One of Instagram’s most glamorous influencers claims to be a billionaire’s daughter who is “too pretty to work”. The Russian socialite leads an extravagant lifestyle – and previously said that her designer clothes, expensive dinners, and exclusive holidays were “completely normal” – even insisting she didn’t know that not everyone could afford designer handbags.
Her name is Julia Stakhiva, and she rose to fame on the E4 show Rich Kids of Instagram in 2016, when she was just 23-years-old. The Ukraine-born beauty insisted she was the daughter of a Russian billionaire when the series aired a decade ago. She also boasted about having a wardrobe worth £1 million and had never worked a day in her life.
When Julia appeared on Rich Kids of Instagram, she was living in Mayfair – one of London’s most wealthy districts. Her dream was to hit 20,000 followers on Instagram and she was willing to go to extreme lengths to do so.
The best method she could think of to boost her follower count was to look “prettier” and have more confidence, so she flew to Turkey for a cosmetic procedure to give her face more “definition”.
Julia said at the time: “It’s very important for me to look good. It’s better for me to get a treatment instead of just trying to Photoshop pictures. That’s my image on Instagram, that’s the kind of brand I want to be. And I’m not ashamed of getting all these treatments.”
View 3 ImagesJulia lived a lavish lifestyle in Mayfair, London(Image: Julia Stakhiva/instagram)
Julia was known for her unfiltered attitude on the show and even declared: “Anyone can be rich, but not everyone can be beautiful”.
After appearing on the programme, Julia had a few further appearances on television, including an interview on This Morning in 2016 when she famously declared she was “too pretty to work”.
Julia said she did plan on working in the future as she was an only child, so would need to take over her father’s business. However, it’s not known what that business actually is.
The influencer said she had worked hard for a business management degree and was working on her Master’s at the time, but had no interest in working a real job until she absolutely had to.
But she argued that, even though she doesn’t work and spends her days running in Hyde Park and jetting back to Moscow just to get her hair done, she still feels “pressure” to be perfect.
She said: “There is a lot of pressure because my parents really expect me to achieve more. They expect me to be beautiful, and smart, and educated, and elegant. Everything at the same time. I cannot really miss out on one of those; I always have to be perfect.”
View 3 ImagesShe appeared on The Morning in 2016 to talk about her influencing dream(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
However, Julia’s lavish lifestyle might not be all that it seems. In 2016, The Guardian journalist Marina Hyde accused the socialite of fabricating her lifestyle, claiming she had been renting a spare room in the home of Hyde’s mother-in-law until just a few weeks before Rich Kids of Instagram aired.
Hyde alleged that Julia had invited the show’s camera crew into her mother-in-law’s home while she was away on holiday and claimed that it was her own property. In response, the producers of Rich Kids of Instagram re-edited the programme to remove all footage of the flat, so that it would not appear online or in repeat broadcasts.
Julia insisted that she was from a wealthy family, and Channel 4 corroborated the claim, but it has never been confirmed exactly who her father is, or whether he really is a billionaire.
A decade later, Julia is now 33-years-old. According to her Instagram account, she has changed her name to Lea Yakhnich. It is unclear whether Lea is a nickname for Julia or if she’s chosen a new moniker, and it’s also unknown whether her surname has changed as a result of marriage.
She has achieved her decade-long dream of hitting 20,000 followers and has even managed to double it, now sitting at a respectable 42,000 followers on Instagram – although she only follows one account herself, which is one belonging to a man named Kirill.
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The socialite has also ditched her lavish life in London and has moved to Moscow. Her Instagram bio states that she is an art historian while also studying to become an “icon painter”.
For all her talk of wanting to be a popular influencer in 2016, Lea seems to have lost some of her interest. She last posted on Instagram three weeks ago, sharing several posts about attending an Easter service.
She doesn’t seem to have completely left the lavish lifestyle behind, though, as many of her Instagram posts still feature designer clothes and handbags, as well as images that appear to have been shot professionally.