The curious case of man in black Pavel Durov

On April 16, Pavel Durov announced that he had given an interview to American journalist Tucker Carlson. He explained that he chose Carlson because of his conservative views. At the same time, Durov announced another interview that he was going to give to a journalist of liberal views.

Photo: Screenshot из Telegram-канала Tucker Carlson Network

What Pavel Durov is known for

Aside from creating Telegram and VK services, Pavel Durov is known for his intricate and mysterious behaviour. He has hardly given any interviews. 

In 2021, Forbes named Pavel Durov the richest person in the United Arab Emirates. At that time, his fortune was estimated at $17.2 billion.

Pavel Durov is known for his criticism of excessive consumption, his interest in self-restraint and a healthy lifestyle.

In 2017, on his 33rd birthday, Pavel Durov named seven things that he gave up many years ago:

• Alcohol;
• Animal meat;
• Tablets and any pharmaceutical products;
• Nicotine and other drugs;
• Coffee, black and green tea, energy drinks;
• Fast food, sugar, carbonated drinks;
• Television and its analogues.

His list generated countless memes. Some shops even started selling "What Drove can't afford" boxsets that contained the above products.

Pavel Durov is also known for his naked torso pics that he would post on his social media accounts. In captions to those photos, Durov would dwell on the fate of the human civilisation.

In 2019, Pavel Durov wrote on Telegram that he had not eaten food for six days, only drank water, and still felt great. He decided to make such a radical experiment to boost his productivity and think more clearly:

Pavel Durov is convinced that most of our problems — be it headaches, stress or obesity — stem primarily from excessive consumption.

"Nature gave us the ability to effectively cope with resource scarcity and did not prepare us for a life of abundance,” he once wrote.

He admits that he was lucky to get rich in his young years, but his greatest success is awareness that it is better to create things rather than consume them. The Telegram creator hopes that one day humanity will step away from the "self-destructive path of endless consumption” and turn to "creating a better world for ourselves and those around us.”

On his 36th birthday, Pavel said that he is often asked how he manages to stay young. He published the list of the following tips.

• Don't drink alcohol.
• Sleep a lot.
• Don't overeat.
• Exercise.
• Limit stress.
• Don't eat meat.
• Live alone.

As a conclusion, he added that most of those rules had a scientific basis. The most important rule for Durov is abstinence from alcohol, whereas getting enough sleep is the most difficult one for him due to the nature of his work.

Here are a few curious facts about Pavel Durov:

• he did not pick up his diploma from the university (he graduated with honours);
• has the rank of reserve lieutenant;
• he works from 11 am to 1 am with a lunch break;
• his idol is Steve Jobs;
• Pavel Durov speaks English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Persian and Latin;
• donated $1 million to Wikipedia;
• does yoga and meditation;
• forbade himself from falling in love;
• his favourite tea is sage;
• his favourite writer is Paul Graham;
• one of his favourite films is "300”;
• Pavel Durov is 1.76 meters tall;
• holds citizenship of France, the UAE and Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Pavel Durov looks completely different from what he looked like in his college photos. It is believed that he had had multiple hair transplant surgeries, otoplasty (ear surgery) and rhinoplasty (nose job). His hair today is much thicker than it used to be during this school years.

One shall admit, though, that Pavel Durov has done a lot to build his new body. His devotion to sports and healthy lifestyle let him transform his torso and entire physique unrecognisably. Durov often shows off his six-pack abs, toned triceps and wide chest.