Unlike her grandfather Aristotle Onassis, whose 50th anniversary of his death was recently commemorated, his granddaughter Athina completely shuns the media. So much so that in the last three years, she disappeared completely, not a single image in any newspaper or magazine, until on the night of March 11th, she appeared unexpectedly at the dinner of the Friends of the Pompidou Center in Paris, before it closes for a complete renovation over the next five years.
As expected, the French heiress attended accompanied by her friends such as the French interior designer Arnaud Cabri-Wiltzer and the Spanish aristocrat and influencer Inés de Cominges (36), married to the Belgian aristocrat François du Chastel de la Howarderie. Athina wore a black dress with embroidery, loose hair, and extremely thin. According to Point de Vue, the last time the granddaughter of the Greek shipowner was publicly seen was almost three years ago at the elite Longines Paris Eiffel Jumping competition.
Not even her 40th birthday celebration on January 29th was publicized. The last major social event Athina attended was at the second wedding of her friend Marta Ortega (41) to Carlos Torretta (41) in 2018 at the Casas Novas equestrian center (A Coruña), owned by Amancio (89), the richest man in Spain and the ninth in the world with 114.4 billion dollars, according to Forbes.
Athina Onassis is commonly referred to as the 'poor little rich girl,' the same oxymoron for which Barbara Hutton was known, because despite being one of the richest women in the world, her personal life has been filled with dramas. The latest of them literally pierced her heart when her only husband, the Brazilian rider Álvaro Affonso 'Doda' de Miranda (52), was unfaithful to her. Ten years after getting married, the divorce came in 2017.
The couple met at the equestrian school of the Brazilian millionaire Nelson Pessoa, a friend of Thierry Roussel, Athina's father, with whom she has had a cold relationship in recent years. At that time, Doda was immersed in great sadness because his partner, Cibele Dorsa, and mother of his daughter Viviane, had just left him. From the moment their eyes met, Athina and Doda became accomplices despite his being twelve years older. The wedding took place in December 2005 at the Art Museum of the Maria Luisa and Oscar Americano Foundation in Sao Paulo (Brazil), attended by about 1,300 guests under constant surveillance by a helicopter to prevent photographers from capturing images of the ceremony.
During their relationship, Athina was like a second mother to Viviane, who was crazy about the millionaire. The affection between them was very strong. And they bonded even more when it was known that Cibele had committed suicide, just like her boyfriend had done two months earlier. During their love affair, the couple lived in the mansions she owned in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Brazil.
In 2015, Athina ended her marriage when she found out about the infidelity at the couple's residence in Wellington (Florida), which the millionaire would soon sell. Despite the prenuptial agreement, Doda took a total of about 100 million euros. Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Livanos' granddaughter has not remarried and the only special friendship known to her dates back to 2017, with the Italian rider Alberto Zorzi (36).
Athina has had misfortunes since birth. Her mother, Christina, loved her dearly and made do with her fourth husband, Thierry Roussel (72) even though he was unfaithful to her while she was pregnant with the Swedish model Gaby Landhage, who gave birth to Erik five months after Athina's birth. The marriage has two other children, Sandrine (37) and Johanna (33). The Roussel family was well known in the eighties not only because of the Onassis but also because they sold their vast property to Adnan Kashoggui in Marbella, which they called La Baraka. After going bankrupt, the property was sold and is currently where the most exclusive urbanization in the world, La Zagaleta, is located.
Christina always had complexes about her weight. Every time she showed the slightest interest, she became too attached until she got married. On more than one occasion, she went to the Buchinger Clinic on the Costa del Sol to lose weight, attend the most important social events, and fall in love with Carlos Falcó, V Marquis of Griñón XII Marquis of Castel-Moncayo, popularly known as Tamara's (43) dad. In a conversation with ABC, the aristocrat even confessed that Christina "told me that I was the only one who didn't care about her money."
Mother and daughter lived like queens in a vast apartment at 88 Avenue Foch, in the same building where Aristotle also resided. Christina was so ecstatic about the birth of her only daughter that she had a suite with three rooms made for Athina in her residence, featuring toys like a miniature Rolls Royce that the little girl drove and a diamond-studded rocking horse. It was in this luxurious apartment that our protagonist sold for 10 million dollars in 2005 where she last spoke with her mother, who died of a pulmonary edema at the age of 37 in 1988 in Argentina.
In her eagerness to get rid of the Onassis legacy, she also sold the Egyptian island of Skorpios in 2013 for 100 million dollars. It was acquired by the Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev. It was there that they caught Jacqueline Kennedy, the armador's second wife, completely naked.
If we look at the family tree, there are terrible stories in Athina's family. Her grandmother Tina died of an overdose at 45 after being married to Aristotle, John Spencer-Churchill, and Stavros Niarchos, a staunch enemy of Ari. Her sister Eugenia Livanos, who was also married to Niarchos, also died of a barbiturate overdose at the age of 43.
Alexander Onassis, her paternal uncle, crashed his plane in 1973 at only 24 years old. This plunged Aristotle into a deep depression, as he saw him as his ideal heir. At that time, Aristotle was married to Jackie Kennedy, who always maintained a bitter attitude towards Christina, which intensified with Ari's death while the former First Lady of the United States was spending part of the family fortune on trinkets.