![Italy, Milan, Maria Callas](https://swampland.time.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2013/11/159830618.jpg?w=260)
The Brooklyn born opera diva renounced her U.S. citizenship in 1966. A statement released by her agent, said her reason was “to facilitate the ending of her marriage to Italian Industrialist Gianni Meneghini,” According to a UPI story, Callas had spent 7 years trying to obtain a divorce. During that time she began a long love affair with Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis. “My lawyers discovered that by taking my Greek nationality once more, my marriage simply becomes non-existent throughout the entire world, except in Italy,” she explained.