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Home » Trending » Who Is Russian-American Journalist, Masha Gessen? Wikipedia, Parents, Gay, Married, Partner, & Net Worth

Who Is Russian-American Journalist, Masha Gessen? Wikipedia, Parents, Gay, Married, Partner, & Net Worth

Masha Gessen

Masha Gessen is a Russian-American journalist, author, and translator. Masha is currently working as a staff writer at The New Yorker.

She is also an award-winning journalist who has won awards such as the National Jewish Book Award (2005), Liberty Media Corporation (2013), University of Michigan Wallenberg Medal (2015), and others.

She has more than 137k followers on her official Twitter page under the username @mashagessen.

Who Is Masha Gessen? Wikipedia Details

Masha Gessen is a Russian-American journalist, author, translator, and activist who has been an outspoken critic of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and the former President of the United States, Donald Trump.

Masha openly admits that her sexual behavior is not dualistic and is known for fieldwork using the pronouns “they” and “them” in communicating with transgender people, gay awareness, and struggling for truth.

In addition, she has been fighting for LGBTQ rights throughout her life and is described as “Russia’s leading LGBT rights activist ” They have said that they were probably the only publicly out gay person worldwide for many years.

Gessen is a staff writer at the New Yorker and a national fellow with New America Foundation.

Masha Gessen was born on 13 January 1967 in Moscow, Russia, and she recently celebrated her 55th birthday on the 13th of January 2022.

Her height is 5 feet 5 inches or 1.65 m tall, and she weighs around 54 kg or 119 lbs.

Who Are Masha Gessen’s Parents?

Masha Gessen was born into a Jewish family in Moscow. Her father’s name is Alexander Gessen, and her mother’s name is Yelena Gessen.

Masha’s paternal grandmother, Ester Goldberg, was born in Białystok, Poland, but later emigrated to Moscow in 1940.

Her maternal grandfather, Samuil Gessen, died during World War II. When Masha was a teenager, her parents moved to the United States of America from Moscow, Russia.

However, Masha came back home from the United States of America, working as a journalist. Likewise, she holds both Russian and US nationality.

She grew up with her younger brothers Keith Gessen, Daniel Gessen, and Philip Gessen.

When Did Masha Gessen Get Married?

Masha Gessen got married to her husband, Darya Oreshkina. They got married in December 2018 in the presence of their family and friends.

Moreover, the journalist previously married Svetlana Generalova, who they met in the LGBT movement in Moscow in 2004.

They are the parents of two children. Their eldest son, Vova Gessen, was born in 1997. Masha adopted Vova from a Russian Orphanage for the children of HIV-positive women. Likewise, their second child, a daughter named Yolka Gessen, was born in 2001.

Who Is Masha Gessen’s Partner?

Masha Gessen’s partner named is Julia Loktev. Her partner, Julia Loktev, is a Russian-American film director and video artist.

She is known for her films such as Taxicab Confessions (1995-1996), Moment of Impact (1998), Day Night Day Night (2006), and The Loneliest Planet (2011).

When Did Masha Gessen Start Her Career?

Masha Gessen started her career as a journalist at the age of 17 at a biweekly Boston newspaper that raised her voice against gay issues. She covered the AIDS crisis for gay news publications from 1984 to 1992.

During the 1990s, Masha covered the transition in the former Soviet Union and the wars in the former Yugoslavia.

Eventually, the journalist started writing in both Russian and English. Also, she helped to found Itogi, the first weekly magazine in post-Soviet Russia and served as its chief correspondent till 2001.

Masha has edited several Russian magazines during her initial career, including the popular-science monthly Vokrug Sveta. She was fired for refusing to send a reporter to cover Russian President Vladimir V. Putin’s piloting of Siberian cranes with a hang glider.

Moreover, Masha is the author of twelve books, including The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin, The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia, Surviving Autocracy, Ester and Ruzya: How My Grandmothers Survived Hitler’s War and Stalin’s Peace, The Brothers: The Road to an American Tragedy, and others.

She has written about Russia, Putin, LGBT rights, and Donald Trump for the New York Review of Books, New York Times, and other publications.

How Much Is Masha Gessen’s Net Worth?

Masha Gessen has an estimated net worth of $1 million, which she earned from her professional career as a journalist, author, translator, and activist.

She also gets paid for various brand endorsements, promotions, and sponsorships.