Mila Kunis: The Ukrainian actress opens up about her life in the Soviet Union

Mila Kunis is an American actress and has been in many shows and films, including That 70s show, Family Guy and Friends With Benefits. Kunis may now be an American citizen, but she was born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine in 1983, when it was still part of the Soviet Union.

Life in the Soviet Union

Mila Kunis has given lots of interviews over the years about her life while in Ukraine. In 2011, she conducted one with The Daily Telegraph where she opened up about her family living through the Holocaust:

My whole family was in the Holocaust. My grandparents passed and not many survived.

She then explained that after the Holocaust, the Soviet Union had banned religion but her parents tried to teach her about her religion any way they could.

After the Holocaust, in Russia you were not allowed to be religious. So my parents raised me to know I was Jewish. You know who you are inside. When I was in school you would still see antisemitic signs

In an interview with Glamour in 2016, Kunis recalled the way her parents struggled when they decided to leave the Soviet Union as ‘they ‘didn’t see a future’ for their children there.

My parents went through hell and back. They came to America with suitcases and a family of seven and $250, and that’s it.

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Life in the US

Mila Kunis said that her parents did their best to provide for them. They both worked multiple jobs whilst also attending night school so they could learn English. No one in the Kunis family knew English before moving. Indeed, Mila recalls that she ‘blocked out’ the second grade.

I cried every day, I didn't understand the people. I didn't understand the language.

However, despite her struggle to adapt to life in the US, Mila says she’s ‘a proud American’.

During an interview with The Star-Ledger, the interviewer was curious about her thoughts on the fact that Russia had annexed Crimea, which was a part of Ukraine, the actress replied:

Just because I lived there until I was 7 doesn’t mean I identify with Ukraine, always considered myself American,

Due to the current war in Ukraine, Mila Kunis has taken to Instagram to speak up and has said:

I was born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, in 1983. I came to America in 1991. I have always considered myself American, a proud American, I love everything that this country has done for myself and my family.

She then added

But today, I have never been more proud to be a Ukrainian.