Marina Balmasheva has lost weight and embarked on a new relationship with her former stepson, 20-year-old Vladimir 'Vova' Shavyrin. Photo / Instagram
The Russian blogger having a baby with her adopted son 15 years her junior has been showing off her new figure after claiming she's lost 127kg.
She made global headlines when she fell pregnant to her former stepson-turned-fiance.
But now Russian blogger Marina Balmasheva has been showing off the huge amount of weight she lost before ditching her husband for his son.
Marina Balmasheva, 35, from the western Russian region of Krasnodar Krai, is in the early stages of pregnancy with the child of her 20-year-old stepson Vladimir "Vova" Shavyrin, who she has known since the age of 7.
Despite the controversy around the unusual romance, Marina is keen to show her followers just how hard she's worked at her weight loss.
Posting dramatic before and after snaps recently, Marina – who earned her influencer status from sharing her 127kg weight loss – admitted she had struggled with the lack of exercise in lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic.
"I can't go for a walk because the sport is banned," she wrote in the roughly translated post, adding that being pregnant had "brought the appetite".
She went on to ask her followers how much weight they gained during pregnancy and "how much was left at the hospital," suggesting she's worried about the impending changes to her body as their baby grows.
In an earlier post, Marina said she was an "unhappy woman" when she was larger but has now turned her life around to become a "skinny b**ch".
She talked about being left with sagging skin after losing weight, but last year – when she was still with Vova's father, she had surgery to remove it.
Photos from her marriage to Alexey Shavyrin, 45, show Marina looking very different to her look and style today.
In one snap she's holding a plant, wearing a baggy T-shirt and looks to be struggling to smile, while in another she's at a party in a similar outfit, this time teamed with a hat – but still a vacant looking smile.
She hadn't always struggled with her weight, with a snap from her 2007 wedding to Alexey showing her looking much slimmer, wearing a white lace gown with a heavy white cloak to keep her warm on what looks like a bitterly cold day.
During their 13-year marriage she gained weight, writing at one point she didn't want to wear a swimsuit.
The tipping point came four years ago when she said she realised "that this is the point".
"You do not believe yourself and in yourself either. But the head already says: Stop eating!" she wrote, alongside a photo of her in a pool with Alexey.
After changing her lifestyle, Marina is now barely recognisable from her old photos.
Recent snaps show the blogger – who appears to still co-parent her fiance's younger siblings with his dad – oozing confidence, even posing in bikinis and undies for her followers.
Despite Marina copping a lot of flak for their relationship, the unorthodox pair are remaining excited by the baby news.
In one picture, they clasp their positive pregnancy test while holding back tears.
Marina was just 22 when she first married Vova's dad, living with her husband Alexey Shavyrin, now 45, for over 10 years before the relationship ended in divorce.
During that time she reportedly adopted her ex-husband's five children when they were together, making Vova her legal son.