Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr. were two of the major public figures in the ’90s. The couple, who captivated the attention of the public due to their looks, fashion sense, political pedigree, and careers, tragically died in a plane crash piloted by Kennedy himself. Their story will be adapted for television on the Ryan Murphy series “American Love Story,” with audiences remaining entranced by their tragedy and cultural importance.
A new biography on Bessette Kennedy titled “Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette Kennedy” explores why we remain so obsessed with this story, featuring quotes from their friends and a deeper look into the couple’s dynamics.
One of the sources that spoke to the book’s author revealed that one of Bessette Kennedy’s most painful experiences was that she never had the chance to meet Kennedy’s mother, Jackie Onassis, and that she spent a large portion of her life trying to become “A woman Jackie would have approved of.”
The book claims that Bessette Kennedy could have met Onassis once, at a restaurant where the two coincided, but that Kennedy rushed them out of there to avoid their meeting.
© Justin Ide/Boston Herald“Carolyn broke up with him a couple of times for not introducing her to his mother – it really bothered her,” said a close friend.
The sources make it clear that Kennedy thought Bessette-Kennedy and his mother were too different. “Carolyn was very bohemian, a downtown girl, which John loved… but it’s possible John was worried how that would go over with Jackie,” said the source.
Why the media criticised Bessette-Kennedy
© Brooks KraftThe book also explores the media’s obsession with Bessette Kennedy, with many scandals claiming that she used drugs and had affairs with other men and that she was undeserving of Kennedy.
It states that we have retroactively made Bessette Kennedy into a fashion icon, looking at history with a revisionist lens and ignoring how the media vilified her and made her life very difficult.
“We have collectively enshrined her in the halls of American fashion icons because doing so has allowed us to rewrite her story as one of quiet luxury and stealth-wealth style, of capsule wardrobes and intentional sustainability, not one of relentless stalking and public scrutiny,” reads an excerpt from the book, published on The Daily Mail.
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