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Christina
Onassis
was born December 11, 1950 in New York City to Greek shipping empire giant
Aristotle Socrates Onassis and his wife, Athina. Though a poor refugee during
his own childhood, the elder Onassis had earned his way in the business
world by the time Christina was born, and the family was considered one
of the wealthiest in the world. The Onassis's had homes in Paris, Greece,
and New York City, and were well known for their spirit of charity, art,
power and influence.
Christina's
early childhood was marked by her parent's bitter divorce in the mid 1960s,
extensive media coverage, and years of early formal education, which would
take her to New York and Switzerland, and far away from her busy family.
In 1968, after a highly publicized courtship, Christina's father married
Jacqueline Kennedy, former President John F. Kennedy's widow. The media
quickly picked up the story and would closely follow the relationships
within the Onassis family for years, playing close attention to Christina's
disapproval of Jackie. Determined to carve her own path and avoid the
spotlight, Christina moved to London and enrolled in Queens College to
study fashion. She would dropped out several months later, at the age
of 19, ending her formal education. When her mother, Athina, found a third
husband in Stavros Niarchos, the publicity surrounding Christina and her
family only increased. Niarchos was not only the widower of Athina's sister,
but also the elder Onassis's bitter shipping rival. As paper after paper
ran headlines about the Onassis's, Christina created news of her own by
marrying a realtor 27-years her senior. Onassis was 20 years old at the
time and the marriage would last only 9-months.
Eager for her own identity and the approval of the media, Christina
began working at her father's headquarters in Monaco. She began as a secretary,
working her way up the corporate ladder. Proving herself an intelligent,
competent businesswoman, Christina managed more than one-billion dollars
each day and was considered by many a "natural" in the business
world, inheriting her father's good judgement and social skills. In the
early 1970s, illness and death would plague the Onassis family.
In 1973, Christina's brother, Alexander was killed while
flying a private plane. Her mother, Athina, would pass away the
following year of Pulmonary Edema, and her beloved father, Aristotle,
died in March of 1975. Despite her success in running the family business,
Christina's personal life constantly overshadowed her accomplishments,
and her face was frequently splashed across the front pages of gossip
and entertainment papers. Christina was said to be using a variety of
addictive drugs on a regular basis, including amphetamines and barbiturates.
She would marry and divorce four men in her lifetime, never keeping a
husband for more than two years. In 1985, Christina and her fourth husband,
Thierry Roussel, had a daughter, Athina, named after her
mother. Divorced and splitting time between Saint Moritz and Paris, Christina
took great pride in caring for her daughter, determined to create a stable
atmosphere for her child, which she would later claim was missing from
her own life. During the early 1980s, she also sat on the Alexander
Onassis Foundation board, serving as President to the charitable group
formed in her brother's memory.
On November 19, 1988, Christina Onassis was found dead in a friend's home
in Argentina. Her death was attributed to a heart attack, brought on by
years of drug abuse. Athina is now in the custody of her father and is
the sole heiress to the $600 million Onassis fortune and a massive personal
inheritance. Athina lives with her father, stepmother, and three step-siblings
in Switzerland and France. On her 18th birthday, Athina will immediately
inherit $2.4 billion.
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