Story By: Anastasia Smirnova, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

Two violent criminals who are cousins of Russian supermodel Natalia ‘Supernova’ Vodianova are turning their lives around thanks to the surname they share with their famous relative.

Sergey and Roman Vodianov, who are cousins on the model’s fathers side, both have a significant criminal record but have also both now landed proper jobs after revealing their links to 37-year-old Supernova and want to start new lives.

The pair talked freely about their criminal pasts in popular Russian TV show ‘Zvezdi Soshlis’ (The Stars Came Together) on the NTV channel.

Both of the men have been sentenced variously to prison time with Sergey jailed for robbery, assault and fraud, and Roman for stealing a car and even fighting with a cop. He also showed off a scar that was from a knife fight that he had survived.

Overall Roman spent six years of his life in jail, while his older brother Sergey has spent 15.

Currently both of the men, whose ages were not given, are working as construction workers in their home city of Nizniy Novgorod in north-western Russia, where the younger Roman says his famous name was what opened the door to proper employment.

He said: “I was asked ‘Is Vodianova your relative?’ I said that she was. Then they told me I can start the next day.”

The pair told the TV audience they were working to turn their lives around now, and Roman added: “I am working and my brother Sergey has even started cooking breakfast for his wife. This is something unbelievable.“

The two brothers believe that they are a secret Vodianova has kept from her circle of famous friends and partners like her first husband – Justin Portman, 51, or billionaire Antoine Arnault, 42, who they believe are not aware of their existence, even though Vodianova has visited her home town with both men.

The mother-of-five is famous for her rags-to-riches life story and seven-figure contract with Calvin Klein.

She came third in the Forbes top-earning models list in 2012, with the publication claiming she earned more than seven million GBP that year alone.

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