This weekend, the world will be treated to Ryan Murphy’s interpretation of JFK Jr and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s tumultuous love story. But their relationship ultimately ended in tragedy: the Kennedys, along with Carolyn’s sister Lauren Bessette, died in a plane crash in 1999, after less than three years of marriage.
Murphy’s version of events is hotly anticipated and set to be at least mildly controversial. The series already caused quite a stir last July — months ahead of its release date — following the publication of early images from on-set of the TV series.
The issue? Netizens felt that lead actress Sarah Pigeon was dressed in poor imitations of Bessette’s highly coveted designer wardrobe. And her hair was the wrong shade of platinum blonde.
Aesthetic accuracy aside, new reviews of the series are proving more favourable than one might have expected (especially considering the car crash that was Murphy’s recent girlboss legal series All’s Fair). Variety has called it “a stunning portrait of love and its incompatibility with fame”, while others have likened it to Netflix’s The Crown.
But what was the true story of JFK Jr and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and why was it so compelling? To provide you with some background ahead of watching Ryan Murphy’s Love Story, we look back on how the couple met, when they fell in love, and how they met a tragic end on the same flight in 1999.
JKF Jr: a political magazine editor and a born socialite
John F. Kennedy Jr, born November 1960, was the son of John F Kennedy (aka JFK) the 35th president of the United States. JFK was assassinated in Dallas in 1963, when JFK Jr was only three years old.
JFK Jr didn’t go into politics, but instead made a name for himself as a lawyer, journalist and magazine publisher.
In 1995 he launched his own magazine, George, which covered politics, lifestyle and fashion. Its first issue had Cindy Crawford on the cover, styled to look like George Washington.
He had many high profile relationships, including a dalliance with Crawford, as well as Sarah Jessica Parker, Brooke Shields, and a five year relationship with Daryl Hannah.
Carolyn: a ‘natural socialite’
Meanwhile, Carolyn Bessette was born in New York and raised in Connecticut, where she was voted “Ultimate Beautiful Person” at her Catholic high school, and was described as having attended "all the right parties".
A natural socialite, Bessette attended Boston University, where she briefly flirted with the idea of being a model, but eventually went on to work in fashion post-graduation.
She got a job at Calvin Klein, where she managed the brand’s high-profile clients, including Annette Bening and Diane Sawyer. She eventually produced its fashion shows and became the brand’s Director of Publicity.
A relationship kept under wraps — and for good reason
JFK Jr and Carolyn Bessette first met in 1992, when JFK’s relationship with Daryl Hannah was just ending. They were first introduced in a Calvin Klein dressing room, as Besette was selected to deal with JKR Jr, one of the brand’s VIP clients. “Calvin — along with his wife, Kelly Klein, and [...] assistant MJ Bettenhausen decided it should be [Carolyn], the most effervescent person on the sales floor, who would show John the selection of clothing,” Elizabeth Beller wrote in her 2024 book, Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy.
They hit it off, but were on-again-off-again dating until 1994, with Bessette allegedly taking umbrage with JFK Jr not introducing her to his mother, Jacqueline Kennedy (formerly Onassis). “If Carolyn met Jackie, I think [JFK Jr] knew that that would sort of become a life of its own,” Beller told PEOPLE, adding, “Maybe he wasn't quite ready for that.” Beller also remarked that his failure to introduce Bessette to his mother before her death in 1994, was “one of his main regrets.”
A marriage marked by endless media attention
And when the relationship finally became public knowledge in 1995, it did take on a life of its own. Bessette had moved into Kennedy’s apartment in New York, where paparazzi would wait outside day-in, day-out to snap pictures of the couple. ''She's a very private woman,'' JFK Jr told USA Today. ''It's like you go from having a life you've built on your own terms and all of a sudden it's being snatched away from you.''
They kept much of the relationship private, including their year-long engagement that started later that year, and their ultra-private wedding in 1996. The wedding took place in a tiny wooden chapel in the state of Georgia, lit by candlelight, and the bride wore a pearl white silk dress by Narciso Rodriguez (a relative unknown at the time).
After the wedding, the media attention around the couple intensified and did not relent until long after their deaths. “Getting married is a big adjustment for us, and for a private citizen like Carolyn even more so,” JFK Jr said at the time, “I ask you to give her all the privacy and room you can.”
A horrifying plane crash claims their lives
JFK Jr took up flying as a hobby in 1998, a boyhood obsession he had fostered for years but never attempted. He took flying lessons in Florida and received his pilot license in April 1999. But then in July, less than three months after he became a qualified pilot, Kennedy got into trouble during a flight he was piloting to Martha’s Vineyard and Massachusetts, with Carolyn and her sister Lauren on board.
Despite Kennedy checking in with the control tower at Martha’s Vineyard, he lost control of his plane over the coast, and the aircraft plunged into the Atlantic Ocean in as quick as 30 seconds. Navy divers recovered their bodies from the plane. All three were still strapped into the plane by their seatbelts, with autopsies concluding that they died on impact. JFK Jr was 38 years old, Carolyn 33, and her sister Lauren was 34.
Kennedy's close friend, the historian Steven Gillon, once told PEOPLE of the plane crash: "At the first sign of danger, he should have done what a lot of pilots did that night and flew inland, away from the ocean, spend the night somewhere and then pick up the next morning [...] It was [JFK Jr’s] poor judgment that led to his death and the death of his wife and his sister-in-law, and there's no way around that. John bears the responsibility of his recklessness that night and John alone."
