Margarita Gotovtseva, Nikita Zaitsev's ex-wife has recently set her Instagram account to private, but Allhockey.ru reported on her post explaining why, in her opinion, her marriage of four years to the Ottawa defenseman failed.
"The reason for our divorce is very simple," she wrote. "I couldn't just live with a bank card. I needed a human being, a soul, emotions. I didn't have that for the last two years. I couldn't take it. He couldn't give it."
Gotovtseva also repeated her demand to see her children, daughters ages four and two. Despite the ruling in her favor in the custody hearing, Zaitsev has promised to appeal the decision and has still not granted his ex-wife access to the children. She was also unhappy with Zaitsev's appearance on the "Live with Andrei Malakhov" talk show, which she had visited just a few days before. During his appearance, he presented additional video evidence of what he alleges to be inappropriate behaviour on Gotovtseva's part, showing her having sex in the house while the children were allegedly sleeping. He claimed that at the time of these recordings the divorce had not even been finalized. He also accused her of wanting to abort their younger daughter, which she called a lie, and a "boiling point."
Perhaps the most disturbing piece of information from Zaitsev's appearance on the talk show, was his story of how he found out about his wife's alleged infidelities. He claims that after the playoff series loss against the Bruins (with the Leafs, in the 2019 first round), teammate Jake Gardiner approached him and asked what was going on. When Zaitsev professed his ignorance, Gardiner told him that someone from the organization had seen his wife in a Toronto nightclub, kissing and hugging another man. Zaitsev was told by Gardiner and Toronto management that the man's name was 'Brad Rogers', which he feels is confirmed by audio messages allegedly left by Margarita during calls to her friends, where she refers to someone named 'Brad' as her lover.
Zaitsev claimed that Gardiner told him that he has to handle this matter as quickly as possible, including a suggestion to send her back to Russia. Zaitsev said that Gardiner told him that she would ruin his good name and reputation if he turned his back on this.
It should be noted, that the episode featuring Nikita Zaitsev as well as his parents, who alleged that Margarita was known to have a reputation as a teenager for multiple sex partners, drugs, and alcohol at a boarding school in England, was pulled off the show's YouTube channel the same day it was posted and remains deleted. The episode with Gotovtseva from a week before that is still available.
Source: AllHockey.Ru and Live with Andrei Malakhov"
