Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov and his partner Juli Vavilova recently revealed that they learned Juli was pregnant amid the Telegram founder’s brief detainment by French authorities, and the couple believes the stress from the ensuing investigation caused a miscarriage on October 4, 2024.
According to a Telegram post from Vavilova, she first became aware of the pregnancy on August 25. Durov’s companion described the moment she found out:
“Sitting in a Parisian café, I took the test. The result was in French: ‘Enceinte 3+.’ I ran back upstairs to translate. The shock on my face when it said ‘Pregnant.’ I felt helpless, unable to run to Pavel with the happy news, as he was still unreachable.”
On the advice of her doctor, the social media influencer refrained from immediately responding to law enforcement requests for questioning due to the immense stress it would cause during such an early stage of pregnancy. However, Vavilova eventually submitted herself to law enforcement for questioning several weeks later.
Durov recounts the heartbreaking miscarriage. Source: Pavel Durov.
The couple spent the next month adjusting to the pregnancy news — a process Durov’s companion characterized as a time of uncertainty, adjustment, and happiness.
Vavilova said that by the time they learned that the baby’s heart stopped beating on October 4, 2024, she was already ten weeks pregnant, but the stress from Durov’s high-profile arrest and investigation was “Too much for the little one.”
Related: Telegram has been disclosing user IPs since 2018, Durov says
Pavel Durov’s arrest at the hands of French authorities
Durov was arrested in France on August 24, 2024. Reports later surfaced showing that French law enforcement officials issued arrest warrants for Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai months earlier in March 2024.
French authorities held Pavel for four days before charging and releasing the entrepreneur. The charges included complicity in the spread of child pornography due to what French officials characterized as a lack of robust content moderation policies on the Telegram platform.
French President Emmanual Macron maintains that the arrest of Durov was not political and denied inviting Durov to France or having prior knowledge of him entering the country — assertions that have drawn heavy criticism from the crypto community and free speech advocates.
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