The Richest Girl in the World
What's life like when you're 17 years old, an international celebrity and a multimillionaire to boot?
by Kathy Passero
In some ways, she's just your typical teenage girl. She loves horses, dogs, makeup, pop music and hanging out with friends. But in other ways, life for 17-year-old Athina Roussel--sole heir to the famous and fabulously wealthy house of Onassis--is anything but average. First, there's the bullet-proof, armored Mercedes that whisks her to and from school in the small village of Lussy-Sur-Morges. Next, there are bodyguards who inspect her room each night before bedtime. Then there are the paparazzi and the press, always trailing the shy, slim young woman who in less than a year will inherit an estimated US$600 million fortune, including villas, resorts, estates, Greek islands, portions of nearly 100 companies, a fleet of ships, skyscrapers and an immense collection of art and jewelry.
If she had her way, she'd "burn the money" to buy her privacy, as her stepmother told 20-20's Diane Sawyer. But the granddaughter of legendary Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis was born in the spotlight. Her mother was Aristotle's troubled daughter, the late Christina Onassis; her father was Christina's fourth husband, a wealthy Frenchman named Thierry Roussel. For Christina, little Athina was a dream come true. She lavished her with closets full of Baby Dior, opulent playrooms and nurseries at each of her numerous estates, a private zoo at her country home in Fontainebleau, near Paris, massive chocolate birthday cakes topped with elaborate sugar villages, and servants to carry her long after she learned to walk.
Times of Turmoil
Sadly, Christina and Thierry divorced in 1987. Less than two years later, on November 19, 1988, Christina died of heart failure. Thus began a long, ugly battle for control of little Athina's finances. It pitted Thierry Roussel against the four Greek business executives Christina had entrusted to administer the Onassis estate. Close associates of Aristotle's, and honorary uncles to Christina, the four accused Thierry of squandering Athina's multimillion-dollar annual allowance to cover his lavish personal expenses. They also complained that Thierry--who took Athina to live in Switzerland--was depriving the child of her Greek heritage. Though she speaks fluent Swedish, French and English, Athina knows little Greek and didn't set foot in the country until 1998.
Caught in the middle of the conflict, Athina said she wanted "to forget the name Onassis. It's the cause of all the problems." Eventually, Swiss courts decided to hand control of Athina's estate to an auditing firm, ordering both her father and the Greek businessmen to stay out of her finances.
When your inheritance could pay off the debt of some Third World countries, obviously "lunch money" is not an issue. Athina's Christmas gift to her father a few years ago, for example, was a US$235,000 Ferrari. Still, friends of the Roussels praise them for giving their children a down-to-earth, normal home life. They say Athina considers Gaby--Roussel's wife since 1990--her mother, and that she's extremely close to her half-siblings.
The Makings of a Philanthropist
"I to make her understand that real wealth is wealth of the heart," Roussel has said about Athina. "I don't want her to end up under the Ponte de L'Alma like Lady Di." To his credit, he seems committed to raising his children with solid values. Their pink stucco mansion is large and comfortable, but not opulent. The children are required to help around the house, eat what's put on the table for dinner and donate a favorite toy to the poor each year.
For her part, the soon-to-be millionaire seems untainted by the temptations of wealth. Not long ago she swapped her US$1,500 Rolex for a friend's Swatch, and more recently she told her father she wants to give most of her money to charity, saving US$20 million to live on and run a horse farm for the rest of her life. (For years before that, she'd wanted to be a professional trapeze artist.)
Chances are, this is just the beginning of Athina's interest in philanthropy. Sooner or later she will likely be tapped to head her grandfather's multimillion-dollar charitable foundation, a post she's eligible for when she turns 21.
Christina always told friends that what she wanted most for her daughter was happiness, but she named her after the Greek goddess of wisdom. And that may well be the quality Athina needs most to manage not only her vast inheritance, but the intense public scrutiny that goes with being the richest young woman in the world.
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