A notoriously reclusive heiress who has not been seen in public for three years has made a surprising appearance at a charity gala – and appears to have opted for a new look.
French-Greek socialite Athina Onassis, who reportedly splits her time between a small town in the Netherlands and Belgium, was snapped at an art event hosted by the Amis du Centre Pompidou in Paris last month.
The 40 year-old equestrian is the daughter of French businessman Thierry Roussel and socialite Christina Onassis, whose father was Aristotle Onassis, owner of one of the largest shipping fleets in the world.
However, despite inheriting a billion dollar fortune as a member of the dynasty, tragedies in Athina’s life have led to suggestions she’s a victim of the ‘Onassis curse’ which has befallen several members of her extremely wealthy family.
When Athina was just three years old her mother Christina, 37, was found dead in the bath tub. On her 18th birthday, Athina was given access to her late mother’s $2.7 billion fortune.
In her adult years Athina has never been a fan of the spotlight and largely kept her personal life under wraps.
However, after the breakdown of her ten-year marriage to ‘Doda’ Álvaro de Miranda Neto in 2016, she almost completely withdrew from public life altogether.
A keen showjumper, the sportswoman was last snapped in June 2022, when she competed at the Longines Paris Eiffel Jumping show at Champ de Mars.
Athina – who does not have any children – is often photographed sporting a solemn expression, her signature bleached hair and her riding gear – however, she looks almost unrecognisable after re-appearing on the high society scene.
Athina Onassis was snapped at an art event hosted by the Amis du Centre Pompidou in Paris last month
Athina was seen with Ines de Cominges, the only daughter of Count and Countess Rafael de Cominges of Madrid and artist Arnaud Cabri-Wiltzer
A keen equestrian, the sportswoman was last snapped in June 2022, when she competed at the Longines Paris Eiffel Jumping show at Champ de Mars
In the image – which was taken on March 11 – she has switched out her golden tresses for chocolate brown strands, which she wore in an elegant blow-dry.
Although she is often seen with little to-no-makeup, the secretive socialite wore a glamorous full face of cosmetics, including blush, contour, mascara and eyeshadow, with her lips looking fuller than in previous years.
Athina donned a sheer black lace dress, along with a glitzy sequin blazer and wore a silver jewelled crucifix around her neck. 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.
She has only been seen a handful of times since her ex-husband was reportedly found in bed with a one-night stand in the new $2 million home that Athina bought in Wellington, Florida in 2016.
DailyMail.com learnt 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.’
Athina – who does not have any children – is often photographed sporting a solemn expression, her signature bleached hair and her riding gear (pictured in 2019)
Aristotle Onassis (pictured 1959) owned one of the largest shipping fleets in the world called the Onassis Fleet
Athina is snapped with her ex-husband Álvaro de Miranda Neto in April 2005, before they married
On her 18th birthday, the heiress inherited $2.7 billion from her mother, who was tragically found dead in her bath tub aged 37, when Athina was just three years old (pictured together)
After Christina’s death, Athina went to live with her father and his partner, Gaby. Pictured Christina, Thierry and Athina
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.
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 $2.7 billion 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 billionairess Ekaterina Rybolovleva in 2013 for an estimated $100 million.
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 more than three years. Athina, whose father was her final husband, French pharmaceutical heir Thierry Roussel, was her only child.
Athina is now the only living Onassis grandchild of Aristotle.
Athina is believed to have no contact with her father and has even dropped his last name (pictured together)
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.
