Athina Onassis

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File:Hessischen Ministerpräsidenten Athina Onassis-de Miranda auf Babouch 2 mk.jpg

Wiesbaden 2013

Athina Hélène Onassis (Template:Langx; born Athina Hélène Roussel (Template:Langx), 29 January 1985<ref name="latimes-birthday">Associated Press, "First Child of Heiress: Christina Onassis Gives Birth to a Girl", LA Times, January 29, 1985</ref>) is a French-Greek heiress and equestrian, the only surviving descendant of Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, and the only child of Aristotle's daughter Christina Onassis.

She makes rare public appearances.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref>

Early life, family and education

Onassis was born at American Hospital of Paris in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, to Christina Onassis (1950–1988) and her fourth husband, Thierry Roussel,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a French pharmaceutical heir.<ref name="people.com" /> She was baptized on the island of Skorpios, owned by the Onassis family at the time.<ref name=":0" /> Her parents were married from 1984 to 1987.<ref name="people.com">Template:Cite news</ref> They divorced after Roussel had two children with his mistress, Swedish model Marianne "Gaby" Landhage.<ref name="people.com" /> Christina Onassis died of pulmonary edema<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="people.com"/>

For her early education, Onassis attended a school in Lussy-sur-Morges, Switzerland, where the Roussels lived.<ref name="rovira">Template:Cite web</ref> Following a preparatory course in Brussels, Belgium, she passed her baccalauréat exam in the summer of 2003.<ref name="vanityfair">Gage, Nicholas: "The Last Onassis." Vanity Fair, Issue 537. May 2005</ref>

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

File:Athina Onassis de Miranda mit AD Crosshill, CSI 5* Hamburg 2011.JPG

Athina Onassis with AD Crosshill, CSI 5* horse show Hamburg 2011

Onassis is a competitive show jumper<ref name="gcl">Template:Cite web</ref> in select events of the Global Champions Tour.<ref name="gct">Template:Cite web</ref> She began riding as a child, and finished second in an event in Jerez, Spain in 2001. She later chose to compete as a Greek citizen for the Avlona Riding Club in Athens, under the name Athina Onassis.<ref name="vanityfair"/><ref name="nicholasgage" /> In November 2012, Onassis suffered a spinal injury in a fall from her horse,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but represented Greece in the 2013 European Show Jumping Championships and the 2014 World Championships.<ref name="gcl" />

Onassis is a patroness of the Global Champions Tour.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2014, the competition moved to Pampelonne beach in Saint-Tropez, France.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Onassis and her former husband were joint owners of AD Sport Horses, a horse breeding and training business based in Fleurus, Belgium.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In February 2014, Onassis paid $12 million for a Template:Convert estate and barn in Wellington, Florida.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She sold the estate in April 2017 for $12.75 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal life

Onassis began dating Brazilian professional showjumper and two-time Olympic medalist Álvaro de Miranda Neto in March 2003 and moved to São Paulo. She bought a Template:Convert duplex overlooking Ibirapuera Park for $8.6 million.<ref name="vanityfair"/><ref name="Watson">Template:Cite web</ref>

Miranda and Onassis were married on 3 December 2005. Most guests attending the lavish ceremony were Brazilian VIPs or friends from the equestrian community. The bride's father and stepmother were not present.<ref name="Watson"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="hellomag" /> The couple reportedly asked for their guests to donate to charity.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Following her marriage, Onassis assumed the name Athina Onassis.<ref name="hellomag">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="mantheakis">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="nicholasgage">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="gcl" /><ref name="gct" />

In 2016, the couple legally separated, following Miranda's alleged infidelity.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Divorce negotiations began almost immediately, with Onassis hiring high-profile divorce lawyer Robert Stephan Cohen.<ref name="townazndcountrymag">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="elmundo">Template:Cite web</ref> The divorce caused complicated legal issues in the courts of Antwerp, Belgium, where Onassis had been living.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Miranda challenged the prenuptial agreement and demanded alimony payments,<ref name="greekreporter" /> and there were custody disputes over jointly owned horses.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The divorce was settled in November 2017.<ref name="greekreporter" /> After her divorce, she moved to Greece.<ref name=":0" />

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) was left to the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation, established in honor of Alexander Onassis, Athina's late uncle, who had died in January 1973, at the age of 24, after his airplane crashed in Athens. The New York Times cited a report from the Associated Press, naming Onassis one of the year's new billionaires,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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, which was later sold to trusts connected with Ekaterina Rybolovleva,<ref name=ForbesApr13>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=ReutersApr13>Template:Cite news</ref> with some accounts claiming that Onassis's net worth is less than $1 billion.<ref name="Forbes2003">Template:Cite news</ref> Rybolovleva bought the island for $153 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Disputes over Onassis estate

Onassis' 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.<ref name="mantheakis" /><ref name="nicholasgage" /> The trustees Christina selected to manage the estate were Stelio Papadimitriou, Paul Ioannidis, Apostolos Zabelas, and Theodore Gabrielides.<ref>Template:Cite web Template:Dead link</ref><ref name= "klein">Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name="klein"/>

In 1999, a Vaduz court ordered the management of Athina's inheritance to be transferred to the KPMG Fides auditing firm in Lucerne, Switzerland.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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 that Athina had told her "if she could burn all the Onassis money, she would do it."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On her 18th birthday, Athina took control of her mother's inheritance.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</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.<ref name="nicholasgage" />

References

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