Defining piece on Anna Sorokin in The Cut is a definitive one and a great read. — editor
OK Magazine
The show everyone cannot stop talking about has been Netflix‘s Inventing Anna.
The hit Shonda Rhimes series follows the inspired-by-true-events crime story of Anna Vadimovna Sorokina, who posed as wealthy German heiress Anna Delvey to scam her way into the most elite circles of New York society.
Each episode of the drama begins with the disclaimer: “This whole story is completely true, except for all the parts that are totally made up,” which begs the question — who was the real life Anna Sorokin?
The woman who managed to swindle wealthy investors as well as an established New York City banks to put together the art-focused social club entitled the Anna Delvey Foundation was actually a 31-year-old woman from Russia who grew up in a working class family. But what else was she up to?
Scroll through the gallery to see who the real Anna Sorokin is:
Sorokin Allegedly Had A Boyfriend Named Hunter Lee Soik
Following the public’s fascination with the case and series, many speculated who the character Chase was based off of. In an Instagram post this week, Sorokin — who was released from Albion Correctional Facility in February and is now being held by ICE — offered to reveal the name of the man who inspired the character for a whooping $10,000.
However, according to Page Six, her ex-boyfriend is allegedly entrepreneur Hunter Lee Soik. “Hunter is the person who got her into the scene,” a source told the outlet. “He is a social person globally. No one knew what he did, but he was always giving advice on how to climb the corporate ladder.”
Sorokin Comes From A Humble Working Class Family In Russia
Sorokin was raised in Russia — despite claiming that she is of German descent — by her father, Vadim Sorokin, who ran a heating and cooling business in Moscow. In 2007, her family made the move to Eschweiler, Germany. However humble her beginnings, her scamming ways were not learned, according to Vadim.
“I do not have any influence on her life and what she does,” her dad told the Daily Mail in 2019. “She has a selfish personality, we can’t do anything about it. We raised her well.”
Sorokin Loved Fashion & Worked In The Industry
From a young age, Sorokin knew she wanted a lavish and fabulous life. “She always loved fashion and bought glossy magazines from the age of 13,” a friend from her younger years told the British outlet. “She didn’t want to be a model, she wanted to be a [magazine columnist].”
The aspiring writer then moved to Paris in 2013, where she became an intern at the French fashion magazine Purple before making her infamous venture to New York.
Sorokin’s Favorite Movie Was ‘Mean Girls’
According to her former friend, Sorokin saw herself in quite a favorable light — even liking herself to characters from the infamous 2004 Lindsay Lohan film Mean Girls.
“Our favorite film was Mean Girls,” her pal dished to the outlet. “She liked that they were mean, she and I were the brightest and the most popular at school, she found similarities between us and the film characters.”
Sorokin’s Strange & Unidentifiable Accent Is Real
In the series, actress Julia Garner evokes a strange shrill voice that sounds to be part Russian and part British, but unidentifiable as a whole.
According to Sorokin herself, the actress was pretty accurate in her portrayal. “Some of it she gets right — but not everything,” the real-life scammer told Insider of the Ozark breakout star.
