Popera star Yulia FROM TRAGEDY TO SPIRITUALITY

As she returns to the spotlight, the chart-topping singer reveals why she quit music

- Hayley McLarin

Coming from an abusive upbringing, it’s no surprise that Russian-born Kiwi pop-opera star Yulia Townsend has turned her back on a traditional lifestyle. The single mum of three now lives as part of the Sri Chinmoy community in Christchurch, following the teachings of the Indian spiritual leader who established meditation centers across the world.

The singer doesn’t care about material things – she just wants her kids to have a better childhood than she did. “The environment I live in is very simple,” the 35-year-old tells Woman’s Day. “You would not equal Yulia to glamour or luxury.”

On the eve of reprising her singing career, Yulia finds it remarkable that she has now spent as many years living outside of Russia as she did in her homeland. She escaped an alcoholic father, but drama and tragedy followed her.

Yulia had been in New Zealand only a few years before she skyrocketed to fame in the early 2000s. The first female vocalist in Aotearoa to have two back-to-back number-one albums, she married her manager Glyn MacLean, 17 years her senior, when she was 22, in a wedding that included 168 fans. Later moving to Australia, they had two sons – Leon, now nine, and Ciaran, seven – but their marriage ended after six years.