Christina Onassis
The troubled heiress to a shipping empire, whose life of extreme wealth was shadowed by profound personal tragedy.
1949–1988 (age 39)·Greek businesswoman, socialite, and heiress to the Onassis fortune·Birthday: December 11·Baby Boomers
Biography
Christina Onassis was born into a gilded world of unimaginable wealth, but her life played out as a series of operatic sorrows. As the daughter of Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, she inherited a vast business empire and the relentless scrutiny that came with it. Her childhood was fractured by her parents' tumultuous divorce and her mother's early death. As an adult, she navigated four brief, unhappy marriages and the devastating loss of her brother, Alexander, in a plane crash. Thrust into leadership of the Onassis empire after her father's death, she proved a surprisingly shrewd and engaged businesswoman, diligently overseeing the complex shipping and airline interests. Her own death at 37 from a pulmonary edema shocked the world, closing the book on a short, dramatic life that seemed to embody the burdens of a legendary fortune.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Christina was born in 1949, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Christina Was Born
The biggest hits of 1949
#1 Movie
Samson and Delilah
Best Picture
All the King's Men
#1 TV Show
Texaco Star Theatre
Christina's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1949Born
NATO founded; Mao proclaims the People's Republic of China
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,450Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Riders in the Sky" — Vaughn MonroeBest Picture: All the King's Men
1954Started school
Brown v. Board of Education desegregates US schools
Gas: $0.29/galHome: $8,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Little Things Mean a Lot" — Kitty KallenBest Picture: On the Waterfront
1962Became a teenager
Cuban Missile Crisis brings the world to the brink
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $12,800Min wage: $1.15/hrPresident: John F. Kennedy"Stranger on the Shore" — Acker BilkBest Picture: Lawrence of Arabia
1965Could drive
US sends combat troops to Vietnam
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $13,600Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" — The Rolling StonesBest Picture: The Sound of Music
1967Could vote
Summer of Love in San Francisco; first Super Bowl
Gas: $0.33/galHome: $14,250Min wage: $1.40/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"To Sir, with Love" — LuluBest Picture: In the Heat of the Night
1970Turned 21
First Earth Day; The Beatles break up
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $17,000Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Bridge over Troubled Water" — Simon & GarfunkelBest Picture: Patton
1979Turned 30
Iran hostage crisis begins; Three Mile Island accident
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $37,900Min wage: $2.90/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"My Sharona" — The KnackBest Picture: Kramer vs. Kramer
1988Died at 39
Pan Am Flight 103 bombed over Lockerbie
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $74,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Faith" — George MichaelBest Picture: Rain Man
Key Achievements
- Assumed control and leadership of the billion-dollar Onassis shipping empire after her father's death in 1975.
- Served as President of the Onassis Foundation, which manages the family's philanthropic and cultural legacy.
- Successfully navigated the volatile global shipping market during the 1970s and 1980s as a principal owner.
- Expanded the family's business holdings, which included Olympic Airways and a vast fleet of tankers.
Did You Know?
She was married four times, including to a Greek shipping heir, a Russian businessman, and a French pharmaceutical heir.
She was the subject of the 2013 documentary series 'The Onassis Family.'
Her only child, Athina, became the sole heiress to the Onassis fortune.
She was reportedly fluent in several languages, including Greek, English, French, and Spanish.
“Happiness is not based on money, and the proof is my family.”
