Mila Kunis was forced to flee Soviet Ukraine aged just seven after being prosecuted under the communist regime.
The renowned actor was born in the southwest of Ukraine in the city of Chernivtsi, the same place as her elder brother Michael.
Back then, Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union and aligned with Russia and during the Cold War with the US and the West.
It was in 1990 when her parents Mark, a chemical engineer and Elvira, a physics teacher fled to the US with just a couple hundred dollars in their pockets in an effort to give her and Michael a better life.
Mila spoke about her years behind the Iron Curtain saying:
‘It was very communist, and my parents wanted my brother and me to have a future, and so they just dropped everything. They came with $250.’
She commented on her more to America:
‘Ultimately, I adjusted fairly quickly and fairly well. But it must have been hard because I blocked out second grade completely. I have no recollection of it.
‘I always talk to my mom and my grandma about it. It was because I cried every day. I didn’t understand the culture. I didn’t understand the people. I didn’t understand the language.’
Mila’s parents didn’t just see the move as giving their children more opportunities, they themselves had also suffered due to their faith.
When speaking with the Daily Telegraph she said:
‘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 anti-Semitic signs.’
‘One of my friends who grew up in Russia, she was in second grade. She came home one day crying. Her mother asked why, and she said on the back of her seat there was a swastika.
‘This is a country that obviously does not want you.’
Despite not having much money in their bank account Mila’s parents spend almost everything on her acting classes.
In a conversation with Howard Stern, she said: ‘I always thought it was like $250 and my parents had like $900, and my mom and I were doing this interview and I learned that it was $890 and my parents had $900 in their bank account.’
https://twitter.com/MilaKunisv/status/1500390256918601729
Since Vladimir Putin first invaded Ukraine she and her husband Ashton Kutcher set a goal of raising $30 million for their ‘Stand With Ukraine’ campaign.
So far they have raised over $18 million which is over halfway towards their goal to help those most in need.
In the above video, Mila said:
‘UPDATE!! 15 million. We are halfway to our goal. Thank you for the support!
‘We just wanted to give you a quick update as to where we stand with the fundraising. We’re halfway through.
‘We’re super-excited, and we want to say thank you to each and every single one of you. It’s been an incredible past 48 hours.’
If you would like to donate to the Red Cross to help provide food, first aid, clean water, hygiene packets, medicine, warm clothing, shelter support and so much more you can do so here – https://donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/ukraine-crisis-appeal
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