Athina Onassis, heiress to one of the greatest shipping fortunes of the 20th century, has quietly withdrawn from the world of business. At 41, she resigned from the board of the French retail giant „Groupe Casino”, and the company said only one thing - the resignation is due to „personal reasons”. Two words that explain nothing, and that is exactly the point.

When someone with the surname Onassis leaves without explanation, analysts and investors begin to guess. Athina rarely speaks about her decisions. Her entire life is built around privacy - which is something almost impossible when you are born with such wealth.

And the wealth was enormous and early. At three, after the death of her mother Christina, Athina became the sole heiress to the fortune of shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. She was raised by her father, Thierry Roussel, far from the family's Greek Orthodox roots. The media stuck a label on her that few would want - „the richest girl in the world”.

Instead of living the life such a label implies, Athina chose horses. She is a top-level show-jumping competitor, with appearances on circuits like the „Longines Global Champions Tour”. Since 2023 she competes less often, but she organises her own equestrian event in Saint-Tropez and owns stables in the Netherlands. She married her trainer Doda Miranda in 2005, and they divorced after eleven years.

What reveals her most is one sentence from an interview back in 2013: „Social life was never my thing.” A woman born at the centre of world attention, who spends her whole life fleeing it. There is something Balkan-familiar in that - money does not buy peace, and sometimes the greatest luxury is the right to be left alone.