She might be known for her reclusive tendencies, but this week, Athina Onassis made a rare appearance at Barcelona Bridal Week.
The 41-year-old, who has spent much of her adult life holed up in her heavily fortified mansion in the Campine, an area of outstanding natural beauty on the border between Belgium and the Netherlands, attended the Stephane Rolland show alongside Swedish actor Fredrik Dolk on Wednesday.
Unlike other socialites, who often can’t resist the multitude of invitations they no doubt receive to lavish soirées and glittering public occasions, Athina has instead poured all her energies into her professional stables near Valkenswaard in Holland.
Because, despite her vast inheritance, the granddaughter of Aristotle Onassis – the Greek shipping tycoon who married Jackie Kennedy while in a long-term romance with opera singer Maria Callas – has been a victim of the so-called ‘Onassis Curse’, suffering tragedy after tragedy.
Athina’s mother, Christina, died of a heart attack brought on by years of eating disorders at the age of 37, when her only child was just three years old.
Fifteen years earlier, Christina’s brother Alexander was killed in a plane crash, and their mother, Athina ‘Tina’ Onassis, died of a drug overdose the following year in 1974. Months later, Aristotle, who never recovered from his heir’s death, passed away from bronchial pneumonia.
Athina was also embroiled in romantic woes; her ex-husband was reportedly found in bed with a one-night stand in the $2million home that the heiress bought in Wellington, Florida, in 2016. Since then, she has only been seen a handful of times.
After a three-year hiatus from public events, she first broke cover in March last year – and has since gone on to attend a selection of events, including Wednesday’s show, suggesting she might be turning over a new leaf.
Athina Onassis attended the Stephane Rolland show alongside Swedish actor Fredrik Dolk in Barcelona on Wednesday
Before entering the black-tie event, Athina, dressed in a red co-ord, posed for photographs with her guest, a notable voice actor known for his work as Buzz Lightyear in the Swedish version of Toy Story.
The fashion showcase marked Stephane Rolland’s Spanish debut and was accompanied by live poetry and music.
When Athina was just three, her mother, Christina, 37, was found dead in the bathtub. On her 18th birthday, Athina was given access to her late mother’s $2.7billion fortune.
Athina has stayed firmly out of the spotlight throughout her adult years, choosing to keep her personal life under wraps.
After the breakdown of her ten-year marriage to ‘Doda’ Álvaro de Miranda Neto in 2016, she almost completely withdrew from public life altogether.
Before her appearance last year, Athina, a keen showjumper, was seen in June 2022, when she competed at the Longines Paris Eiffel Jumping show at Champ de Mars.
At the event, Athina looked almost unrecognisable, having traded her signature bleached hair for her natural colour.
The secretive socialite ditched her typically no-makeup look and wore a glamorous full face of cosmetics, including blush, contour, mascara, and eyeshadow, with her lips looking fuller than in previous years.
Athina is seen with her ex-husband Álvaro de Miranda Neto in Brazil in April 2005, before they wed
On her 18th birthday, the heiress inherited $2.7billion from her mother, who was tragically found dead in her bath tub aged 37, when Athina was just three years old (pictured together)
She posed for a picture with Ines de Cominges, the only daughter of Count and Countess Rafael de Cominges of Madrid, and artist Arnaud Cabri-Wiltzer.
The heiress has only been seen a handful of times at public events since her ex-husband was reportedly found in bed with a one-night stand in the $2million home that Athina bought in Wellington, Florida, in 2016.
DailyMail.com learned that ‘Doda’ Miranda, who was formerly part of Brazil’s Olympic showjumping team, was discovered in bed with the woman by his wife’s security team.
A well-connected member of the international show jumping circuit told the Mail that Athina’s security team busted him ‘having sex with another woman’.
‘He begged them not to say anything, but one of them went straight to Athina. She immediately packed her bags and went off to Europe,’ the source said.
‘It was apparently a one-night stand, there was nothing serious going on between them.’
Miranda spoke to Brazilian magazine Epoca at the time and said: ‘I am really in the midst of a storm. But I will not give up on my love. It won’t be easy but I will fight until the end.’
Miranda has since gone on to marry another woman, journalist Denize Severo, and has welcomed two children.
Aristotle with his second wife and former spouse of US President John F. Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy Onassis
Athina’s marriage breakdown is not the first heartbreak she has endured – after tragically losing her mother at the age of three.
In her early childhood, Christina bonded with her daughter and gave Athina her own flock of sheep, complete with a shepherd, when she learned the nursery rhyme Baa Baa Black Sheep. She also gave her a private zoo.
It was previously reported that Christina had died of a heart attack brought on by years of eating disorders.
Athina was reportedly the richest teenage girl in the world when she inherited her mother’s $2.7billion fortune when she turned 18.
However, her fortune has been badly managed over the years, experts say, and she sold Aristotle’s private Greek island, Skorpios, to Russian billionaire Ekaterina Rybolovleva in 2013 for an estimated $100million.
Despite being one of the wealthiest families in the world, the Onassis dynasty has famously been plagued by tragedy.
A decade and a half earlier, Christina had lost her entire family in little more than two years. Her 24-year-old brother Alexander was killed in a plane crash in January 1973, and their mother, also called Athina, died of a drug overdose the following year.
Aristotle, who never recovered from his son and heir’s death, then passed away from bronchial pneumonia in March 1975.
Christina had four marriages, none of them lasting over three years. Athina (whose father was Christina’s final husband, French pharmaceutical heir Thierry Roussel) was her only child.
Athina is now the only living Onassis grandchild of Aristotle.
Thierry Roussel fathered a son with Swedish model Gaby Landhage while Christina was pregnant, and the couple split shortly after Athina was born.
After Christina’s death, Athina went to live with Roussel and Gaby.
Athina is believed to have no contact with her father and has even dropped his last name.
Thierry was also not among the 1,300 guests invited to her December 2005 marriage to Miranda in a specially constructed Roman Catholic church at a resort in Sao Paulo. Instead, Miranda’s father, Ricardo, led her down the aisle.
Miranda told a Brazilian magazine in 2011 that they intended to start a family within a few years.
‘Athina is still very young,’ he said, adding that having a baby would interrupt her budding showjumping career.
‘I also have a very busy life,’ he said. ‘When a baby comes I want to reduce the number of competitions to be more present.’
Athina reportedly became pregnant in 2013 but suffered a miscarriage.
Miranda said that Athina spent much of her time looking after Vivienne, his daughter with model Cibele Dorsa, who killed herself in 2011.
