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American Morning

Rich Get Richer

Aired January 29, 2003 - 09:51   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Happy birthday to Athina Roussel on her 18th birthday. If you're not familiar with that name, you might understand who she is now. She is the heiress to the Onassis fortune. And because it is her birthday today, she is now in charge of it. Her net worth now ranges from $800 million to $2.7 billion by some accounts.
So how will Athina Roussel, the only daughter of Christina Onassis, handle her coming of age? For the answer to that, we turn to Galina Espinoza, who is a writer for "People" magazine. Her profile of the world's richest kids includes Athina Roussel and Galina joins us now.

Good morning.

You spent a lot of time talking to a lot of Athina's friends about this coming of age marker. What do they tell you about her?

GALINA ESPINOZA, "PEOPLE" MAGAZINE: They tell us she is actually well prepared to come into this fortune. She was raised as normally as any girl could be who is about to inherit that amount of money. She grew up in a small Swiss village. She rode the school bus to the local public school. She didn't attend fashion shows, and says she brought her designer clothes off the rack. She loves Brat Pitt movies. She's really just a regular girl once you put aside the money.

ZAHN: How careful are "People" about what they say about her. She has kept a very low profile, hasn't talked to any reporters.

ESPINOZA: Yes, and her father very specifically wanted to keep her out of the spotlight. She travels everywhere with bodyguards. She doesn't do interviews. When she goes on vacation, it's very private, always at the family villas, for example in Ebizo (ph) or Geneva. She's really kept to herself and a lot of people credit that upbringing with really turning her into the mature poised young woman which see seems to be.

ZAHN: Now there is a lot written about her current boyfriend and charges that he might not have her best interest at heart. Who is he?

ESPINOZA: His name is Avaro Nato (ph), and he is a Brazilian show jumper. He told us that the reason for their relationship is because they share a passion for horses. Athina is a devoted equestrian. Yet there are some concerns about this relationship. He is not only 11 years her senior, but he also has a 3-year-old daughter with his ex-common law wife, who lives in Brazil, and she has made several disparaging remarks about the relationship, claiming that he told he was only interested in Athina for the money. Athina, on the hand, has told her father that she has never been happier and that this guy is a really terrific catch, and we just have to wait and see how it works out.

ZAHN: And they now live in Belgium together?

ESPINOZA: Well, they're not actually living together, but they both are in Brussels, where they're training for their horse competitions. They're both competing on the international horse circuit, and they do spend almost all of their free time together, and they do things that regular couples do. They go shopping. They go to the movies. They recently went to see the latest "Harry Potter" film. So they're really trying to keep their relationship low key. He told us that it's too early to be talking marriage, but that they're very much in love.

ZAHN: And she has Olympic glory in her eyes? She'd like to compete in the Summer Olympics.

ESPINOZA: Yes, she does. In fact, the Greek national team has already invited her to come and try out with them. She hasn't yet responded to that invitation, and there's some question about whether she would compete for Greece, which is her mother's homeland, or for France, which is where her father is from, but she's absolutely passionate and devoted to her horse riding career.

ZAHN: How concerned are her people that she may meet the same fate of unhappiness that so many of her other family members had to deal with.

ESPINOZA: Absolutely. Yes, there is talk of that Onassis curse. Her grandfather, Aristotle Onassis, who built the family fortune, had very tumultuous relationships. Her mother had four disastrous marriages, and so that's certainly a concern with Athina. But her father is afraid that if he comes down on Athina too hard and her relations, that she'll rebel, and say, you know, what, I got my money, I can do whatever I want. So he's trying to keep an open mind.

ZAHN: We wish her well, and hope she's very good at managing that.

ESPINOZA: We all do.

ZAHN: Galina Espinoza, thanks for dropping by, appreciate you sharing part of the cover story with us this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired January 29, 2003 - 09:51   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Happy birthday to Athina Roussel on her 18th birthday. If you're not familiar with that name, you might understand who she is now. She is the heiress to the Onassis fortune. And because it is her birthday today, she is now in charge of it. Her net worth now ranges from $800 million to $2.7 billion by some accounts.
So how will Athina Roussel, the only daughter of Christina Onassis, handle her coming of age? For the answer to that, we turn to Galina Espinoza, who is a writer for "People" magazine. Her profile of the world's richest kids includes Athina Roussel and Galina joins us now.

Good morning.

You spent a lot of time talking to a lot of Athina's friends about this coming of age marker. What do they tell you about her?

GALINA ESPINOZA, "PEOPLE" MAGAZINE: They tell us she is actually well prepared to come into this fortune. She was raised as normally as any girl could be who is about to inherit that amount of money. She grew up in a small Swiss village. She rode the school bus to the local public school. She didn't attend fashion shows, and says she brought her designer clothes off the rack. She loves Brat Pitt movies. She's really just a regular girl once you put aside the money.

ZAHN: How careful are "People" about what they say about her. She has kept a very low profile, hasn't talked to any reporters.

ESPINOZA: Yes, and her father very specifically wanted to keep her out of the spotlight. She travels everywhere with bodyguards. She doesn't do interviews. When she goes on vacation, it's very private, always at the family villas, for example in Ebizo (ph) or Geneva. She's really kept to herself and a lot of people credit that upbringing with really turning her into the mature poised young woman which see seems to be.

ZAHN: Now there is a lot written about her current boyfriend and charges that he might not have her best interest at heart. Who is he?

ESPINOZA: His name is Avaro Nato (ph), and he is a Brazilian show jumper. He told us that the reason for their relationship is because they share a passion for horses. Athina is a devoted equestrian. Yet there are some concerns about this relationship. He is not only 11 years her senior, but he also has a 3-year-old daughter with his ex-common law wife, who lives in Brazil, and she has made several disparaging remarks about the relationship, claiming that he told he was only interested in Athina for the money. Athina, on the hand, has told her father that she has never been happier and that this guy is a really terrific catch, and we just have to wait and see how it works out.

ZAHN: And they now live in Belgium together?

ESPINOZA: Well, they're not actually living together, but they both are in Brussels, where they're training for their horse competitions. They're both competing on the international horse circuit, and they do spend almost all of their free time together, and they do things that regular couples do. They go shopping. They go to the movies. They recently went to see the latest "Harry Potter" film. So they're really trying to keep their relationship low key. He told us that it's too early to be talking marriage, but that they're very much in love.

ZAHN: And she has Olympic glory in her eyes? She'd like to compete in the Summer Olympics.

ESPINOZA: Yes, she does. In fact, the Greek national team has already invited her to come and try out with them. She hasn't yet responded to that invitation, and there's some question about whether she would compete for Greece, which is her mother's homeland, or for France, which is where her father is from, but she's absolutely passionate and devoted to her horse riding career.

ZAHN: How concerned are her people that she may meet the same fate of unhappiness that so many of her other family members had to deal with.

ESPINOZA: Absolutely. Yes, there is talk of that Onassis curse. Her grandfather, Aristotle Onassis, who built the family fortune, had very tumultuous relationships. Her mother had four disastrous marriages, and so that's certainly a concern with Athina. But her father is afraid that if he comes down on Athina too hard and her relations, that she'll rebel, and say, you know, what, I got my money, I can do whatever I want. So he's trying to keep an open mind.

ZAHN: We wish her well, and hope she's very good at managing that.

ESPINOZA: We all do.

ZAHN: Galina Espinoza, thanks for dropping by, appreciate you sharing part of the cover story with us this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com