What to Know
Dancing With the Stars pro Gleb Savchenko has filed for emergency custody. According to the professional dancer, his ex-wife, Elena Samodanova, moved to Hong Kong with the former couple’s daughters and didn’t return when she said she would, and now that it seems like she may be living there permanently, Gleb is taking action. He and Elena share two children: 15-year-old Olivia and 8-year-old Zlata.
At first, they agreed that Elena and the girls could move to Hong Kong.
According to court documents obtained by Page Six, Elena and Gleb had agreed that she could move to Hong Kong with Olivia and Zlata for one year so she could be closer to a project she was working on as a fellow professional dancer. But not only did Elena allegedly fail to return the girls to their father when her year was up, but she also appears to be putting down roots.
Gleb claimed that the kids are enrolled in school, and now that Elena is engaged to Vlad Kvartin and the two have welcomed a baby, it doesn’t look like she is planning to leave Hong Kong anytime soon.
Olivia wants to stay with her dad.
Olivia is visiting her dad in Los Angeles, and he claims that she wants to stay with him instead of going back to Hong Kong, which is why he has only filed for temporary sole custody of her, and not his younger daughter.
Not only does Olivia want to go to high school in LA, but she also allegedly told Gleb that she’s afraid of “her mother’s temper and anger issues.”
“Olivia does not want to be prevented from being with me, as her mother has controlled, dictated and limited over the past few years,” Gleb said in the filing. “Finally, Olivia does not want to return to Hong Kong whatsoever or under any circumstances. She is afraid to do so.”
He went on to say that he believes that if he does send Olivia back to Hong Kong, he will never see her or Zlata again, adding, “I am very concerned about Olivia’s current mental health following years of her mother’s maltreatment of her.”
Elena is denying Gleb’s accusations.
In a statement to TMZ, Elena said that Gleb’s claims “misrepresent” what’s actually going on in their family.
“As Olivia’s primary caregiver, I have raised her every day while Gleb worked full-time on DWTS. Today, Olivia thrives in Hong Kong,” said Elena’s statement. “She attends a top school and is an elite ballroom dancer.”
“Gleb’s actions directly jeopardize her future, education, and athletic progress. California lacks jurisdiction over our daughter. Hong Kong is Olivia’s permanent home and legal residency,” she said. “Ironically, Gleb himself holds a Permanent Resident card there. Olivia was scheduled to return to Hong Kong on June 5th, but her father wrongfully canceled her ticket without my permission. This is a wrongful international retention.”
Elena and Gleb will be required to attend a custody mediation in August.
