Watch out Tom Cruise! ‘New flame’ Elsina Khayrova had savage divorce battle with mogul ex – including £1m handbag row
TRYING to date a model with an aggrieved Russian mogul ex-husband might sound like mission impossible.
But Tom Cruise, 61, appears to be taking on the challenge after becoming “besotted” with socialite Elsina Khayrova.
The 36-year-old was spotted spending most of the night with the Top Gun star at a swanky Mayfair party before leaving together.
One stunned onlooker said: “They were inseparable, clearly a couple.
“He seemed to be besotted with her.”
At the fancy event last Saturday, Elsina was seen happily posing for the cameras, donning a strapless black dress with a diamante bow and a steely smile.
The socialite, who is 25 years younger than the Hollywood legend, is the daughter of Putin ally and prominent Russian MP Rinat Khayrov and is also a British citizen.
It is unclear where the pair first met, though the Mission Impossible star may have crossed paths with Elsina in London, as he has a soft spot for the UK.
In the past, Cruise said: “I spend a lot of time in Britain and that’s not just for work reasons, I love living here.”
He has not had any serious relationships since divorcing his third wife, Katie Holmes, in 2012.
Former model Elsina, meanwhile, has been on the market since separating from diamond tycoon Dmitry Tsvetkov in 2020.
Married for over a decade, the pair shared a luxurious £22million mansion in Surrey and enjoyed a property portfolio in London worth a further £18million.
They also owned high-end motors, jewellery, art and apartments in Cyprus and Dubai, reportedly worth millions.
But when the uber-rich couple began divorce proceedings in 2021, their lavish lifestyle proved to be the fuel for a very public fall-out that has played out before the courts.
Acrimonious divorce
In August this year, Elsina was accused of leading the High Court “on a merry dance” after trying to hide a cache of designer handbags.
According to court documents, there were 150 bags worth £1million that were jointly owned by the former couple.
During the hearing in February, the court heard she claimed she only owned about 20 handbags.
The judge said she “downplayed the bags”, claiming it would be disproportionate to have them valued.
In his judgment, Justice Peel said the case had been “infected by [Elsina’s] dishonesty from start to finish”.
Following her separation from Dmitry in 2020, the court heard how Elsina also tried to block her husband’s access to their bank accounts and credit cards.
She transferred some of their Cyprus properties into her mum’s name, which the judge said was an “obvious attempt” to place the assets out of her husband’s reach.
The pair jointly owned a number of diamonds and a Patek Phillipe watch, which was held in a safe deposit box at Harrods in London.
Dmitry reportedly had the only key to the box, but the court was told his wife had convinced staff at the store that the keys were lost.
She was then able to get herself a set without telling her husband and later omitted the items from evidence.
Since June 2022, Dmitry hasn’t made “meaningful sums of money” after Elsina blocked his access to their accounts, court transcripts read.
However, Justice Peel believed the “clever, resourceful and well-connected” tycoon would soon be able to start trading again.
The judge subsequently ruled that the “greater responsibility for this expensive litigation” fell to Elsina.
She was ordered to pay half of her husband’s £1,761,488 legal bill.
Glam life
According to Elsina’s social media, the mother-of-two loves to jet off around the world.
One Instagram post shows her in a bright orange lace bikini overlooking what appears to be the Med.
It has been reported that she did not have a job while married to Tsvetkov and that she still resides in her 26,000sq ft mansion in Surrey.
The £22million home has ten bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, two lifts, a games room, indoor pool and spa and even an underground garage that can fit six cars.
Elsina also paid £10million for a flat in one of London’s most expensive areas.
Last year, she was sued for allegedly failing to pay a £240,000 bill to install fountains and garden lighting at the residence.
