John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette’s Love Story: Their Family’s Truth vs. The Fictional Depiction
See what the family of the couple have been saying and what parts of the series are true—and which parts are not
John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette’s relationship has consumed the world once more with the recent release of Ryan Murphy’s Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette. But as fans get reinvested in one of the most famous ‘90s romances, the real-life Kennedy family and others close to them have slammed the show, claiming it is a “grotesque display of someone else’s life.”
Kennedy Jr. and Bessette had nearly a decade-long relationship of ups and downs, after meeting in 1992. They were together until their untimely death in a 1999 plane crash. But so much mystery surrounds their life together and the details leading up to and following their marriage.
While Love Story has tried to fill in those missing moments, the Kennedy family and others represented in the series have shared their disdain for the project.
“If you want to know someone who’s never met anyone in my family, knows nothing about us, talk to Ryan Murphy,” JFK Jr.’s nephew Jack Schlossberg said when asked about Love Story. “The guy knows nothing about what he’s talking about, and he’s making a ton of money on a grotesque display of someone else’s life.”
Daryl Hannah breaks silence on her portrayal
Daryl Hannah, who dated JFK Jr. from 1988 until 1994, was featured in Love Story and portrayed by Dree Hemingway. While she was shown in a certain light, the real Daryl Hannah has broken her silence on her disapproval of it.
“The character ‘Daryl Hannah’ portrayed in the series is not even a remotely accurate representation of my life, my conduct or my relationship with John,” Hannah wrote in an essay for The New York Times. “The actions and behaviors attributed to me are untrue.”
Although the show is meant to showcase the relationship between Kennedy and Bessette, the details leading up to their union were inaccurate, according to Hannah.
“The choice to present her as irritating, self-absorbed, whiny and inappropriate was no accident,” she wrote. “I have never used cocaine in my life or hosted cocaine-fueled parties. I have never pressured anyone into marriage. I have never desecrated any family heirloom or intruded upon anyone’s private memorial. I have never planted any story in the press. I never compared Jacqueline Onassis’ death to a dog’s. It’s appalling to me that I even have to defend myself against a television show. These are not creative embellishments of personality. They are assertions about conduct — and they are false.”
Kennedy and Bessette’s meeting
The origins of Kennedy and Bessette’s meeting aren’t exactly clear. While it is portrayed in the show that the couple was introduced by Bessette’s boss, Calvin Klein, the details are uncertain. Several family members and friends shared their account of their meeting but most of them don’t match.
The executive producer of Love Story, Brad Simpson, shared they received “competing narratives” when it came to learning about the couple’s first meeting. “But the most common narrative [of] how they met was at this fundraiser … so we decided that would be their first meeting.”
Some of the other narratives include that the couple met at a Calvin Klein fitting and that he got her phone number at the same time.
JFK Jr. didn’t propose with his mother’s ring
In the series, it’s shown that Kennedy proposed to Bessette with his late mother Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ ring, but that’s a bit of a stretch. What really happened was that Kennedy took inspiration from his mother’s swimming ring, which she would wear in the water. Kennedy had a custom band designed for Bessette made of diamonds and sapphires.
You can catch the first six episodes of Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette on Hulu now and the finale on March 12.
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