Next week is the 25th anniversary of the deaths of John F. Kennedy Jr, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and her sister Lauren Bessette. In 1999, John tried to fly the group from New York to Martha’s Vineyard for a family wedding. The plane crashed into the ocean. In recent months, several new books have been released and the weekly magazines have been excerpting from those books and creating new narratives about the iconic John-John and Carolyn. Well, the latest is an oral history on John, JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography, written by RoseMarie Terenzio and People editor-at-large Liz McNeil. People Mag’s cover story is an exclusive excerpt from the book – you can read it here. Some highlights:
Meeting Carolyn: He got his law degree from NYU in 1989 and passed the bar exam on his third try. He dated actress Daryl Hannah off and on but met and fell for Calvin Klein publicist Carolyn Bessette in 1992 before formally ending things with Hannah. Robbie Littell, best friend: “[Carolyn] intrigued him more than anyone he’d ever met. A force of nature. He said he wanted to marry her. He was adamant.”
John & Carolyn’s wedding: They wed on Sept 21, 1996 on Cumberland Island, off the coast of Georgia. George Kyriakos, wedding guest and Carolyn’s hairdresser: “John slept in my then-wife Jackie’s and my room the night before the wedding. Which is crazy — there was this huge mansion where everybody had rooms, and John was sleeping on a cot in our room. It was the whole don’t-sleep-with-the-bride-the-night-before-the-wedding thing.”
Carolyn was overwhelmed with the media attention: Sasha Chermayeff, college friend: “She genuinely felt she was in danger. The paranoia set in when she kind of let her mind spin off: ‘What if somebody wants to kidnap me?’ After they got married, it just escalated and escalated and escalated. John was five years older. And being followed, it’s very different for a 200-lb. man than for a woman alone. By then she was thinking, ‘They’re spying on me. They’re stalking me. Now my life is being afraid.’ ”
John’s plane: RoseMarie Terenzio, friend and assistant: “When he got his plane, the Cessna, you have to have a tail number, and he wanted 529 because that was his dad’s birthday — May 29. When he went to reserve that number to register it with the FAA, that one was taken. He ended up buying the number from the person who had it. The tail number on both of John’s planes was N529JK.”
The last months: In May 1999, he broke his ankle paragliding. John and Carolyn’s relationship hit a low point the week of July 12. Though accounts vary, John spent at least one night at the Stanhope Hotel. Sasha Chermayeff: “They were spiting each other. Maybe Carolyn was trying to make him worry [by not coming home]. So then he did it the next night. He was not with her those last two nights. The Stanhope thing was tricky. I think he went there to meet [former girlfriend] Julie Baker. Everybody always asks me, ‘What do I think would’ve happened?’ Anything was possible.”
Julie Baker on John’s last days: “I spoke to John for the last time the night before he passed. There is a rumor going around that I was with him at the Stanhope [that night]. This is not true. He was at a baseball game and wanted me to meet up with him and his friend after to grab a drink. I was away, so I couldn’t. I did however grab a quick lunch with him (which we often did) at the Stanhope a few days before the accident.” On July 16, he spent the day at the office. The plan was to fly to Martha’s Vineyard to drop off Carolyn’s sister Lauren, 34, and then fly to Hyannis, Mass., for his cousin Rory Kennedy’s wedding. But they ended up leaving later than planned.
There are quotes about what happened after, how Caroline Kennedy reacted, the panic from the families. It feels too intimate and I feel so sorry for the Bessette family. I feel sorry for Caroline too, she’s had so much loss in her life. This book sounds interesting and I appreciate these oral history projects because they feel less agenda-driven and more intimate. The other side of that is that it’s just a huge bummer.
Inside JFK Jr.’s Final Days: Exclusive Excerpt from Revealing New Book 'JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography' https://t.co/gQq9GbjnoK
— People (@people) July 10, 2024
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- New York, NY – 03/09/1999 – John Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, arrive at the Whitney Museum Annual Fundraising Gala. GE3326AO Featuring: John Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy Where: New York , USA When: 31 Dec 1999 Credit: STARTRAKSPHOTO.COM
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- New York, NY – 6/03/1998 -PICTURED: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Kennedy -PHOTO by: STARTRAKSPHOTO.COM -Kennedy_John_Carolyn_GE515 Featuring: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, John F. Kennedy Jr Where: New York , NY , USA When: 22 Jan 1998 Credit: STARTRAKSPHOTO.COM
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- Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr photographed in New York, NY – 6/23/1998. -PICTURED: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, John F. Kennedy Jr -PHOTO by: STARTRAKSPHOTO.COM -Kennedy_John_Carolyn_GE513 Featuring: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, John F. Kennedy Jr Where: New York , NY , USA When: 22 Jan 1998 Credit: STARTRAKSPHOTO.COM
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- October 5, 1998: John Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette leaving their apartment to attend the Municipal Art Society Benefit Gala celebrating the reopening of Grand Central Station after restoration in New York City. Credit: Paul Adao/INFphoto.com Ref.: infusny-39 Featuring: Carolyn Bessette, John Kennedy Jr. Where: New York City, New York, United States When: 05 Oct 1998 Credit: Paul Adao/INFphoto.com
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- JOHN F KENNEDY JR AND CAROLYN BESSETTE STOCK IMAGE. NEW YORK CITY. CIRCA 1990S. PICTURES /
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- JOHN F KENNEDY JR STOCK IMAGE. NEW YORK CITY. CIRCA 1990S .PICTURES JOY E. SCHELLER/ JOHN F KENNEDY JR
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- JOHN F KENNEDY JR AND CAROLYN BESSETTE AT ‘BRITE NITE WHITNEY’ WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART’S KICK OFF PARTY FOR THE MILLENNIUM IN NEW YORK. PIC: UDV
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- JOHN F KENNEDY JR AND CAROLYN BESSETTE STOCK IMAGE. NEW YORK CITY. CIRCA 1990S .PICTURES DENNIS VAN TINE
Didn’t Rosemarie Terenzio already write a book about Carolyn and John Jr.? I don’t think I could have handled the level of fame that came Carolyn’s way when she got together with JFK Jr.
At the end of the day he was a nepo baby who was inexplicably lauded both in life and in death for essentially doing nothing. I feel very sad for his wife, who never got the chance to grow beyond him and write her own story, and for her family who has had to see her constantly villainized by all the JKF Jr. fangirls.
Comment twins! He started George Magazine. He wasn’t his father. All this attention on him this many years after his death is bizarre and shows a weird unhealthy obsession. Let the man rest in peace. Interestingly enough, Caroline has lived a pretty accomplished life but I bet she won’t get 1/10 of this attention in death.
This story always makes me so sad. Her parents lost two daughters. I don’t think I could have handled that grief. And it’s sad to know how stressed she was and that their marriage was in difficulty before the accident. That poor family. Both families.
I will never fly on a private plane and I tell my husband and children never to do it either. I’m not talking about one flown by an experienced, professional pilot. I mean I won’t fly with someone who got their pilot’s license and does it basically as a hobby. I have no fear when I fly commercial airlines but I’ve been nervous of small private aircraft since I was a teenager.
Alternately, growing up with a dad who was a private pilot with his plane, and marrying someone who built & flew his own plane (FIL is also a pilot who owned his own planes) – you learn it can be quite safe and very enjoyable. (but I hate helicopters and won’t go up in balloons).
@maisiesmom hard agree on small planes with private pilots. Usually older aircraft with maintenance issues, I mean obviously every plane has maintenance issues but especially older aircraft.
And I personally know two people who perished in private plane crashes piloted by 60 year old retirees. I feel like it’s something like driving where some of these amateur pilots don’t know when it’s time to stop. If you’re a commercial pilot you’re flying all the time and you’re also in the sim, you have finely honed and constantly reinforced instincts to react to a variety of circumstances, including what mother nature serves up for weather.
JFK Jr seemed to be a different issue of overconfidence as a new pilot. Either way you’re still dead.
It really is sad. Especially for the besette family.
They would have long divorced by now.
The stories about their marital antics are legion in Manhattan.🙄🙄🙄🙄
I read the recent book about her and it sounds like she desperately wanted out of NYC because she felt like she was being hunted, and he refused to even consider it, basically telling her to get used to it like he did. But most people, and the press, treated him like a prince while treating her horribly.
Out of the three of them the person I feel most sorry for is Lauren Bessette . She was 35 years old, a VP at Morgan Stanley, spend 5 years living and working in Hong Kong, spoke fluent Mandarin, able to afford her own apartment. She more successful than JFK Jr and Carolyn put together. Who knows what else she could have achieved had she lived?
She also had a ticket booked on a commercial flight to get to Cape Cod that fateful day but cancelled to go with JFK Jr and Carolyn instead because they were going through a very rough patch and she was acting as a mediator…thats just sad.
Very sad. I’ve always felt horrible for Carolyn and Lauren’s mom, stepdad, dad and stepdad – and particularly Lauren’s twin Lisa. It’s so sad. I feel bad for Caroline too who lost both parents and her only sibling way to young and in very unexpected and tragic ways (save for Jackie).
Apparently Anna Wintour said I want his nephew to finish what John started. His nephew who have a resemblance to him an sis also a lawyer is now Vogues political correspondant.
Didn’t know that! Interesting. Although I don’t think he looks that much like John – favors him about though. I will say the Bouviers have some strong genes because Jackie’s granddaughter Rose looks just like her and Caroline’s son does resemble Jackie’s father and JFK Jr. (a bit). Caroline is just straight up Kennedy, down to the teeth.
John is all schlossberg with maybe a little bouvier refinement in the features and his uncle’s dark hair. That’s it imo.