated catalogs of lingerie brands: El Corte, Armani, Intimissimi, Guess,
Triumph. Later Intimissimi, Guess, Beach Bunny, Lacoste, La Perla, Givenchy
made the girl the face of their brands. Resource models.com included Irina Shayk
in the top ten sexiest models in the world.
 In 2010 Irina Shayk started dating the richest football player Cristiano Ronaldo,
whom she met at a photoshoot for Armani. The affair added to her popularity and
the number of fees soared to the skies. Things went to the marriage. The
venerable footballer introduced his Russian girlfriend to his parents. Five years
had passed since they met, and Irina didn’t wait for the cherished proposal. Their
tight schedules - she had constant shooting, he trained and trained - almost
didn’t allow them to be together. Finally, in 2015 the model declared a break.
The new contender for the heart of the Russian
beauty appeared quickly. It was the 40-year-old
Oscar nominee, the most paid Hollywood actor
Bradley Cooper, who had recently survived a
hard break with model Suki Waterhouse.
At first, the couple pretended not to be familiar,
for example, at the party at Rihanna’s they
completely defiantly ignored each other. But
after five months of a tumultuous affair, the
lovers were bored of secrets and intrigues, and
the paparazzi had already sold pictures of their
hot kiss to the tabloids by that time. At the end
of 2016 Bradley made a proposal to Irina, and
in March 2017 their first born baby, Lea De
Seine Shayk-Cooper was born.
In 2019 Lady Gaga, who had become the star of Bradley Cooper’s The Star is
Born picture has recognized the cause. The actor was not ashamed of his wife
while standing next to and flirting with Gaga at the Oscars. And though the
singer denied an affair with Cooper, everything became clear when Shake slid
out of the Bradley mansion in summer and Lady Gaga replaced her.
Shayk is involved in charity work, although he does not advertise it. Together with
her sister, she helps the maternity hospital of her native Yemanzhelinsk and
financed the restoration of the children's department of the local hospital. Irina
also donates part of her income to the Russian charity fund "Help", which collects
money for operations and medicines for children with congenital diseases.