Actress Mila Kunis. Photo: Gage Skidmore

The Sun newspaper based in London featured an interview with actress Mila Kunis over the weekend, after the publication’s readers voted the Jewish star “the hottest woman in the world”.  While she spoke about her dating life and professional career, Kunis talked a great deal about having to hide her Judaism as a child in Ukraine and her parents’ decision to flee the country because of it.

“After the Holocaust, in Russia you were not allowed to be religious. So my parents raised me to know I was Jewish. You know who you are inside,” Kunis said.  “My whole family was in the Holocaust. My grandparents passed and not many survived.”

At the age of seven, Kunis moved with her parents and brother to the United States, paving the way for an acting career that has included roles on “That 70’s Show” and in films such as “The Black Swan” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”.

“One of my friends who grew up in Russia, she was in second grade. She came home one day crying. Her mother asked why and she said on the back of her seat there was a swastika.  This is a country that obviously does not want you,” she told The Sun.

According to the interview, Kunis is much happier in the U.S., with the ability to express herself freely.

“I’m pretty Jewish…when I’m in New York, I become super-Jew. When I’m in LA I’m like a California surfer girl.”