Athina Hélène Onassis ( el, Αθηνά Ωνάση; born Athina Hélène Roussel ( el, Αθηνά Ρουσσέλ), 29 January 1985
[Associated Press, "First Child of Heiress: Christina Onassis Gives Birth to a Girl", LA Times, January 29, 1985](_blank)
/ref>) is a French-Greek heiress and equestrian, the only surviving descendant of Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis
Aristotle Socrates Onassis (, ; el, Αριστοτέλης Ωνάσης, Aristotélis Onásis, ; 20 January 1906 – 15 March 1975), was a Greek-Argentinian shipping magnate who amassed the world's largest privately-owned shipping fleet and wa ...
, and the only child of Aristotle's daughter Christina Onassis
Christina Onassis ( el, Χριστίνα Ωνάση; 11 December 1950 – 19 November 1988) was a Greek businesswoman, socialite, and heiress to the Onassis fortune. She was the only daughter of Aristotle Onassis and Athina Mary Livanos.
...
.
Biography
Onassis was born at American Hospital of Paris
The American Hospital of Paris (''Hôpital américain de Paris''), founded in 1906, is a private, not-for-profit hospital that is certified under the French healthcare system. Located in Neuilly-sur-Seine, in the western suburbs of Paris, France, ...
in Neuilly-sur-Seine
Neuilly-sur-Seine (; literally 'Neuilly on Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is a commune in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in France, just west of Paris. Immediately adjacent to the city, the area is composed of mostly select residentia ...
, France, to Christina Onassis
Christina Onassis ( el, Χριστίνα Ωνάση; 11 December 1950 – 19 November 1988) was a Greek businesswoman, socialite, and heiress to the Onassis fortune. She was the only daughter of Aristotle Onassis and Athina Mary Livanos.
...
(1950–1988) and her fourth husband, Thierry Roussel
Thierry Roussel (born February 16, 1953) was the fourth husband of Christina Onassis, and the only man with whom she had a child, daughter Athina Onassis Roussel. Roussel is best known as the controversial former co-trustee of his eldest child ...
, a French pharmaceutical heir. Her parents were married from 1984 to 1987.[Michelle Green & Cathy Nolan, "Thierry Roussel Tells His Story - of Love for Two Women and Little Athina", People.com, March 20, 1989](_blank)
/ref> They divorced after Roussel had two children with his mistress, Swedish model Marianne "Gaby" Landhage. Christina Onassis died of pulmonary edema
Pulmonary edema, also known as pulmonary congestion, is excessive edema, liquid accumulation in the parenchyma, tissue and pulmonary alveolus, air spaces (usually alveoli) of the lungs. It leads to impaired gas exchange and may cause hypoxemia an ...
in November 1988, when Athina was three years old. After her mother's death, she was raised by Roussel and Landhage, whom Roussel later married.
For her early education, Onassis attended a school in Lussy-sur-Morges
Lussy-sur-Morges is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Switzerland, Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, located in the Morges District, Morges district.
History
Lussy-sur-Morges is first mentioned in 1026 as ''in villa ...
, Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, where the Roussels lived. Following a preparatory course in Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
, she passed her baccalauréat
The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...
exam in the summer of 2003.[Gage, Nicholas: "The Last Onassis." '' Vanity Fair'', Issue 537. May 2005]
Onassis has three half-siblings, via her father's relationship with Landhage: Erik Christopher Roussel (born July 1985), Sandrine Roussel (born May 1987), and Johanna Roussel (born July 1991).
Equestrian career
Onassis is a competitive show jumper
Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows ...
in select events of the Global Champions Tour
The Longines Global Champions Tour (LGCT) is an annual pre-eminent individual show jumping series that comprises up to 15 rounds of competition hosted around the world. It brings together the top 30 riders in the FEI Jumping World Rankings.
It was ...
. She began riding as a child, and finished second in an event in Jerez, Spain
Jerez de la Frontera (), or simply Jerez (), is a Spanish city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, located midway bet ...
in 2001. She later chose to compete as a Greek citizen for the Avlona Riding Club in Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, under the name "Athina Onassis". In November 2012, Onassis suffered a spinal injury in a fall from her horse, but represented Greece in the 2013 European Show Jumping Championships The FEI European Show Jumping Championships is the European Championship for the equestrian discipline of show jumping. First held in 1957 in Rotterdam, and on an annual basis, it is held every two years, on the years between Olympic Games and Wor ...
and the 2014 World Championships.
Onassis is also a patroness of the Global Champions Tour. The ''Athina Onassis International Horse Show'', a show jumping competition, was established in 2007 in São Paulo and moved to Rio de Janeiro in 2009. In 2014, the competition moved to Pampelonne
Pampelonne (; oc, Pampalona) is a commune in the Tarn department in southern France.
See also
*Communes of the Tarn department
The following is a list of the 314 communes of the Tarn department of France.
The communes cooperate in the foll ...
beach in Saint-Tropez
, INSEE = 83119
, postal code = 83990
, image coat of arms = Blason ville fr Saint-Tropez-A (Var).svg
, image flag=Flag of Saint-Tropez.svg
Saint-Tropez (; oc, Sant Tropetz, ; ) is a commune in the Var department and the region of Provence-Al ...
, France. Onassis and her former husband were joint owners of AD Sport Horses, a horse breeding and training business based in Fleurus
Fleurus (; wa, Fleuru) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It has been the site of four major battles.
The municipality consists of the following districts: Brye, Heppignies, Fleurus, Lambusart, ...
, Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
. In February 2014, Onassis paid $12 million for a estate and barn in Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
, Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. She sold the estate in April 2017 for $12.75 million.
Marriage
Onassis began dating Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
ian professional showjumper
Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows ...
and two-time Olympic medalist Álvaro de Miranda Neto
Álvaro Affonso de Miranda Neto (born 5 February 1973), more commonly known as Álvaro de Miranda or "Doda" Miranda, is an Olympic-class Brazilian show jumping rider. He was married to Athina Onassis. He is president of the organizing co ...
in March 2003 and moved to São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
. She bought a duplex overlooking Ibirapuera Park
Ibirapuera Park ( pt, Parque Ibirapuera) is an urban park in São Paulo. It comprises 158 hectares between Av. República do Líbano, Av. Pedro Alvares Cabral, and Av. IV Centenário, and is the most visited park in South America, with 14.4 million ...
for $8.6 million.[Watson, Jeremy; "O what a wedding... and in Jackie's dress too" Scotsman.com News; December 4, 2005](_blank)
/ref>
Miranda and Onassis were married on 3 December 2005. Most guests attending the lavish ceremony were Brazilian VIP
A very important person or personage (VIP or V.I.P.) is a person who is accorded special privileges due to their high social status, influence or importance. The term was not common until sometime after World War 2 by RAF pilots.
Examples inc ...
s or friends from the equestrian community. The bride's father and stepmother were not present. The couple reportedly asked for their guests to donate to charity. Following her marriage, Onassis assumed the name of Athina Onassis.
In 2016, the couple legally separated, following Miranda's alleged infidelity. Divorce negotiations began almost immediately, with Onassis hiring high-profile divorce lawyer Robert Stephan Cohen. The divorce caused complicated legal issues in the courts of Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, , Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
, where Onassis had been living. Miranda challenged the prenuptial agreement
A prenuptial agreement, antenuptial agreement, or premarital agreement (commonly referred to as a prenup), is a written contract entered into by a couple prior to marriage or a civil union that enables them to select and control many of the leg ...
and demanded alimony
Alimony, also called aliment (Scotland), maintenance (England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Canada, New Zealand), spousal support (U.S., Canada) and spouse maintenance (Australia), is a legal obligation on a person to provide financial suppo ...
payments, and there were custody disputes over jointly owned horses. The divorce was settled in November 2017.
Wealth
Athina Onassis is the sole heiress of Christina Onassis, who inherited 55% of Aristotle Onassis's fortune. The remaining 45% of Aristotle's fortune (minus $26 million settled upon Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A pop ...
) was left to the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation
The Alexander S. Onassis Foundation () was created by Aristotle Onassis to honor the memory of his son Alexander, who died at age 24 in an airplane crash in 1973. Aristotle Onassis died in 1975, and had directed in his will that half of his estate ...
, established in honor of Alexander Onassis
Alexander Socrates Onassis ( gr, Αλέξανδρος Σωκράτης Ωνάσης; April 30, 1948January 23, 1973) was an American-born Greek businessman. He was the son of the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis and his first wife Tina ...
, Athina's late uncle, who had died in 1973. When Athina Onassis was seven years old, ''The New York Times'' cited a report from the Associated Press, naming Onassis one of the year's new billionaires, and even though she is often credited as a "billionaire heiress" throughout the media, the true extent of her wealth remains unknown. There have been several estimates of her inheritance, including the island of Skorpios
Skorpios or Scorpios ( el, Σκορπιός, ) is a private island in the Ionian Sea off the western coast of Greece and just to the east of the island of Lefkada. The 2011 census reported a population of five inhabitants. Administratively it i ...
, which was later sold to trusts connected with Ekaterina Rybolovleva
Ekaterina Dmitrievna Rybolovleva (born 4 June 1989, in Perm, Soviet Union) is a businesswoman, equestrian and socialite. She is the daughter of Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev. A competitor in equestrian competitions, she is also the owner of ...
, with some accounts claiming that Onassis's net worth is less than $1 billion.
Disputes over Onassis estate
Onassis's mother Christina never trusted Thierry Roussel completely, which led the family to arrange for a board of administrators to control the family's money until Athina came of age. The trustees Christina selected to manage the estate were Stelio Papadimitriou, Paul Ioannidis
Paul J. Ioannidis (22 February 1924 – 1 May 2021) was a German-born Greek pilot, resistance fighter, and later shipping industry executive. In his later life, he was a long-term employee of various organisations associated with Aristotle Onassi ...
, Apostolos Zabelas, and Theodore Gabrielides. During Athina's childhood and adolescence, all expenditures made on her behalf by her father (using money from the inheritance) had to be approved by the board, which led to her father threatening to move back to France, where the estate would have had to pay much higher income tax.
In 1999, a Vaduz
Vaduz ( or , High Alemannic pronunciation: [])Hans Stricker, Toni Banzer, Herbert Hilbe: ''Liechtensteiner Namenbuch. Die Orts- und Flurnamen des Fürstentums Liechtenstein.'' Band 2: ''Die Namen der Gemeinden Triesenberg, Vaduz, Schaan.'' Hrsg. ...
court ordered the management of Athina's inheritance to be transferred to the KPMG
KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations.
Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...
Fides auditing firm in Lucerne
Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...
, Switzerland. At that time, aged 13, Onassis stated that she felt "great aversion to anything Greek". In one of her few interviews, published in ''Oggi'', an Italian magazine, she later stated that she blamed "all the problems" on the Onassis name. Similarly, her stepmother, Gaby Landhage, stated on American television show ''20/20
Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an examinee's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e. (1) the sharpness of the retinal ...
'' that Athina had told her "if she could burn all the Onassis money, she would do it."
On her 18th birthday, Athina took control of her mother's inheritance. After her 21st birthday in 2006, her lawyers unsuccessfully fought to instate her as President of the Onassis Foundation, as the board claimed she was unqualified and denied that she was an heir to the estate of Aristotle Onassis.[ mith, Helena: "Legal row taints special day for Onassis heiress Athina", The UK Guardian, 28 January 2006/ref> Invoking her grandfather's legacy in memory of Alexander Onassis, the board's representatives stated that she had no connection with the Greek culture, religion, language or shared experience, that she never went to college and had no work experience.]
References
Further reading
* Mantheakis, Alexis: "Athina Onassis in the Eye of the Storm" (e-book Amazon Kindle,2012: in paperback CreateSpace ). In Greek "Αθηνά στο Ματι του Κυκλώνα" (Periplous Publications; ), in French - "Athena Onassis,Dans L'Oeil du Cyclone"(Editions Favre), in Portuguese - "Athina Onassis, No Olho do Furacao, A Historia de Jovem Mais Rica do Mundo" (Alves, Brazil; )
Gage, Nicholas: "The Last Onassis"
'' Vanity Fair'' (May 2005)
Klein, Edward: "The Battle Over the Golden Child"
'' Vanity Fair'' (November 1997)
* Martin, Thomas: ''The Richest Girl in the World: Athina Onassis Roussel: The Onassis Family Legacy'', Ami Books Inc., 2003;
* Laurent Favr
''Athina Veut Sacrifier Skorpios''
', L'Illustré
''L'Illustré'' is a French language weekly consumer magazine published in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is one of the earliest magazines published in the country and has been in circulation since 1921.
History and profile
''L'Illustré'' was first ...
2 February 2005
* Rovira, Ashley
"Athina Onassis in 38 Points"
(Scribd, 18 December 2018, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyrics ...
)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Onassis, Athina
1985 births
Living people
People from Neuilly-sur-Seine
People from Wellington, Florida
Greek businesspeople in shipping
French female equestrians
Greek female equestrians
French socialites
Greek socialites
Eastern Orthodox Christians from France
Eastern Orthodox Christians from Greece
Onassis family
Female billionaires
French billionaires
Greek billionaires
Sportspeople from Hauts-de-Seine