Johnny Weir is back at the Olympics, adding his flair to the PyeongChang Games as a figure skating analyst. The two-time Olympian and three-time US national champion started his career off the ice as a commentator for the 2014 Games in Sochi.
It was during that time that he was going through a bitter separation with his then-husband Victor Voronov. “Sochi was one of the hardest times in my life,” he told Access Hollywood. “When I was on the broadcasting, I escaped my own personal hell that I was living in. My husband was behaving very erratically. The majority of the time off camera I was in tears. I was on the phone. I was fighting. I was not in a good place.”
To say the couple had a tumultuous marriage is quite the understatement. E! put it best when they summarized the drama the couple endured as “months of accusations, a nude photo leak, disputes over property and pets, a failed reconciliation and two alleged altercations.”
Here’s what you should know about the Atlanta native who was married to the former figure skater.
1. He Accused Weir of Domestic Violence
Weir and Voronov married back in December 2013 in a civil ceremony at a New York City courthouse. At the time, Weir blissfully tweeted:
However, those initial feelings of love took a drastic turn as allegations of domestic violence plagued the couple.
In May of 2014, sources told TMZ that Voronov told police that after Weir discovered negative texts his husband had written about him, he proceeded to scratch him in a violent rage. In fact, the outlet even published pictures of Voronov’s injuries.
Weir did not deny there was an altercation, but claims he was defending himself against Voronov, who wanted to sleep with him, and told Access Hollywood in a TV interview viewed by more than 2.5 million people:
So, we had a fight and then I went to sleep because I had to work the next day, and he came in—very not himself—and asked me to lay with him in the biblical sense, and when I refused, the altercation between us started. I was defending myself, and it’s unfortunate that there was a mark left on his body, because as soon the police came to our home, the first thing he did was show this mark, so I knew then he didn’t really care that much and all he is out to do is hurt me.
Although Voronov admitted that he was fearful during their union, he still expressed his unwavering love for his ex. In April of 2014, in an interview with Rumor Fix, shown above, he confessed his mixed emotions:
I feel betrayed, heartbroken, shocked. I was blinded by fear. The thing is, love and fear go hand in hand. It was walking on eggshells every since day…I’ll always love him. Yes, I love him. What he’s done to me is unforgivable. It is the most conniving behavior I’ve ever seen anybody do, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that I love him.
2. He Also Sued Him for Defamation
#johnnyweir files for divorce from hubby #Victorvoronov @JohnnyGWeir http://t.co/OqOv8rDcV5 http://t.co/X8ELKAcCnS
After the allegations Weir made saying he had to defend himself physically after denying Voronov sex, Voronov slapped his ex with a defamation lawsuit. The suit also mentioned the fact that Weir said Voronov had herpes.
Voronov filed a defamation lawsuit against Weir on September 18 in New York claiming that Weir falsely accused him “of attempted rape and sexual misconduct in front of over 2,500,000 viewers” during an interview with Access Hollywood back in March. Voronov also claims Weir spread “salacious lies” about his sexual health and publicly accused Voronov of having “herpes” or “some sort of sexually transmitted disease.”
TMZ got their hands on Voronov’s legal documents, which claimed that Weir also cheated on him while they were married.
In fact, in April of 2014, Radar published that Voronov retaliated by leak a story entitled, leaking a nude photo of Weir.
3. He Was Engaged to an Ice Dancer Who Will Be at the Olympics
In the winter of 2014, the newly single Voronov met ice dancer Joti Polizoakis at the airport in Atlanta.
They moved to Detroit together so Polizoakis could pursue hopes for the Olympics, got engaged in December of 2015 and split in August of 2016. Although the marriage didn’t last, Polizoakis’s Olympics career did. In fact, he will be at the 2018 Games. in the tweet below posted on February 7, the skater articulates his feelings about living out his dream.
It takes a lifetime of hard work, sacrifice, commitment, and passion to take a picture with these 5 rings! I am here! @olympics
After the couple’s demise, Voronov detailed the reasons for the break up to Page Six.. “I’ve always had the concern that I’m here for a visa. I’m sorry…citizenship,” he admitted.
“People get married out of the United States for all sorts of reasons, especially in this sport,” he continued. “I didn’t want to do that. Plus after my divorce, as you know how bad it got, I made it clear to everybody around me that I’m never getting married again. Even if I get engaged and committed it’s not going to be a legal process. It’s going to be a commitment, verbal.”
4. He Came Out to His Family a Month Before the Wedding
In the interview above, on Bethenny, Voronov, who said he knew he was gay as a child, explained to Frankel, “I told my family a month before we got married and then my friends only found out in People magazine.”
After the divorce, Voronov harbored feelings of resentment towards Weir, claiming he coerced him to reveal his homosexuality. According to TMZ, “Victor also claims prior to meeting Johnny he was living his life as a heterosexual man and was struggling with his identity, yet he says Johnny forced him to come out of the closet.
At the time, his legal crisis manager told People:
“He’s totally heartbroken. Victor entered the marriage for one purpose only – because he loved Johnny…He took a big life-changing risk in entering the marriage, because he wasn’t out [as gay]. He’s devastated.”
5. He’s a Lawyer
According to his LinkedIn profile, he graduated from Georgetown Law in 2008. He earned his undergraduate degree at Emory University in Atlanta, where he was on the Dean’s List and president of the chess club.
His profile also states that he presently works in Detroit at a law firm. It also mentions that he is a donor for philanthropies such as Human Rights Campaign, which fights for LGBTQ rights and The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ crisis intervention and suicide prevention organization.
When he married Weir, he quit his job at a law firm to support his new husband. However, Weir said Voronov was not happy with that arrangement. “He was not super-accepting of the fact I work and I have to work this week in Russia, this week in Los Angeles, next week in Tokyo, and that’s something that’s hard to wrap your head around,” he said in an interview with Access Hollywood. “I was supporting two people, and whether it seems like a big deal or not, I come from a lower middle class family that has to work no matter what.”
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Victor Voronov, Johnny Weir’s Ex-Husband: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know