Athina Onassis’ Confidant and Author Alexis Mantheakis Dies at 68

Alexis Mantheakis, for several years a close friend and spokesman of Athina Onassis’ family, died in Athens on Friday. He was 68.

In recent years Mantheakis had withdrawn from public affairs and had devoted his life writing books about Athina Onassis. He was also campaigning for various Greek causes, including the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.

He grew up in a Greek family in colonial East Africa, where he attended the Prince of Wales boarding school in Nairobi, Kenya, with hundreds of children of a fading empire.

His youth coincided with Kenya’s struggle for independence, which succeeded just three months after he left for Stanford. And in recalling the collapse of colonial life after years of opposition and protest, he sees a lesson for today: It pays to be demanding with the British.

When Greece opened its $179 million new Acropolis Museum at the base of the Parthenon in 2009, Mantheakis lobbied against British officials’ being received on its steps and led a street protest against Britain’s refusal to give the marbles back for housing in the new world-class museum.

Even if Elgin received Ottoman permission, which is disputed, he did so without the agreement of an “enslaved nation,” Mantheakis told Stanford Magazine recently. “In 2,500 years, Greeks have never given up ownership. We may have been under occupation, but we have never given up ownership.”

Athina Onassis in the eye of the storm

Mantheakis spent several years of his life as a spokesman of Athina Onassis’ family. He wrote several books on the heiress. Perhaps the most well-received was “Athina Onassis In the Eye of the Storm”, published in 2012.

In the book, he takes the reader into the private world of the heiress. The reader will accompany the author and Athina to Scorpios, her private island, learn about a mystery woman and the bitter divorce action Athina has brought to end her 11 year marriage to Olympian show jumper Doda de Miranda Neto.

You will also read about the father/daughter feud and what really went on and meet her Brazilian husband. Eccentric admirers, court cases, a controversial Brazilian wedding, the Onassis Triangle Curse, the secret of a 12 year-old kidnapped Onassis girl, a hilarious incident with Aristotle Onassis in London’s Claridge’s Hotel bar, his pranks with a Russian prince who later rose to prominence in the Soviet Politburo, Doda’s companion Cibele Dorsa’s accusatory suicide letter, the writer’s role in the battle for the Onassis billions and Athina’s birthright.

Mantheakis on the double life of Athina Onassis’ husband

In a recent book, Mantheakis reveals shocking facts about the double life of the former husband of Athina Onassis.

Alvaro’s mistress; who he met shortly after his marriage to Athina, was a former call girl from Belgium.

“Three years ago, I was approached by a charming young lady, who explained to me that she was a call girl and that she had had a relationship with Doda. I asked her to tell me more, but she refused. It was too early to give me more details,” said Mantheakis.

“After three years of contact with her,” he continued “it was last year that she gave me the dossier. It is this red dossier that I uploaded on Facebook, with 120 pages, with documents and certificates, which I believe are the key in the divorce of Athina and Álvaro.”