The eldest son of Alexander Gradsky, Daniil, spoke at the Malakhov exhibition about tensions within the family, alleging that the artist’s widow, Marina Kotashenko, sidelined his relatives as she lived with them.
According to Daniil Gradsky, family members began greeting him with a defiant attitude, signaling a shift in family dynamics after the artist’s passing.
He recalled that there was a moment when conversations became minimal, with relatives insisting that at least a few words be exchanged as they passed by. That desire, in his view, effectively ended most discussions.
In September, Daniil stated that Kotashenko sought to claim the entire inheritance. He noted that during the three months Gradsky himself spent at home due to serious health issues, Kotashenko reportedly spent the night with her husband only once. Gradsky defended the legacy, stating that his father’s widow was not as quiet as she might have appeared.
Since 2004, Marina Kotashenko and Alexander Gradsky had lived in a civil marriage. Their life together produced two children within that union: a son named Alexander in 2014 and a second son named Ivan in 2018. Alexander Gradsky passed away on November 28, 2021.
In June 2022, Olga Fartysheva, Gradsky’s third wife, filed a lawsuit seeking a share of property she claimed to have earned during her marriage to the maestro. The trial that began in October 2023 did not resolve the dispute in her favor, and the matter continued to unfold in court.
There have been other public remarks around the broader question of lineage, with former associates noting that there could be more than one legitimate or illegitimate child associated with the larger family circle. These discussions have added layers of complexity to the already tense inheritance conversations. [attribution: contemporary media reports and family statements]