Valeria Lukyanova

Valeria Valeryevna Lukyanova (Валерия Валерьевна Лукьянова; born 1985) is a Russian model best known for her resemblance to a Barbie doll. She currently lives in Mexico. To enhance the Barbie effect Lukyanova uses makeup and contact lenses over her naturally green/gray/blue eyes. She has stated that she has had breast implants, but that the rest of her body is natural and slender due to daily gym workouts and a particular diet.

Early life
Lukyanova was born 1985, in Tiraspol, in what was then part of Moldavian SSR in the Soviet Union. She is of Russian origin. Her mother, Irina, worked for the military sector and her father was a construction worker, who also was a part-time disc jockey. Lukyanova lived in Odesa, Ukraine from age 16 until 2014, when she moved to Moscow.

Modelling career
In 2007, Lukyanova won the worldwide beauty contest "Miss Diamond Crown of the World". The beauty pageant was open to any woman, had about 300 contestants, and had no rule forbidding plastic surgery or body modification. She subsequently had multiple photo sessions and interviews published in Russian media, including erotic photos. Lukyanova developed a worldwide following for her Barbie doll-like appearance after she posted photos and videos of herself on the web. She gained notoriety after reports of her "almost inhuman beauty" surfaced online. The first notable coverage of her from outside Russia was on the Jezebel blog, followed by a photo session in V by Sebastian Faena. The media described her as being like a living Barbie doll.

There has been scepticism of Lukyanova. ABC News suggested that Lukyanova was a hoax aided by image editing software. Diane Levin regarded Lukyanova as an example of the negative effects of media objectification. To counter the image editing accusations, Lukyanova posted videos on YouTube and appeared on Russia-1 and Channel One Russia TV channels. Lukyanova admitted to having breast augmentation but no other plastic surgery, and denies that she had ribs removed to make her waist smaller. Lukyanova blamed people unconnected to her for altering photos of her younger self in a malicious attempt to imply she had received body modifications.

In 2013, Lukyanova was the subject of an episode of Vice's My Life Online documentary series entitled Space Barbie. In 2013 she participated in the documentary movie The Phase, which was released on YouTube in 7 languages.

In 2015, Lukyanova participated in Dosso Dossi's fashion show as a model.

Music, acting, and spirituality
Lukyanova is an instructor at the School of Out-of-Body Travel, described as "an international school in which our instructors show students how to leave their physical body and travel in their spiritual body." Her spiritual name is Amatue.

She is a composer, an opera singer, and has recorded two albums of new-age music, Sun in the Eyes and 2013 using the name Amatue. she wrote a book, Astral Travel Amatue, about her astral trips which she made available in 2012 as an RTF file to download for free from her website.

She had her debut starring role in a feature film in The Doll (2017), a horror movie directed and written by Susannah O’Brien. The film, which also includes Mindy Robinson and Ron Jeremy, revolves around Lukyanova's character, an escort made from doll parts created by a doctor to recruit others to kill, and the two men who requested her. The movie presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017.

Personal life
She is of Russian origin. She has a bachelor's degree in architecture from Odesa State Academy of Constructions and Architecture.

She is married to Ukrainian businessman Dmitry Shkrabov, her childhood friend. However, Lukyanova said that she does not want to have children or a "family lifestyle."

Lukyanova is a strict raw vegetarian, living on a liquid diet. She said that her weight was 45 kg (100 lb) in 2012. In 2014, she stated she was training herself to live off only light and air and converting to breatharianism, a cult with the central belief that food and possibly water are not necessary for survival. However, she later stopped this experiment, stating: "I still would like to do breatharianism someday. But right now, I am far from it, and I do not know when I will do it".

In 2014, because of the war in Donbas, Lukyanova moved from Odesa to Moscow.

Attacks
In 2014, Lukyanova reported to police that she was punched and strangled by two men outside her home, after receiving anonymous threats for over the past two years. She was hospitalized and released a week later.

Political views
Lukyanova caused controversy when she expressed support of Russia during the war in Donbas. She wrote, after posing in the Crimea region: "Do not give up! fight! Our grandfathers fought with bare hands against the fascists! Do not disgrace the honour of the Great Warrior! Be aware that Russia is always with you!"

She has also expressed racist views. She claimed, in a 2014 interview, that race-mixing caused "degeneration" and said that race-mixing was the reason why there are presumably less beautiful women today. About her own looks, she said, "I have white skin; I am a Nordic type - perhaps a little Eastern Baltic, but closer to Nordic." She went as far as to say that a girl born to a Russian mother and an Armenian father would need to go through plastic surgery to reduce the size of her nose.

In 2022, she criticised the sanctions imposed on Russia as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian War and said that those sanctions would hurt models who couldn't compete in international organisations.

Nicknames
Throughout her career, she has received various nicknames referring to her Barbie-like appearance. She has most commonly been referred to as "The Human Barbie".

In Russian-speaking media, she's often been referred to as "The Russian Barbie,"   "The Ukrainian Barbie,"   and "The Odesa Barbie."

Lukyanova, has expressed anger at the nickname of "Human Barbie", as she feels that it's "a little degrading and insulting" but that she's used to it now as it's the image her fans "requested" so she has to "comply with it because it's become part of my aesthetic image, but I don't like it".

Albums

 * 2009: Sun in the Eyes
 * 2013: 2013

Single appearances

 * "One Expectation" (2013) – by Alessandra Ambrosio ft. Amatue

Music videos

 * 2010: "Venus"
 * 2011: "Endless eternity"

Filmography

 * The Phase (2013) – documentary movie
 * The Doll (2017)