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The Gist
John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy had a high-profile relationship throughout the '90s.
Their romance is the focus of Season 1 of Ryan Murphy's 2026 series Love Story.
JFK Jr. and Bessette Kennedy, as well as her sister Lauren Bessette, died in a plane crash on July 16, 1999.
Few couples captured the public imagination like John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy. Before the 1999 plane crash that ended their lives, they were the glamorous American counterpart to Britain's royal family. What they wore, where they went, how they celebrated their ultra-private nuptials—every detail of their romance became fodder for an invested public. After the crash, which also claimed the life of Bessette's sister, Lauren, the spouses were immortalized as doomed lovers and victims of the so-calledKennedycurse.
The first season of Ryan Murphy's newanthology series,Love Story, puts their relationship in the spotlight once more. Paul Anthony Kelly plays the dashing attorney born into America's foremost political dynasty, while Tony nominee Sarah Pidgeon brings stylish publicist Bessette Kennedy to the screen.
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"John and Carolyn were incredibly unique," Bessette's friend, RoseMarie Terenzio, toldPeoplein 2017. "They were a warm and loving couple who handled their fame with humility and grace."
Love Storyis the latest in a series of books, documentaries, and essays retreading the lives of one of the 20th century's most beloved golden couples. Here's everything to know about JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy's relationship.
They met at the VIP section of Calvin Klein.
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It's not every day a fashion designer plays matchmaker—in fact, romance wasn't onCalvin Klein'smind when he and his wife, Kelly Klein, tapped Bessette to show JFK Jr. a selection of clothing on a spring day in 1991 or 1992 (accounts vary). Bessette was chosen because she was "the most effervescent person on the sales floor" and regularly handled the NYC store's VIP clientele, according to Elizabeth Beller's 2024 bookOnce Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy(excerpted inPeople).
The attorney and publisher found himself leaving with more than new clothes, however. "He came out of the meeting smitten, with a few suits and Carolyn's number," Beller wrote. The wheels of their love story were set in motion.
Their first date had a romcom-worthy miscommunication.
Manyrom-comsemploy miscommunication as a plot device to keep the two leads apart a little longer. The trope went from fiction to fact when Bessette and JFK Jr. had their first date at a gala dinner in early 1992. Calvin Klein's assistant, MJ Bettenhausen, told Beller in her book that when Bessette arrived at the gala, "Sitting next to him [JFK Jr.] was another woman that Carolyn either mistook as his date, or actually was his date." As a result, the publicist reportedly turned down his invite to an after-party. By May 1992, however, the pair had reconciled, as they were seen in "deep conversation" at a fundraiser.
He proposed in July 1995 with an engagement ring inspired by his mother Jackie.
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Once they hit it off in 1992, the couple dated on and off for the next three years. Beller toldPeopleone of the sources of tension in their relationship was JFK Jr.'s reluctance to introduce his girlfriend to his mother, former first lady Jackie Kennedy.
"The on, off-ness of their relationship between '92 and '94, partially, was ... because [Carolyn] would break up with him over the fact that he wasn't introducing her to Jackie. [She was] thinking, 'This can't be serious if he's not really introducing me to his mother.'"If Carolyn met Jackie, I think [JFK Jr.] knew that that would sort of become a life of its own," the author continued. "Maybe he wasn't quite ready for that."
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Nevertheless, Jackie had a connection to one of the most significant moments in their relationship: their engagement. JFK Jr. took inspiration forBessette's engagement ringfrom a ring belonging to his late mother, who died of cancer in May 1994. Per Beller's book, he proposed to Bessette over the Fourth of July weekend in 1995, when the couple were on a fishing trip in Martha's Vineyard. She told him she'd think about it.
"She [Carolyn] held the proposal off for about three weeks, which I think just made him all the more intent on marrying her," a friend of JFK Jr.'s toldPeoplein 2017.
They wed in an ultra-private ceremony on Cumberland Island.
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Although their relationship attracted constant attention from the public and the media, the couple managed to keep their September 21, 1996 wedding private. The couple wed on Cumberland Island in Georgia, saying their vows by candlelight in a church.
The newly styled Mrs. Bessette Kennedy famously chose a $40,000white slip dressfor the ceremony, designed by her friend Narciso Rodriguez and epitomizing the '90s minimalism she'd helped make famous through heraspirational personal style. It would go on to inspire Meghan Markle's halter-neckreception dressworn following her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry.
They faced a series of challenges in the final months of their lives.
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Three years after their wedding, JFK Jr. and Bessette Kennedy faced a string of trials that tested their relationship. His cousin and best friend, Anthony Radziwill, was battling cancer. The paparazzi continued to hound the newlyweds wherever they went. They'd entered marriage counseling in early 1999, a few months before their deaths, per Beller's book. Friends' accounts that they were working on their relationship refute media claims that they were barreling toward a divorce before the fatal plane crash."To say their marriage was on the rocks is just inaccurate," Anthony's wife, Carole Radziwill, toldPeoplein 2017. "Anthony's impending death was a strain on their marriage, no doubt. But it was a difficult time for all of us. If it weren't, we would be inhuman."
They died in a plane crash on July 16, 1999.
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JFK Jr., Bessette Kennedy, and her sister Lauren departed from a New Jersey airport on the evening of July 16, 1999, headed to the wedding of his cousin Rory Kennedy. JFK Jr. piloted the plane. Their aircraft crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Martha's Vineyard, with theNational Transportation Safety Boardconcluding that JFK Jr. experienced spatial disorientation and lost control of the plane (viaThe Washington Post).
Bessette Kennedy's family released a statement of grief recorded inThe New York Times, writing, "Each of these three young people, Lauren Bessette, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr., was the embodiment of love, accomplishment and passion for life. John and Carolyn were true soul mates, and we hope to honor them in death in the simple manner in which they chose to live their lives. We take solace in the thought that together they will comfort Lauren for eternity." The families of the crash's three victims scattered their ashes in the ocean.
Rory, who postponed her wedding following the crash, remembered Bessette Kennedy in a 2017Peopleinterview. "I loved Carolyn," she said. "John was so in love with her and she played a significant role in our family. She was really loved by everybody. She continues to be sorely missed by all of us."
Read the original article onInStyle
