Olivera Katarina Lives in Poverty Today, Once Was Tito's Favourite While His Men Poisoned Her Because of Jovanka

(Patria) - One of the most famous actresses and singers of the former Yugoslavia, Olivera Katarina (83), was allegedly liked by the former president of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito.

She was born in March 1940 in Belgrade as Olivera Petrović, and later became known under the names Olivera Katarina and Olivera Vučo. She graduated from the Academy of Theatre, Film, Radio and Television and began her career acting in theatre.

Audiences could watch her in the play "Koštana", and then she moved to the big screen.

Some of the films she acted in include "San", "Polenov prah", "Derviš i smrt", "Skupljači perja"...

Saša Petrović's drama brought her her first award in Cannes, and then the whole world noticed her because of her beauty.

Men allegedly fought over Olivera, and in her autobiography she also described how she met Josip Broz Tito, Kurir reports. She claimed that Jovanka was jealous of her and that Tito's men poisoned her.

"While I lived there, I was very conspicuous because of my beauty and bearing, and that was very dangerous. People constantly assaulted me. A red-haired monarch, whose name I cannot reveal because he is still the king of a country, seriously courted me, but I refused him because I was in love with Milan Gale Muškatirović, my first great love, the famous water polo goalkeeper," she once said about her life in Paris.

When she broke up with Muškatirović, she married director Vuk Vučo and they were married for two years. After him, she was in a relationship with Ratko Dražević for seven years, and then she entered a second marriage with the Deputy Mayor of Belgrade

Miladin Šakić, with whom she had a son, Mane.

"I met Tito for the first time when I was filming 'Niška banja'. Suddenly I heard that Tito was in the studio, and he sat down at the camera and watched me. He dismissed the cameraman to film me himself. The second time was when I was waiting for the New Year with my husband Miladin Šakić. Milan Vukos approached us and said that Tito wanted me to sing for him.

You couldn't say 'no' there," she recalled.

"He always reacted nicely when I sang and he liked me as a person. Once when I appeared, Jovanka pushed him and said: 'Here she is.' I heard that. Maybe she was jealous, he seemed like a womanizer. He was a real man, that's for sure," she added.

Their third meeting also happened, but it did not go well.

"The harassment I experienced there was not even fit for a film. They invited me to sing for him on Tara and I would have refused if I hadn't been married, but this way I didn't want to cause problems for my husband. There, unprecedented harassment began. There was no one who didn't interrogate me, various services: Croatian, federal SUP, republican, military, and each pulled in their own direction. They told me I had to sing for him when he went for a walk. From early morning I practiced with trumpeters until I lost my voice. Suddenly Tito arrives, but there is no orchestra. In that crowd, people in civilian clothes approach me and tell me to go behind. There was no talk of kindness, they were very rude. And then those from behind approach me and shout at me to come out and sing in front of Tito, but somehow it passed," she wrote.

She also revealed that someone among Tito's men poisoned her.

"I was poisoned there. They gave me something that caused sores in my mouth. Throat, mouth, everything was covered in sores. They fed me drop by drop. I don't know who exactly poisoned me," she said.

A few years ago, Olivera admitted that she is one of the loneliest women in Serbia and that she has not been with anyone for more than 20 years. As early as 2017, Serbian media wrote that she lives in poverty and deprivation. She reportedly lived in a rented apartment in Belgrade and sold her furniture to pay the bills. She failed to obtain a national pension; they rejected her every time.

"I am alone within four walls, forgotten by most friends and colleagues. However, I have preserved my dignity and I am not depressed. I will not beg anyone," she concluded decisively, Kurir reports.