Meet Vera Brezhneva’s Daughters: Sonya Kiperman and Sarah Kiperman

Vera Brezhneva is one of the most recognizable faces in Eastern European pop music, a Ukrainian singer, actress, television presenter, and philanthropist whose career has spanned over two decades.

Born Vira Viktorivna Halushka on February 3, 1982, in Dniprodzerzhynsk (now Kamianske), Ukraine, she grew up in a working-class household with no ties to the entertainment industry. Her father, Viktor Mikhailovich Galushka, worked as an engineer at a chemical plant along the Dnieper River, and her mother, Tamara Vitalievna Galushka, trained in medicine but also worked at the same factory.

Vera is of Ukrainian ethnicity, with mixed Ukrainian and Russian ancestry on her father’s side, and follows Eastern Orthodox Christianity. She grew up alongside three sisters: Halyna Galushka, who is older, and twins Anastasiya Galushka and Viktoriya Galushka, both younger.

Her sister Victoria was notably married to Ukrainian comedian Alexander Tsekalo. For her education, Vera studied at the Rail Engineering Institute in Dnipropetrovsk, graduating with a degree in economics, though she never pursued that career professionally. She is 44 years old and stands at 172 cm (5 feet 7 inches) tall.

Her path to fame began in 2002, when she auditioned for the popular Ukrainian girl group Nu Virgos and successfully replaced a departing member. She joined the group’s new lineup in January 2003, which quickly earned the label of the “golden lineup,” and she remained a key member for over four years before departing in December 2007 to build a solo career.

Her stage name, Vera Brezhneva, was assigned to her in reference to Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, who was also born in the same city. Her solo discography includes hit singles such as Ya Ne Igrayu, Realnaya Zhizn, Bessonnitsa, and Dobroe Utro, along with studio albums Lyubov Spasyot Mir (2010) and Ververa (2015).

On screen, she became known for her role in the romantic comedy Love in the Big City (2009) and its sequels, as well as appearances in Yolki (2010) and 8 Best Dates (2016). She is also a UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador and the founder of the Ukrainian charity Luch Very, which provides support for children with serious illnesses.

On the personal front, Vera has been married twice. Her first marriage, in November 2006, was to Ukrainian businessman Mikhail Yuryevich Kiperman, with whom she shared six years before announcing a divorce in October 2012.

Prior to that marriage, she was in a civil relationship with Ukrainian politician Vitaliy Voychenko, which preceded her union with Kiperman and ultimately ended before it. In the aftermath of her divorce, there were brief unconfirmed reports linking her to film director Marius Weisberg in early 2013, though Vera never publicly confirmed those claims.

In October 2015, she wed renowned composer and music producer Konstantin Meladze in a private ceremony held in Italy. That marriage, too, eventually came to an end following the outbreak of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, during which Vera publicly declared her support for Ukraine and relocated to Riga, Latvia.

She has two daughters from her two earlier relationships: Sonya Kiperman, from her relationship with Voychenko, and Sarah Kiperman, from her marriage to Mikhail Kiperman.

Sonya Kiperman

Sonya Kiperman is the firstborn child of Vera Brezhneva and the daughter she shares with Ukrainian politician and businessman Vitaliy Voychenko. She was born on March 30, 2001, in Ukraine, and is 24 years old.

Her parents were in a civil relationship at the time of her birth, one that did not last long, and Sonya grew up primarily in the care of her maternal grandparents during her mother’s demanding early years in the entertainment industry.

When Vera married Mikhail Kiperman in 2006, Sonya was five years old, and Kiperman became a warm and present stepfather figure in her life. The bond between them grew so strong that at age ten, Sonya voluntarily requested to take the Kiperman surname in place of her birth surname, Voychenko, and her wish was granted. She has since been publicly known as Sonya Kiperman, and on social media, she has also used the pseudonym Sonya Cooper.

Growing up in a celebrity household did not confine Sonya to a sheltered life. She attended standard schools in Ukraine and was known to change institutions over the years, partly because her status as the daughter of a famous pop star created unusual social dynamics among classmates.

She also studied in the United States, attending programs at institutions such as The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in Los Angeles, where she pursued her interest in acting. During summer breaks, she regularly attended filmmaking camps in New York, developing a serious passion for cinema from a young age. Beyond academics, her interests have ranged widely, including horseback riding, boxing, tennis, piano, dancing, and choreography.

Sonya stepped into the public spotlight in her own right through modeling, appearing on catwalks across Europe and lending her face to collections by designers including Bella Potemkina and Ukrainian designer Anna Karenina. She was selected to open one of Bella Potemkina’s shows during a Moscow Fashion Week presentation, marking a significant debut on the runway circuit.

In 2016, she added voice acting to her credits, providing the Russian-language voice of the main character in the animated feature Ballerina, a French production whose soundtrack was produced by MBAND, the musical group connected to Konstantin Meladze. She also made a brief on-screen cameo in 8 Best Dates (2016), the film in which her mother played one of the leading roles.

Sonya has built an active presence on Instagram, where she shares fashion and lifestyle content, and her striking physical resemblance to her mother has frequently attracted media attention. Though her father is Vitaliy Voychenko, she has consistently expressed warmth and public gratitude toward her stepfather, Mikhail Kiperman, whom she has referred to as a genuine paternal figure in her life.

Sarah Kiperman

Sarah Kiperman is the second and youngest daughter of Vera Brezhneva, and the child she shares with her former husband, businessman Mikhail Kiperman. She was born on December 14, 2009, in Kyiv, Ukraine, and is 16 years old. Unlike her elder half-sister Sonya, Sarah is Mikhail Kiperman’s biological daughter, making her the only child who shares both of her parents by blood.

Though her parents divorced in 2012 when Sarah was still a toddler, she maintained a close relationship with both her mother and her father and reportedly formed a warm connection with her father’s second wife as well. The separation did not fracture her sense of family, and she and Sonya, though sharing only a mother, have been consistently described as affectionate and inseparable sisters.

Sarah received her foundational education at the British International School in Kyiv, where she studied English and Italian extensively. From early on, she displayed an entrepreneurial spirit and a pronounced interest in design, leading her to establish her own interior design studio, LAUDREA, at the age of 13, a move that generated considerable media coverage and positioned her as a standout young creative personality in Ukraine.

Her social media presence has grown steadily, with her Instagram account amassing over 21,000 followers, where she shares glimpses of her design work, her travels, and her personal aesthetic. She has also demonstrated interests across a broad range of activities, including pilates, yoga, cardio fitness, tennis, chess, DJing, and photography.

Sarah entered the modeling industry, collaborating with brands and participating in photo shoots that have showcased her natural poise and striking appearance. In December 2023, she attracted additional attention when she began posting content on Instagram in the Ukrainian language, a public shift that was seen as a meaningful personal and cultural statement given her upbringing in a Russian-speaking household and her mother’s prior career in Russia.

The move was widely noted and appreciated amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. Sarah has spoken openly about her approach to wellness, sharing with her followers that she maintains her health through intuitive eating, prioritizing fruits, vegetables, and hydration, while also allowing herself to balance with occasional indulgences.

Though she was publicly linked to an Englishman at age 14, details about her current romantic life remain private, in keeping with her mother’s preference to shield her daughters’ personal lives from excessive public scrutiny. With her creative ambitions already in motion and her public profile continuing to grow, Sarah Kiperman has firmly established herself as a personality in her own right, well beyond the shadow of her famous mother.

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