“Upon learning that she was pregnant, Maria Callas was overjoyed.” In the book Greek Fire. The Love Affair of Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis, Nicholas Gage describes Maria Callas’ pregnancy and the birth of her and Aristotle Onassis’ son.
“The story of her baby’s birth and death has never been told. Maria only spoke about it to three people: her servants Bruna and Ferruccio, and many years later, her heartfelt friend, Vasso Devetzi.”
An endless, often frantic, scramble began after Maria Callas’ death for new and revelatory scoops. Indeed, to this day, there is an enduring fascination with hidden chapters in the life of the ultimate diva.
Nicholas Gage’s book and Omero Lengrini
These are the cracks through which many seek to catch a stolen glance into the inner sanctums of a woman who left an indelible mark on the history of opera.
The chapter co-starring Aristotle Onassis remains the most ‘susceptible’ to scandalmongers. And salacious headlines with revelations (real and imagined) about their relationship can still have magazines, newspapers and books flying off the shelves.
Of course, the “revelations” are subject to scrutiny and investigations that debunk the claims about Maria Callas’ well-hidden past. What is undeniable is that Callas wanted to have children.
It was actually her husband, Giovanni Battista Meneghini, was dissuaded her from doing so, for fear it would lead to a loss of momentum in her career. For Meneghini, a pregnancy could delay her irresistible rise to the very peak of her profession.
In his book, Gage claims that, after months of research, he can say with total certainty that Callas gave birth to a baby boy on March 30, 1960. The father of the child was Aristotle Onassis—though, according to Gage, the boy never took his name.
Instead, the child was named Omero Lengrini. He died a few hours after birth due to severe respiratory problems.
Gage actually presents Omero’s death certificate and a photograph of him which, he writes, Callas kept with her always.
Since 1999, when the book in question was published, many have come forward to reject the author’s claims as simply untrue, and declare Omero a figment of his imagination.
The truth about the son of Callas and Onassis
Lyndsy Spence, a biographer of Maria Callas, paints a tender and tragic portrait of the opera diva in Cast a Diva: The hidden life of Maria Callas, which makes use of unpublished and previously unknown material.
Spence wrote a piece exclusively for the inaugural issue of To Vima’s very own “Grace” magazine (which was also dedicated to Maria Callas). In it, she proves that Omero Lengrini existed, but was totally unconnected to Callas and Onassis.
“The Clinica Dezza in Milan, where Gage says Callas gave birth to a son, was used by a nearby convent to cater to the needs of single mothers. Women and girls from wealthy families could pay to have their names omitted from the birth certificates.
“Lengrini was not an alias used by Callas, but rather the surname given to the newborn by whoever recorded the boy’s birth, probably a nun.
“At that time in Italy, illegitimate children could not use their parents’ family names; that was a privilege reserved for children born in wedlock.
“Instead, they were given surnames that hinted at their place of origin or their birthday, meaning where their mothers came from or a saint’s day that coincided with their birth.
“The records show that Lengrini was a hamlet near the border with Switzerland, and further research reveals that Omero Lengrini’s mother was an unmarried teenager—and now a bereaved mother forced to relive the death of her son every time her child is brought up in a biography of Callas or in the Press.”
The first public reference to Callas’ ‘pregnancy’ dates from December 1959. The Italian magazine Annabella wrote that Maria Callas was suffering from “dizziness and sudden sickness, and had a paler than normal appearance.”
“The intrusion into my private life has now reached an unprecedented and intolerable level. The allusion to my being pregnant has absolutely no basis in truth. I am now considering legal action against the persons responsible for the publication of this false report,” was how Callas responded at the time, having received repeated phone calls asking for a statement.
Meneghini the blackmailer
In the early 1960s, Callas was expecting Onassis’ child, but the shopping magnate asked her to terminate the pregnancy. She hoped he would change his mind. He met with Meneghini and asked him to sign their American divorce papers.
However, there were two specific clauses in Callas and Meneghini’s prenuptial agreement: first, Meneghini could not oppose or prevent Callas from seeking a divorce in America. Second, neither of them could behave in a scandalous manner while they remained legally married.
Meneghini learned that Callas was pregnant. It worked very much in his favor. He blackmailed Callas, demanding that she sign over 50% of the recording royalties to him in return for his agreeing to the divorce and not making her situation public.
She was adamant: she would not do it. His handling of her finances had been disastrous, she said repeatedly. Indeed, she had written of Meneghini: “My husband goes so far as to threaten me, and he robs me, too. He takes more than half of my money, having deposited everything in his name since our marriage. I was a fool to trust him. Everyone thinks he’s a millionaire, when in fact not a penny is his own.”
Writing to her lawyer, Callas said: “Tell me how much it will cost and how long it will take, whether I need Meneghini’s consent or if I can proceed without it.”
A few weeks later, she miscarried. Sadly, she would do so again in 1963.
Gage’s claims versus Callas’ tight dresses
Lyndsy Spence wrote in Grace: “The events surrounding Callas’ pregnancy will be familiar to women all over the world, who were forced to undergo similar trials. Callas ran into obstacles built into the patriarchal laws of the time; she was trapped by her circumstances.
“But the real victim, in my opinion, is Omero Lengrini, an innocent child whose identity has been manipulated to add still more fuel to the tragedy of Callas’ life. I hope the truth will allow Omero to rest in peace.”
Gage writes that Callas was seven months pregnant at the start of 1960, but this claim is very much at odds with her appearance at the time. Callas is frequently photographed wearing tight, knee-length dresses for her public appearances throughout the period in question. For example, when she attended the première of Fellini’s La dolce vita on 5 February 1960 at the Teatro Capitol in Milan, escorted by the businessman Antonio Ghiringhelli.
As her sister, Jackie, wrote in a fax she sent Gage on September 18, 2000: “Maria couldn’t have worn a coat or something similar 24 hours a day during the crucial last months of pregnancy.”
Marilena Patronikola, Aristotle Onassis’s niece, also pointed out that a pregnancy “is not something that can be kept secret and hidden.”
A premature birth “by request”
Dr. Brigitte Pantis debunks Gage’s claims that Callas gave birth prematurely at her own request.
“But Maria’s loneliness at Onassis’ absence slowly gave way to dread at the prospect of his return,” Gage writes.
“She feared having him see her swollen and nine months pregnant. She felt ugly and awkward and wished he could find her slim again, and holding their baby in her arms.”
So “she pressured her obstetrician to deliver the child early—by cesarean section—as soon as it was safe to do so.” “She gave birth to a baby boy,” he continues. “Soon, however, the tiny infant began to have difficulty breathing. The clinic was not equipped to deal with the crisis and an ambulance was called to rush the baby to a better-equipped facility.”
However, as Dr Pantis notes, “It should be remembered that at that time, cesarean section was not something mothers could opt for. In the 1960s, the operation still came with a significant risk and would only be performed when normal delivery was impossible.”
Gage’s (former) friend, Dr. Andreas Stathopoulos, a doctor himself, sums it up quite well: “What Gage writes is outrageous. No doctor has ever been pressured into interrupting a pregnancy and performing a premature delivery by cesarean section for ridiculous reasons of the sort he lists, a month before the expected delivery date.
“Nothing of the sort could have occurred in any civilized country, let alone when the expectant mother was Maria Callas. Ask anyone you will, it is professionally and scientifically untenable.”
Pantis concludes: “For the sake of historical truth, this myth must be challenged and exposed for what it is at every opportunity: a fairy tale.”
*The film “Maria”, starring Angelina Jolie, arrived in Greek cinemas on Thursday 5 December from Cinobo and Faliro House.
