Sunday Express - Sunday 12 September 1976

The Secrets of Jackie's strange marriage to Onassis 

Graham Lord

"Not that the marriage was simply a platonic contractual arrangement. Mr Frischauer says it was indeed consummated, but it swiftly became a very odd union."

"It was an indication of the sort of marriage this was to be. While the new Mrs Onassis set about spending some money - adding for instance to her stock of 300 pairs of shoes, and flitting too and fro across the Atlantic - the old Mr Onassis carried on as before, carousing in Athens while she was in America and even still wining and dining his ex mistress, Maria Callas, in Paris. 

Togetherness was rare."

"Even when they were aboard his own yacht Onassis was turned out of his master stateroom - "it was inconceivable for Jackie to inhabit a cabin which was smaller or in any way inferior to another" - and relegated to a smaller one, so that he "felt like a guest aboard". 

Writes Mr Frischauer, "When they were together, they were affectionate, walked arm in arm, sat close together with his hand on hers, his cheek rubbing against her cheek".

But the differences were too great. She could not take to his Greek friends any more than he could fit into her arty socialite world. 

"There were delays over the payment of some of her bills, which damaged her reputation and her credit".

"It was Jackie's apparent lack of grief at the death of his son that really soured the marriage for Onassis, says Mr Frischauer, He writes, "He never forgave her...with Alexander's death part of his love for Jackie died too".