Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘Maria’ stars Angelina Jolie as the iconic Maria Callas, focusing on the last days of her life. As she tries to get her voice back, she also reflects on her life, from her origins to the magnificent journey she took to become one of the most revered figures in opera and music to her tumultuous love life. One of the things that the series focuses on is her estranged relationship with her sister, Yakinthi, who appears only at the beginning and end of her story. We see the sisters together in their childhood and then at the end, sometime before Maria dies. In real life, too, they had a similar distance between them. SPOILERS AHEAD
Yakinthi and Maria’s Strained Relationship Softened in the Opera Singer’s Final Years
Born in 1917, Yakinthi, nicknamed Jackie, came to Greece with her mother, Litsa, and younger sister, Maria, when she was still young. She and her family had many financial troubles during their early days, and it is said that Jackie’s relationship with a man named Miltiadis Embirikos helped them through this tough time. Coming from a rich family, he helped Jackie and her family stay afloat while they tried to find a footing of their own. During this time, Jackie’s mother discovered Maria’s talent for singing and tried to hone it. Still, Jackie was considered the golden child because she was more beautiful and charming than her younger sister. Jackie said that while there was love between them, Maria did feel a sense of jealousy for her older sister, and that may have been one of the reasons behind their estrangement.
In the conversations about her family, Maria Callas talked about her mother’s cruelty towards her and Jackie and how difficult their childhood had been because of it. However, years later, when Jackie reflected on those times, she credited her mother for recognizing their talents and pushing them to work for them. As Maria found fame and success, she grew distant from her family, including her sister, with whom she hadn’t talked for nine years at one point. Jackie revealed that they started speaking to each other again in 1963, which is when they met after a very long time of being completely cut off from one another. Following this, they only met again once but had been in contact with each other through other mediums of communication.
In her final years, Maria relied on a sedative, Mandrax, to get her through the day, owing to her physical and mental health issues. Jackie sent the pills for her from Greece, which is where she had settled with her husband, Andreas Stathopoulos. When Maria died, Jackie received one-half of her sister’s estate, and the other went to Maria’s ex-husband, Giovanni Battista Meneghini. Jackie revealed that she used that money to pay the people who had been with her sister in her final years and supported her through the worst of her times. While her sister had enjoyed a life of fame and suffered public scrutiny throughout her life, Jackie preferred to enjoy her privacy. Nothing much is known about her outside of her connection to Maria. While she talked about her sister from time to time, she preferred to do it at private events rather than speaking publicly about it. Jackie passed away in 2004, well into her 80s, having enjoyed a fulfilling life with her family.
Read More: Netflix’s Maria’s True Story, Explained
