Actors reflect on portraying JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette
Actors Paul Anthony Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon share how they brought John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette to life beyond their media portrayals.
- FX aired the penultimate episode of its “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette” on March 19.
- In the dramatic episode, the titular characters portrayed by Paul Anthony Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon got into an explosive fight.
- Amid recent criticism over the series diverting from the truth, USA TODAY is helping separate fact from fiction.
The penultimate episode of FX’s “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette” dramatized the enlarging faults plaguing the marriage of the titular characters before their untimely deaths.
At Episode 8’s end, John (Paul Anthony Kelly) leaves the Tribeca apartment he shared with Carolyn (Sarah Pidgeon) for a hotel following an ugly fight, just days before their fatal flight. On July 16, 1999, a plane piloted by Kennedy Jr. crashed. The couple were headed for Hyannis Port for his cousin Rory Kennedy’s wedding. Bessette’s sister, Lauren Bessette, was also on board. The series finale will air on March 26 at 9 ET/PT and stream on Hulu.
Amid recent criticism from Kennedy Jr.’s nephew, congressional candidate Jack Schlossberg; ex-girlfriend, actress Daryl Hannah and USA TODAY’s TV critic Kelly Lawler, we’re here to help you separate the facts from the fictionalized.
Did John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette really eat Kentucky Fried Chicken?
At the beginning of the episode, John comes home from a book launch to Carolyn and a big bag of Kentucky Fried Chicken. The presence of the popular fast food chain seems like it could be an out-of-place product placement, but the pair did dine on Colonel Sanders’ cuisine, according to Elizabeth Beller’s book, “Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy,” on which the series is based.
“Carolyn and John had home routines,” Bessette’s friend, Hamilton South, told Beller. “When (butler Efigenio Pinheiro) didn’t cook − and usually he did − Carolyn had one recipe, roast chicken with lemon and garlic. If it wasn’t one of those two, then they ordered in, sometimes even from Kentucky Fried Chicken.”
Did Carolyn Bessette know Princess Diana?
When Carolyn learns in “Love Story” that Princess Diana was killed in a car accident, she’s in shock. Shortly after midnight in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997, Diana’s car – also carrying romantic partner Dodi Fayed and driven by Ritz Paris security employee Henri Paul − collided with a concrete pillar in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in a misguided attempt to outrun photographers.
Carolyn tells John in “Love Story” that she “sat right behind” Diana at Gianni Versace’s funeral held July 22, 1997, in Milan. The princess, Bessette, Naomi Campbell, Elton John and Sting were among the notable attendees and were photographed together at the service.
Former Calvin Klein publicist Bessette, who did sit in the row behind Diana at the Milan Cathedral, “was forthcoming about her despair concerning the circumstances of Diana’s death,” Beller writes, “John remained quiet for the most part, though he was also affected.”
“Carolyn tried to get John to call Princes William and Harry to give his condolences when it came out that Diana had hoped for her sons to emulate John’s modesty in the face of media obsession,” Beller continues. “He demurred as he didn’t know them and thought, perhaps incorrectly, that their situations greatly differed.”
What happened in John F. Kennedy Jr.’s Buckeye crash, shortly before his final flight?
In “Love Story,” John hobbles about the couple’s apartment after an earlier crash, which Carolyn expresses concern over.
“Didn’t you promise (sister Caroline Kennedy) you were done with flying?” Carolyn inquires.
“Since when are you so concerned with what Caroline wants?” John shoots back.
While spending Memorial Day Weekend 1999 at the waterfront Martha’s Vineyard property purchased by his late mother Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, dubbed Red Gate Farm, Kennedy Jr. decided to take his Buckeye for a flight. The vessel looks a bit like a go-kart with a large motor on the back and a parachute attached.
“Everything went according to plan,” Beller writes in “Once Upon a Time,” “until a gust of wind blew John and the Buckeye” into a shrub. “John had broken his ankle,” Beller continues. At the hospital, “he was told he would need surgery to repair his ankle and six weeks in a cast to heal.”
‘Love Story’ star Sarah Pidgeon goes soft glam in pink at Actor Awards
Sarah Pidgeon channels Carolyn Bessette Kennedy—her character in ‘Love Story’—in a dusty pink Balenciaga gown on the Actors Awards red carpet.
Video Team – USA TODAY Entertainment
How did Carolyn Bessette really feel about the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port?
Carolyn criticizes the Kennedys’ Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, property in “Love Story.”
“It’s not relaxing,” she bemoans. “Every minute of the day is accounted for. We can’t sleep in, we can’t sit on the beach, we can’t go for a walk. There’s no privacy, so we can never have sex.”
But Beller’s book claims that in actuality, Bessette “did enjoy Hyannis Port. It seemed a place where she felt welcomed.”
“She enjoyed her time at the compound,” Beller says, adding that Matt Berman, the creative director of Kennedy Jr.’s “George” magazine, said Carolyn sometimes preferred to “stay in bed with the dogs and snack” while at the compound.
Did John F. Kennedy Jr. flee to a hotel after a fiery fight with Carolyn?
A fight erupts between John and Carolyn in Episode 8, in which the duo exchange scorching barbs. John says his late mother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, would’ve never approved of their relationship and Carolyn reveals her mom, Ann Messina Freeman, discouraged their union during their wedding weekend.
“It’s like you have no identity outside of your own victimhood,” John tells her.
“You love how hated I am,” Carolyn responds. “Of course, you do, because you’re America’s son, and I am just another tragedy you bravely endure.”
With that, John taps out and begins packing. He plans to stay at The Stanhope Hotel for “just a day or two.” Though Carolyn begs him to stay, he says he doesn’t want to fight.
“I’m coming back, I promise,” he assures her, adding an “I love you” and kissing the top of her head.
In his final days, Kennedy Jr. did stay at The Stanhope Hotel, according to “Once Upon a Time.” Supposedly, he and Bessette “had a heated fight” on Tuesday, July 13, 1999, about her joining Kennedy Jr. at Rory Kennedy’s wedding, which they’d leave for on Friday, July 16.
“She needed a break; she felt she’d done her share of Kennedy events for the time being,” Beller writes. “Carolyn and John’s fight turned into an enormous blowup, with John losing ever more patience, and Carolyn feeling ever more like an afterthought.”
Wednesday, Kennedy Jr., Bessette and her sister Lauren had lunch at the Stanhope, in which Bessette agreed to go to the wedding, according to the book. Their meeting “signified a truce of sorts,” Beller states.
