This month, we have the story of two Mistresses, first "Nicky T." who broke the marriage of heiress Athina Onassis. Nicky T. is one of our most elusive Mistresses of the Month. So little is known of Nicky T., who remains in the shadows, that we have to work around her to get the story.
Secondly, though more important in the life of Athina Onassis, is Marianne "Gaby" Landhage, who was a beautiful model back in the 80's. She became Athina's step-mother and raised her along with her father after Athina's mother, Christina, died in 1988 when Athina was three. Gaby was involved with Athina's father, Thierry Roussel, before, during, and after his marriage to her mother Christina Onassis. Gaby went from being girlfriend to Mistress to girlfriend to wife. She had two children with Thierry, who was and is a businessman, and came from wealth himself, though not the wealth of Onassis, while he was married to Christina. The couple eventually had a third child.
While it seems Christina Onassis was aware she was not the only woman in Thierry's life, and it would be easy to think that Thierry was a Kept Man in his years with Christina, life just isn't so simple. Had he not married Christina, it would be easier to think of him as having been Kept. Some infer he was only into it for the money and not much to Christina besides a sperm donor. Roussel was no pauper and though his business decisions have not always proved successful and he may have unfairly been suspected of taking advantage of his daughter's money, he works in International Finance. What I haven't encountered in the reportage I've read is the possibility that this three way relationship was agreed to with everyone involved. That he loved both women. That the women accepted that they were sharing a man and both loved him.
That Athina was raised with her half siblings by Gaby and Thierry after her mother died in 1988 seems only right. Her father had begun divorce proceedings before Athina was a year old. He married Gaby in 1990.
Perhaps what is true is that as Athina, the shy, innocent, and quiet girl who believed in love, decided that she would never accept what her mother had.
And so, a bit of a back story on Athina and her mom, Christina.
Like many heiresses of note, the problem of not knowing if she was ever loved plagued the emotionally unstable Christina Onassis, heiress to the Greek shipping fortune of her father, Aristotle Onassis. (Aristotle has featured here at Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot in posts about the opera singer Maria Callas who was his Mistress, as well as Jackie Kennedy Onassis, whom he married.) Christina, who married four times, was married to Athina's father, Thierry Roussel at the time Athina was born and this was her last marriage.
When Christina died, only 37 years old, perhaps of heart failure - pulmonary edema - there was speculation that she actually died of a broken heart or that she was actually a suicide or she died of a drug overdose or/and that her dieting may have weakened her. It goes that as one of the riches women in the world her people would keep the truth from the world.
Athina, the beautiful child, has been a magazine cover girl many times in her life. When she was a child she appeared on the cover of People magazine as the richest little girl in the world. At about 13 she again appeared, this time in the middle of a battle between her father's ideas about her fortune and that of her mother's Greek money men. How much money she had or has is also speculative to this day. Her mother was an heir to her father, the Greek shipping millionaire and Athina inherited 55%. Investments and expenditures, properties and countries, can only be guessed at, but she recently sold her mother's jewelry and is said to not be much interested in clothing or jewelry, just horses.
Despite the tragedies that befell her mother and family of origin, Athina Onassis seemed to have a decent and normal childhood but there were often accusations that her father wanted more money out of the Onassis estate than needed for his own purposes. The question of her father's parental responsibility and function when it comes to Athina's money has been controversial from the beginning. Also, Athina was not raised as her mother wished, to be connected to her Greek heritage. For instance, she's eloquent in French and English but didn't learn Greek. At age 14 she proved to have a mind of her own when she went to court over her money. Eventually she took the control away from her father.
Athina left home at 18, did not go to college, but, like many wealthy heiresses, pursued an equestrian lifestyle. In 2005 she married a man about twelve years older than she, Brazilian Alvaro de Miranda Neto, a man who had rode in the Olympics as a show jumper and was part of the sporting life she adores. It was reported that her father and step-mother did not attend, suggesting that this was the moment when Athina had fully declared her independence from her childhood. The couple first lived in luxury in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Athina has been considered to be introverted since she was a girl, though perhaps she is simply more reserved than gregarious. Therefore, that she took quick and definitive action to start a divorce upon learning of her husband's infidelity might seem too decisive and even shocking to some. It was reported that her security people had told her about the affair. Maybe so. There is another story, though, and it's called The Red File.
The Red File is where Nicky T, the obscure Belgian escort who broke the marriage between Alvaro and Athina, comes in. The Red File apparently contained excellent documentation that Athina's husband had been in a "parallel" relationship for eight - eight and a half years during the eleven year marriage. Nicky T. was a highly paid escort. Of course that doesn't mean what they had together wasn't special. Reportedly Nick T. did not stop escorting just because they had something special.
Of interest to me is that it seems Athina's ex husband has remarried and that there is a professional looking wedding video on YouTube testifying to the fact. How much money he did get for his marriage effort with Athina is not publicized, but the prenup was to give him about one million for each year of marriage. Though I know horses and equestrian events are most often the sport of the rich, how much money he brought into the marriage is also seemingly unknown. The divorce proceedings occurred in Antwerp, Belgium, where Onassis had been living. Miranda wanted more than the prenup and even wanted alimony, but whatever happened, in November 2017 the marriage ended.
Nicky T. is said to have been, as a sex worker, involved with friends of his. My guess is that by having this regular clientele she was able to stay close to the scene and in the relationship. It was Nicky T. herself who provided, after about 3 years time from first contact with someone who knew well Athina, the documentation of the adultery which greatly influenced the betrayed Athena and the court, which awarded him less money than he wanted.
Who is the author of the book also called The Red File, Alexis Mantheakis? He has been an advisor to the Onassis fortune and for many years - about 20 - and in the trenches, so to speak, with Athina. He wrote a previous book about Athina titled Athina Onassis : In the Eye of the Storm. Mantheakis said that he had been approached by the Belgium woman, called Nicky T. who was working as an escort, and she offered him a file with documents, including hotel and airline bills to prove she had been in a relationship with Athina's husband, Alvaro de Miranda.
This book is a primary reference for this month's posts, as well numerous news articles on the Internet that have been read and YouTube videos watched. Some of these are from Greek or other European language sources that had to be read using translators.
Over the years I've read a number of books in English that include the Onassis story and here at Mistress Manifesto, Onassis' Mistress and Renowned Opera Singer Maria Callas was Mistress of the Month in August 2010 and Jackie Kennedy Onassis - an Honorary Mistress - December 2014. The early on 2010 posts are not as researched and referenced as posts have been in more recent years. I was just getting into my subject and so I believe Maria Callas may deserve another month in the future.
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