"Only if Alla Pugacheva returns." Makeup artist Robert Minasyan on working at Channel One, returning to Russia and the LGBT community

Robert Minasyan is a makeup artist originally from Yerevan, who has worked with Alla Pugacheva, Angela Merkel, Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Pussycat Dolls, Army of Lovers, Nicolette Sheridan, Tina Kandelaki, Diana Arbenina and many others. In Los Angeles, he has long become an independent media figure with an audience of thousands and a reputation as a person who speaks without filters.

Recently, Minasyan statedthat in September he returned to Moscow to work on a new project of Channel One. The reaction of subscribers was divided: some took the news seriously, others as another provocation. Robert himself has not yet commented on this uncertainty.

At Robert's request, Doberman.media will not disclose the details of his return — or non-return — to Russia. Let's be honest: we know more than we can write now. But Robert himself promised that sooner or later he would tell Doberman.media readers what was really behind this story - and why, and why, and what happened next. In the meantime, we ask you to treat this understatement with understanding.

Doberman.media spoke with Robert about aging, loneliness, the gay community on both sides of the ocean — and under what conditions he allows himself to return to Russia at all.

About return and conditions for everyone

Doberman Media: Robert, when, in your opinion, will it be possible to return to Russia at all?
Robert Minasyan: I doubt that this will happen in the coming years, maybe decades. And what does it mean to return? The only factor that will change this is if Alla Pugacheva returns to Russia with her family, with Maxim Galkin and children. That's when everyone will be able to return. If this does not happen, then it is impossible.

And what does it mean to come back to me? I have never had Russian citizenship. I was born in Armenia, at the age of fifteen I moved to Germany with my family. At that time we were citizens of the USSR, and later I received German citizenship. Today I already have two citizenships: German and USA.

If we talk about work, then this is another issue. If the organizers can really guarantee my complete safety, and not in words, but officially, on paper, then this option can be discussed. But without such guarantees, there can be no talk of a trip.

Doberman Media: And moving to Los Angeles – what was the biggest disappointment?
Robert Minasyan: There were no disappointments as such – I came here already with a name, with a background, it was easier for me than for many. But in any case, any emigration is a zeroing. Starting from scratch, even if you have something under your belt.

About fear

Doberman Media: If a seventeen-year-old guy from Russia wrote to you today "I'm gay, I'm scared" – what would you answer?
Robert Minasyan: Being afraid of something and someone is a great weakness. Don't listen to anyone, go ahead and live your life. Draw conclusions, and if necessary, leave this country and live where there is freedom and where you will be happy.

Doberman Media: Has the gay community itself become kinder over the past ten years or more toxic?
Robert Minasyan: It's hard for me to judge - I have quite little contact with him directly. I had the experience of communicating with LGBT centers in Berlin and Los Angeles — I didn't see toxicity there, only kindness. And if we talk about the community as a whole, about people, perhaps there is more anger and envy.

About plastic surgery and aging

Doberman Media: Are your surgeries about regaining youth?
Robert Minasyan: Rather, it is about correcting someone else's mistake. One doctor ruined my nose - and thus three years of quality of life. But the last operation, a facelift, is already a conscious attempt to prolong youth, I do not argue with that.

Doberman Media: Why are people so afraid of aging in general?
Robert Minasyan: Because they are afraid of not being in demand. They are afraid to look in the mirror and hear "you are old". But if you can look forty at sixty, why not? Aging is a natural process, there is nothing to be afraid of, but there are methods to preserve yourself now, and not only surgical.

About beauty, competition and loneliness

Doberman Media: Why are there so many handsome and successful, but single men among gays?
Robert Minasyan: Gays have always strived for beauty – look at the history of fashion, it is mainly created by them, because they see the world differently. But the competition is only higher from this: there are a lot of gay men, and not everyone finds a partner. At the same time, loneliness is not a tragedy. If you are happy and self-sufficient in it, this is happiness.

Doberman Media: Why do the gay community love perfect photos so much and so rarely show real life?
Robert Minasyan: It's not just about the gay community – the world has changed in general, and this applies to everyone: straight people, gays, lesbians... People photoshop themselves, post photoshopped, perfect versions, and almost never real life. Why? Because they are afraid to show their real selves. And, as a rule, only non-self-sufficient people do this.

Doberman Media: What is the main self-deception in gay dating?
Robert Minasyan: In the fact that at every meeting they are looking for love. People convince themselves that they have fallen in love, and then suffer in the same self-deception. Love is a strange thing, it comes suddenly, where you don't expect. In dating, you should look for good communication, and not decide in advance that this is fate.

Doberman Media: If Grindr disappeared tomorrow, would it be easier or harder for the community?
Robert Minasyan: Harder, it would definitely be a loss for many — the app gives a quick acquaintance here and now, without obligations. Although, if it disappears, something similar will immediately appear. I never use it myself - I prefer to meet by chance, on the street or in ordinary social networks.

"I'm (almost) not friends with gay men"

Doberman Media: What should Russian-speaking gays learn from Western gays, and vice versa?
Robert Minasyan: Ours are kindness, simplicity, and the absence of envy. Americans and Europeans have the quality of helping each other, not pretending to be stars. But what the Westerners could adopt from ours is difficult for me to say, but there is nothing to say. To be honest, I am almost not friends with gays - it is too much like a female friendship, where they rejoice at your misfortune and envy your happiness.

Doberman Media: You have lived in Armenia, Germany, Russia, the USA. Where was it easiest to be gay?
Robert Minasyan: It was easy for me everywhere. I have never encountered homophobia directly anywhere – not once. This is probably a matter of character: I have been confident in myself since childhood, from the age of six or seven, and this has never allowed anyone to ruin my life.

Doberman Media: And what country do you consider your homeland?
Robert Minasyan:Germany. Although he was happy everywhere - and for fifteen years in Armenia he was truly happy.

About love after fifty

Doberman Media: Would you agree to live your life anew, but heterosexual?
Robert Minasyan: No. I am happy with who I am, and I do not imagine myself in love with a woman. The fifty years that I have lived is a rich, self-sufficient life, and I would not change anything in it.

Doberman Media: What did you stop looking for in men after fifty?
Robert Minasyan: I have never, in fact, been looking for great love. I was in an official relationship once - but I would call it more of a game than a feeling. The rest of the time is attraction and sex, it doesn't matter if the person in front of me is straight or gay. Someday I will write a book about it - "In the Sexual Labyrinths of Robert Minasyan".