Sharing his side. Gleb Savchenko spoke out about his relationship with estranged wife Elena Samodanova after she filed for divorce on Tuesday, December 22.
“We’ve had problems for years,” Savchenko, 37, told Entertainment Tonight on Wednesday, December 23. “I was in a mentally abusive, jealous relationship.”
Last month, the pair called it quits after 14 years of marriage. Samodanova, 36, later claimed that the Dancing With the Stars pro cheated on her amid rumors that he and his season 29 DWTS partner Chrishell Stause were romantically involved.
The Selling Sunset star, 39, and the Russian dancer both denied the allegations. Savchenko doubled down on his innocence on Tuesday, saying, “The thing is, I’ve never actually cheated on her. Never, ever, ever.”
He claimed that the choreographer, with whom he shares two daughters, Olivia, 10, and Zlata, 3, was “trying to set [him] up,” but he never strayed.
“All of those partners that I danced with, it might have looked on TV like [it was something more], but it never was the case,” he explained.
Savchenko revealed that he and Samodanova have not lived together since July, after trying to make things work for months prior.
“I felt down, I lost confidence,” he said. “I felt like, ‘This is it.’ Either I’m gonna be really, really depressed, and I just have to own my inner bitch, or just say, ‘F–k it. Stop.'”
Since announcing their separation, Savchenko claimed that his estranged wife has threatened taking away their daughters and ruining his career.
“Elena told me, ‘After this divorce, I’m gonna skin you. I’m gonna take everything you have, even your kids, and make you walk back to Russia where you come from.’ Those were her exact words,” Savchenko alleged. “She wants me to lose my job. She wants me to lose everything, because she’s just very jealous and she cannot stand the fact that I finally found the inner strength to say, ‘Enough.'”
The dancer, who said his goal is to get 50/50 custody of his daughters, added: “It’s been very difficult for me. But I just want to do my best and enjoy life. [My daughters] are the most important thing for me.”
Us Weekly confirmed on Tuesday that Samodanova filed for divorce, one month after the pair announced their separation.
The So You Think You Can Dance choreographer also filed a request for mediation regarding child custody, visitation and child support. A hearing is set for March 2021.
Both parties have seemingly moved on after being spotted on vacation with new flames this month.
The Celebs on the Farm alum joined Stause and her new boyfriend, DWTS‘ Keo Motsepe, on a couple’s trip to Mexico on December 13. Savchenko was accompanied by new girlfriend Cassie Scerbo.
“They are having fun together, it’s a fun and flirty time for them both,” a source told Us at the time. “They are just starting to get to know each other.”
Samodanova, for her part, was spotted kissing DWTS’ Vlad Kvartin on the beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on Monday, December 21.
Savchenko told ET on Tuesday that he had a “gut feeling” that the pair were involved a long time ago after they spent two weeks in Russia working on Dancing With the Stars Russia earlier this year.
“She helped him choreograph the show, he got eliminated, and then they both came back [to Los Angeles],” he claimed. “That was the moment where I was like, ‘Listen, I think us, like we don’t really work, let’s figure something out.’”
