The Bible says money is the root of all evil and the Beatles claim you can’t buy their love, so just what does it mean to be like King Solomon with hordes of gold lying at your feet? Most of us will never experience the world looking askance at us, saying “You have everything, what reason have you to be unhappy?”
Christina Onassis, born December 11, 1950, to parents Aristotle Onassis and Athina Livanos, titans in the Greek shipping industry, lived just such an unhappy life.
Her childhood was the stuff of most little girls’ dreams: pony rides in Saudi Arabia, designer dolls and clothes, lazy summer days spent drifting on yachts and living inside sprawling mansions. Christina spent her school days studying at expensive boarding schools in France, England and Greece. As a child, she had paid help at her disposal and celebrities for friends.
But what Christina’s childhood lacked was the basic, fundamental need of every child, love. Instead of a home filled with encouragement, laughter and the kind of true support that a child can only receive from their parents, Christina was raised by a governess.
At age nine, her parents announced they were divorcing. The reason for the separation shouted from the front-page of every major newspaper: Aristotle Onassis had an affair with famous opera singer Maria Callas.
Suddenly the cameras that had taken so much care to “photograph her good side,” were being thrust unceremoniously in her face every time she exited the family home. The very private story of their broken lives was now fodder for the entertainment of strangers. One by one Christina’s friends turned against her.
Following divorce, Christina’s father famously married former First Lady of the United States, Jaqueline Kennedy. Deeming her a gold digger, Christina reportedly referred to her as “my father’s unfortunate obsession.”
However, Christina’s true tragedies were yet to come, and on January 22, 1973, her brother died in a plane crash in Athens. Next, Christina’s mother Athina was found dead inside her Paris home of a suspected barbiturate overdose on October 10, 1974. Following the death of his son, Christina’s father became consumed with suspicion and paranoia, leading to his own death on March 15, 1975.
Christina inherited $77,000,000 from her mother’s estate and from her father’s estate, Christina was eligible for a 55%, or roughly $500,000,000 inheritance. The other 45% of the Aristotle Onassis Estate founded the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation in honor of Christina’s beloved brother.
Burying her entire family all within 29 months, at the age of 24, Christina Onassis was now one of the wealthiest heiresses in the world. Successfully assuming lead over the Onassis global shipping empire, Christina shamed the male board members who expected her to be nothing more than a vacant, pretty face.
Traveling the world, she married four times, the longest lasting only 14 months — the unloved child now an unloved adult.
Christina gave birth to her only child, Athina, in January 1985. Five months later, she discovered her fourth husband’s affair and, like her mother, filed for divorce.
Enter Luis Basualdo, a man she met while he was on a two-week vacation at her private island Skorpios. Striking up a friendly rapport, Christina begged Basualdo not to leave, offering him $30,000 a month to stay and be her friend. Accepting, he spent the next years participating in whatever activities Christina wanted to do—and pay for — including binge watchng movies, dancing, swimming and expensive vacations.
Before Basualdo, there were others Christina paid for their friendship throughout her life.
On the morning of November 19, 1988, Christina was found dead at 37-years-old by the maid. Whispers of murder were heard across the country club playgrounds of the elite, but medical professionals said her heart just gave out.
Did Christina Onassis’s heart decide the cost of continuing to beat was too great? What is money worth without genuine companionship and love? By what standards should we measure success?
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