Mila Kunis opens up about her newfound love for her Ukrainian heritage in a conversation with Maria Shriver.
Speaking to Shriver as part of her “Talks About Noise” interview series, which will release the full interview on Sunday, Kunis said she “always felt like an American” even though she was born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, and immigrated to the United States. Countries. He reunited with his family at the age of about eight.
He reflects on his peers’ perception of his childhood, Kunis said“People were like, ‘Oh, you’re a very Eastern European. I was like, ‘I’m L.A., what do you mean?’ Like, all my life, I’ve been like, ‘I’m L.A. all the way.'”
Kunis said her Ukrainian roots were “not important to me” when she was younger that she told people she was Russian.
“I have always said ‘I am from Russia’ for a number of reasons. One of them is that when I came to the United States and told people I was from Ukraine, the first question I got was, ‘Where is Ukraine? ? ” Kunis said. “And then he had to explain Ukraine and where it is on the map, and I was like, uh, that’s exhausting.” But if I was like, “I’m from Russia,” people were like, “Oh, we know this country” … So I said, “Great, I’m going to tell people I’m from Russia.” “
However, Kunis told Shriver that the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine was a shocking discovery for her.
“I can’t express or explain what happened to me,” Kunis said of the invasion, “but suddenly I felt like, oh my God, I felt like a part of my heart had just been ripped out.” “It was the strangest feeling.”
Kunis said she now has a renewed sense of pride in her Ukrainian heritage, which she wants to pass on to her children: daughter Wyatt, 7, and son Dimitri, 5.
“It doesn’t detract from my identity as a person, it just adds a whole different layer,” Kunis said. I turned to my children and said: You are half Ukrainian, half American. …and my kids were like, “Yeah, Mom, I got it.” And I said: No, you are Ukrainian and American. I was like, “You’re half Iowa, half Ukraine,” and they’d say, “Okay, I see.” “
With the help of her husband, Ashton Kutcher, Kunis dedicated her philanthropic efforts to helping the people of Ukraine. The couple launched a GoFundMe fundraising campaign on March 3 with the goal of raising $30 million in humanitarian aid for Ukraine.
Kunis and Kutcher matched $3 million for the fundraiser, which will benefit airline Flexport and vacation rental company Airbnb, according to the couple. The two organizations will facilitate relief efforts by “transferring humanitarian aid to well-known NGOs on the ground” and “providing free short-term accommodation for up to 100,000 refugees who have fled Ukraine.”
“The people of Ukraine are strong and brave, but being strong and brave doesn’t mean you don’t deserve support,” Kunis said in a video announcing the fundraiser.
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Kunis said she wanted people to remain focused on the seriousness of what is happening in Ukraine and how it could “affect the rest of the world economically and otherwise”.
“This problem can become incredibly catastrophic for the rest of the world, not just this part of the world, and I don’t want people to lose sight of that.” Kunis told Shriver at the end of the interview.
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Contributor: Rasha Ali