Joan Borsten Vidov was born and raised in Los Angeles. Her mother was one of the Navy’s first female officers (then known as WAVES). Her father had a long career in the entertainment industry. Joan graduated UC Berkeley with a degree in comparative literature, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Panama, and received a graduate degree from USC in bi-lingual education. She worked as a journalist from 1974-1985, first for Israel’s English language daily “The Jerusalem Post.” She then became a regular contributor to the LA Times Calendar (Entertainment) section. In 1985, while living in Rome she met Oleg Vidov, known as the Robert Redford of Russia, who came to Italy to defect from the USSR. When Oleg was given political asylum by the US Government, Joan followed him to Los Angeles. They married several years later. In 1988 with Oleg, she formed Films by Jove Inc., the California-based film production and distribution company, which four years later 1992 acquired worldwide rights (excluding the former USSR) to most of the award-winning animation library of Moscow’s Soyuzmultfilm Studio (approximately 1,200 films). Films by Jove financed digital restoration and marketing of more than 40 hours of animated films produced from 1936-1991 by Soyuzmultfilm successfully defended the Films by Jove license agreement with Soyuzmultfilm Studios and the Studio’s legal copyright in the courts of France and the United States against state-supported Russian piracy until August 2007 when a Russian oligarch bought the rights to the animation library. Joan and Oleg co-founded Malibu Beach Recovery Center in 2007. Joan served as CEO until the clinic was sold to a medical investment arm of Wells Fargo Bank in 2014. During those years she became an advocate for the California addiction treatment industry with special focus on calling to the attention of regulators and elected officials the need to curb “dirty doctors” who became wealthy turning those with pain and other illnesses into “prescription drug addicts.” In 2016 she co-founded the Addiction Treatment Advocacy Coalition. In 2018 she became Executive Director of Summit Estate Recovery Center, a high-end treatment facility located in Silicon Valley. She is now CEO of First Responders Recovery Malibu, a high-end treatment center for firefighters, peace officers, and others who serve us. In 2018 she also returned to filmmaking. Her award-winning documentary, “Oleg: The Oleg Vidov Story” is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video and TUBI.

www.frrecovery.com

Q. If you are in recovery, what was your drug(s) of choice and when is your sobriety date?

A. Not in recovery.

Q. What do you like most about 12-step meetings?

A. Inspirational speakers.

Q. Do you think addiction is an illness, disease, a choice, or a wicked twist of fate?

A. For many a genetic predisposition, for others an escape.

Q. Who is your favorite celebrity in recovery?

A. Lady Gaga.

Q. If you ever retire, would you prefer to live by the ocean, lake, river, mountaintop, desert, or penthouse?

A. Lake.

Q. How do you measure success?

A. A book, a play, a film, a business, a career that makes a difference.

Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?

A. Know-it-alls.

Q. Who has been the biggest influence throughout your life?

A. Parents and husband.

Q. From what school of thought or teacher did you learn the most from?

A. The Peace Corps.

Q. Where are you from and where do you reside now?

A. Born in Santa Monica, live in Westlake Village, house in Malibu.

Q. If you were giving a dinner party for your 3 favorite authors, living or dead, who would they be?

A. Lawrence Durrell, F. Scott Fitzgerald, JD Salinger, Ernest Hemingway.

Q. What is your Astrological sign?

A. Leo.

Q. What book(s) have you read more than once?

A. Alexandria Quartet, The Old Man and the Sea.

Q. Who is your favorite film director?

A. Federico Fellini.

Q. If you could give advice to your younger self what would it be?

A. Don’t forget about having children.

Q. What books are you reading now?

A. Saving the Music.

Q. What is your favorite App?

A. WhatsApp

Q. Are you binge watching any TV series?

A. All the time.

Q. What is your favorite play or musical?

A. I love all the old musicals: Westside Story, Oklahoma, Carousel.

Q. What is your favorite musician and or band?

A. When I saw “A Complete Unknown” I remembered how much I love Bob Dylan.

Q. What is one word you would use to describe yourself?

A. Driven.

Q. What is your favorite city?

A. Paris.

Q. What is your favorite hotel?

A. Four Seasons anywhere.

Q. What is your favorite restaurant?

A. Zin Bistro in Westlake Village (convenient and good food and on the lake)

Q. What is your favorite cuisine?

A. Japanese or Italian or French.

Q. What is the best piece of advice someone has given you?

A. Instead of banging your head against the wall, turn right or left.

Q. What is the best piece of advice you’ve given someone else?

A. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Q. What is one thing that always makes you smile?

A. My granddaughters Shura and Mira.

Q. What was the proudest moment in your life?

A. When we beat the Russian government in the US Federal Court.

Q. What do you love most about yourself?

A. Making a difference.

Q. What are five things you always carry with you?

A. Sunglasses, hairbrush, business cards, pen, jewelry.

Q. What is your biggest fear?

A. Losing my memory, becoming disabled.

Q. Where do you go when you want to be alone?

A. Home, but also the lake or the ocean.

Q. What is your biggest regret?

A. Not spending enough time with my parents when they were in their 90s.

Q. What is the greatest risk you’ve ever taken?

A. Traveling incognito as a journalist to countries where I was not welcome.

Q. What is something you are currently curious about?

A. The next four years in the US.

Q. How important is human connection?

A. Very.