THE Bogdanoff twins were known for their extreme cosmetic enhancements – but there was more to their lives than plastic surgery.
Igor, 72, has died in hospital reportedly from Covid just days after brother Grichka died from the virus on December 28.
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A source close to the family told Le Monde that neither Grichka nor Igor was vaccinated against the virus.
In a family statement released by his agent, they said: “In peace and love, surrounded by his children and his family, Igor Bogdanoff left for the light on Monday January 3, 2022”.
The two eccentric brothers will be remembered for their denials of plastic surgery – after both their appearances drastically changed over the years.
Grichka told a French TV channel in 2017 he had never had plastic surgery, implants or botox.
He told Télé-Loisirs: “I say it solemnly, we have never used it.”
From an alleged £670,000 scam to Bitcoin boasts and much younger girlfriends, we reveal their bizarre lives.
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Raised in castle after scandalous affair
The twins came from European nobility – but their relatives had their fair share of scandal.
Their mother Maya Kolowrat Bogdanoff was a result of an affair between Austrian grandmother Bertha Kolowrat-Krakowská and African American Tenor Roland Hayes in 1925.
At the time Bertha was married to Count Hieronymus Graf, and fled to Château de Saint-Lary in western France after being shunned by society.
There she acted as a translator to German occupiers during WWII but also claimed to have sheltered Jews.
Bertha raised the twins in the castle and took them to see their grandfather perform in Paris when they were five-years-old.
Both Igor and Grichka followed their grandfather into entertainment and landed presenting roles on French TV.
Fury over dodgy degrees
They presented on sci-fi shows Temps X and Rayon X from 1979.
Both fascinated by science, they both attempted PhDs in the nineties and early noughties.
Grichka passed his maths doctorate in 1999 while Igor later gained a PhD in theoretical physics.
Both the students were reportedly handed the lowest possible grades to pass by the University of Burgundy.
They were offered jobs at Megatrend University in Belgrade, Serbia.
But soon their academic pursuits had landed them in hot water.
Scientists began to question the validity of five of their papers published in respected scientific journals – while some claimed the studies were a hoax.
An official report from the French Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) wrote: “These have no scientific value.”
Magazine Marianne published extracts of the CNRS report in 2010 and the brothers sued them for a total of £1.4million.
The court ruled in their favour and they were awarded £53,500 in damages.
The furious twins then tried to sue the CNRS for defamation for £1million in 2015, calling the committee a “scientific stasi” but the court ordered them to pay £1,600.
‘Royal’ second wife and bizarre Bitcoin brag
While little is known about Grichka’s personal life, Igor had a series of public romances.
After having four children with his first wife, he met historian Amélie de Bourbon-Parme – a descendant of Louis XIV and related to the Danish royal family.
She told Gala magazine: “I wouldn’t have liked someone too conventional. I need to be with a man I interact with.
“The days should not follow and be alike. I would be afraid to be bored“
They married in 2009, had two children but by 2018 they had divorced.
In 2017, Igor – in his sixties – had a brief relationship with 23-year-old biology student Julie Jardon.
In November that year he was arrested for breaking into Jardon’s house after they had split.
In recent years, the twins turned their hand to cryptocurrency after claiming to have invented Bitcoin.
Grichka said on French TV: “Igor and I, as mathematicians, were able to participate in the elaboration of some of the [Bitcoin] source code, especially the ‘predictive code’.”
Masked singer and ‘£670,000 scam’
Last year they took part on the French version of the Masked Singer, performing Bamboleo by the Gipsy Kings and Yesterday by The Beatles.
The twins donned parakeet outfits while competing in the singing contest.
But they faced serious legal charges in their final years – after being accused last year of defrauding a troubled millionaire.
The case accused the twins of “swindling” a 53-year-old hotelier known only as Cyrille P who killed himself in 2018.
The millionaire had reportedly invested €800,000 (£670,000) on a revival of Temps X.
Tragic ‘Covid deaths’ after refusing jab
In December, the twins were admitted to intensive care on the same day.
Their friend former French minister of education Luc Ferry told how the brothers didn’t believe they needed the vaccine.
He told Le Parisien: “I told [Grichka] it was grotesque. How crazy they were.
“Being very athletic, without a gram of fat, they believed that the vaccine was more dangerous as the virus.
“What stupidity, but what stupidity! Grichka was an out of the world, singular character, anything but a villain.”
Grichka died of Covid complications on December 28 as Igor lay in a coma unaware his brother had died.
Six days later, Igor also died – his cause of death is yet to be confirmed.
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