Martina Navratilova's wife Julia Lemigova fondly revisits life as a model & as Miss Russia

Martina Navratilova's wife, Julia Lemigova, reminisced about her modeling days before she met the 18-time Major singles champion. Russian-born Lemogiva was a highly sought-after model in the 1990s and was crowned Miss Russia 1990. The daughter of a Red Army colonel, Lemigova is now a US reality television star.

Navratilova and Lemigova first met in 2000 but did not immediately connect. They became romantically involved when their paths crossed at the 2008 French Open. Navratilova proposed to her at the 2014 US Open, and they were married in December of that year. In August of last year, the couple adopted two boys.

Lemigova looked back at her career as a beauty pageant participant and globetrotting model on social media. She posted a video clip of the 1990 pageant on Instagram, in which she became Miss Russia. As part of the competition, she was asked a challenging question:

"What is the most important advice your mother ever gave to you?"

Lemigova answered in halting English and recognized in her post that in those days, English was a second language for her. Nevertheless, she managed to give an impressive answer:

"My mother never gave me not important advice. She always gave me very important and very good advice, and she told me the most important advice - she told me that I have to try to do everything in my life by myself. Otherwise I will be nothing, and I try to do this."

At the same time, Lemigova posted a picture to her Threads page. In the black and white image, a young Lemigova stared demurely into the camera during a photo shoot in Paris. The 52-year-old captioned the picture with a statement about modeling 30 years ago:

"There were no filters back then in Paris :) Nothing like modeling in the 90th"

Julia Legova Threads (hthtps://www.threads.net/@julialemigova/post/DGrBZ-duo2X)

After her modeling career, Lemigova permanently moved to Paris and opened Joiya Spa, a health centre. She also launched her own skincare line, called Russian Blanche, in 2009.

Martina Navratilova and Julia Lemigova live in Florida, where Lemigova is a reality TV star

Celebrity Sightings At Wimbledon 2024 - Day 13 - Source: Getty

In 2021, Julia Lemigova moved out of the fashion industry and into reality TV. She joined the cast of Real Housewives of Miami, becoming the first housewife on the show to be married to a woman.

Lemigova also looks after the couple's farm in Broward County, but revealed to her co-stars on Season 5 Episode 2 of the show that Navratilova is less involved:

“My farm is not just my hobby. It’s a working farm because I do sell eggs and avocados and guavas and whatever is in season. I’m happy here. Martina complains about me leaving in the morning and coming back after the sun goes down. She has mixed feelings about the farm. Farming is not really her thing. So Martina and I are kind of doing things separately.”

Meanwhile, Martina Navratilova works as a tennis analyst and pundit for the BBC. The tennis legend is very active on social media and often comments on the social and political issues of the day.