After spending 123 days handcuffed to one another, Alexandr Kudlay, 33, and Viktoria Pustovitova, 29, broke up — in more than one way — on June 17.
Kudlay and Pustovitova handcuffed themselves together on Valentine’s Day, attracting lots of media coverage. The plan was to be inseparable for three months in order to set the world record.
They made it even longer. But after four months together the couple “realized that they were not like-minded people” according to Kudlay.
A handcuff-cutting ceremony took place in front of the Unity sculpture in Kyiv, which features male and female silhouettes passing through each other. It’s the place where the couple first chained themselves together on Feb. 14. A Ukrainian records chief Vitaly Zorin was present to document the record.
The ex-lovers broke the Ukrainian and world record for the most time a couple has ever spent chained together.
According to Kudlay, the fact that they were chained together helped the two realize their differences.
“Both of us have diverging ways of thinking and we started getting irritated,” Kudlay told the Kyiv Post. “The strong feelings we had before began to disappear.”
Pustovitova said that they went into the experiment thinking it would help them to stop quarreling, but in the end, it achieved the opposite result.
“I ended the relationship because this experiment has gone too far,” Pustovitova told the Kyiv Post. “I wouldn’t recommend anyone to go through anything like that. It was horrible!”
Kudlay has a different account. Despite the break-up, he said he would recommend other couples to repeat their handcuffing experience to understand each other better — but only if both partners are “mentally stable.”
Going through every minute of the day side-by-side made them absolutely open to each other, Kudlay said, as they had to put on clothes and take care of personal hygiene in front of each other. The lack of personal space caused arguments.
“I think that as a woman I suffered more from this (experiment),” said Pustovitova.
Their professional lives suffered, too. Pustovitova worked as an eyelash technician and Kudlay was a car salesman. Relationships with customers deteriorated due to the presence of a partner at the workplace, according to Kudlay.
At the beginning of June, after several conversations about their relationship, they decided it was time to break up.
They are now moving on from one another: Kudlay is staying in Kyiv, but Pustovitova wants to return to her hometown city of Donetsk, a city 600 kilometers east of Kyiv that has been occupied by Russia-backed proxies since 2014.
Being constantly together became a habit, and they both say they are going through an emotionally complicated times in their lives. Nevertheless, they are still in touch with one another.
“We parted on a warm note, but I’m not sure that we’ll be friends in the future,” Kudlay said of getting used to living separate lives.
“I don’t regret it all,” said Pustovitova. “Perhaps it was worth going through this experience. I began to appreciate my freedom and independence much more.”
