Athena Onassis de Miranda, the French-Greek heiress of the Onassis fortune and the only surviving descendant of Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis has pretty much abandoned Greece after marrying Brazilian Olympic showjumper Alvaro de Miranda Neto in 2005. This, of course, comes as no surprise as she had stated that she felt “great aversion to anything Greek” from a young age.

Latest photos of Athina show she is nothing like the girl who was forced to come to Greek vacations. She celebrated her stepdaughter Viviane’s birthday looking exceptionally beautiful and glamorous. The young girl has been raised by Onassis after her model mother committed suicide at the age of three, the same age Athina was when her own mother committed suicide.

Her inheritance has been subject to much argument with the media unable to fully assess the full extent of her assets. There is a dispute as to how wealthy she is as she did not take control of the other half of her inheritance or become president of the Onassis Foundation as expected when she turned 21 in January 2006 even though her lawyers unsuccessfully fought to instate her as head of the group. Stelios Papadimitriou, head of the Foundation, said: “We are not going to turn the Onassis Foundation over to someone who has no connection with our culture, our religion, our language or our shared experiences, and who never went to college or worked a day in her life. She can do whatever she wants with what she inherited from her mother, but not with Onassis’s legacy to the Greek people in memory of Alexander Onassis (Athina’s uncle).”

Athina did exactly that and lives a lavish life, spending most of her money on horses and taking care of her husband and stepdaughter.  It seems however that she has had a change of heart and is learning the Greek language – finally! – as well as exploring her roots.