Tatiana (known in her family as Tanya) was born and grew up at Yasnaya Polyana, her father's estate south of Tula.

But this love of mine is competing more strongly than any other has done so far.Sukhotin's wife died later that year, and on 9 October, Tatiana announced her desire to marry Sukhotin to her father, who responded with a fiercely uncompromising rejection ("But why a pure girl should want to get mixed up in such a business is beyond me").

They lived on Sukhotin's estate, "Kochety" ("The Roosters") in Tula guberniya, about 30 km (19 mi) east of Orel.

In 1925, together with her daughter, she immigrated to Paris, where she was hostess to Bunin, Chaliapin, Stravinsky, Alexandre Benois, and other members of the Russian exile community.

In her diary entry on 13 December 1932, she wrote: "I have lived an incredibly and undeservedly happy and interesting life.