What Was John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette&x27;s Marriage Really Like? FactChecking "Love Story" Caroline BlairSat, March 21, 2026 at 10:30 AM UTC 0 John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy on March 9, 1999 in New York City.Credit: Arnaldo Magnani/Getty John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette had marital issues, but still, they were trying to work things out. Although they struggled as a couple, friends have denied reports that they were headed toward a divorce The couple died in a plane crash on July 16, 1999 John F. Kennedy Jr.
What Was John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette's Marriage Really Like? Fact-Checking "Love Story"
Caroline BlairSat, March 21, 2026 at 10:30 AM UTC
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John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy on March 9, 1999 in New York City.Credit: Arnaldo Magnani/Getty -
John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette had marital issues, but still, they were trying to work things out.
Although they struggled as a couple, friends have denied reports that they were headed toward a divorce
The couple died in a plane crash on July 16, 1999
John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette faced their own unique set of struggles in their marriage.
The couple met in New York City and married in a private ceremony on Cumberland Island, Ga., on Sept. 21, 1996. After honeymooning in Turkey for two weeks, they returned home to a frenzy of paparazzi and heightened media attention.
The nonstop media scrutiny took a toll on their marriage, and the two were going through a "painful period" in the late 1990s, according to their friends who spoke about the state of their relationship in PEOPLE editor-at-large Liz McNeil and JFK Jr.'s former assistant RoseMarie Terenzio's book, JFK Jr: An Intimate Oral Biography.
Although they faced difficulties, several of the couple's friends maintained that they were not headed for divorce. Bessette and JFK Jr. tragically died when he crashed a plane into the Atlantic Ocean on July 16, 1999.
Bessette and JFK Jr.'s relationship — and some of their marital issues — have been the subject of the FX limited series, Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette.
Here's everything to know about what John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette's marriage was really like.
What was going on in JFK Jr. and Bessette's marriage leading up to their deaths?
John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy at the "Bright Night Whitney" Annual Fundraising Gala in New York City.Credit: Ron Galella Collection via Getty
Between the time that Bessette and JFK Jr. married and the end, they experienced both highs and lows. One struggle was over the intense paparazzi attention and nonstop media scrutiny, which led Bessette to take a step back from the spotlight.
"It was getting harder and harder [on their marriage]. How could it not?" JFK Jr.'s friend John Perry Barlow once told PEOPLE. "John started trying to get me to come around as often as possible just to have another person to talk to. She was a very bright but fragile person. Hell, nobody could tolerate that."
In addition to facing the onslaught of attention, the couple also struggled with Bessette choosing to stay home more and trying to find an identity outside of being JFK Jr.'s wife. Steven M. Gillon, one of JFK Jr.'s friends, explained that Bessette felt "trapped" without a career and "overshadowed" by her husband.
"It wouldn't have been easy for her to have a career, she was overshadowed so much by John, the media were hounding her," Gillon said. "John was just lost [at how to help her.]"
Although they were "estranged a lot of the time," both of them were "really wanting to work through something," JFK Jr.'s longtime friend Sasha Chermayeff said in the oral biography.
When she did spend time with her, Chermayeff recalled how Bessette asked her questions such as, "How do you keep the fires going?"
"But what she was saying was, 'I am worried about it. I'm losing my connection to him' ... How could I have missed that?" Chermayeff said, looking back.
What did Bessette think of JFK Jr.'s flying hobby?
John F. Kennedy, Jr. and his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy at the annual John F. Kennedy Library Foundation dinner on May 23, 1999 in Boston, Massachusetts.Credit: Justin Ide/Getty
JFK Jr. was initially learning how to fly in the 1980s, but he picked up training again in 1997 and 1998 and was taking lessons to get his pilot's license.
"I believe his love of flying was related to his desire to be free of the pressures that he felt on the ground," his Andover classmate and biographer William Cohan said in McNeil and Terenzio's book. "I think every part of his life, whether it was his personal life, his married life, his social life, his professional life — the guy was under a lot of pressure. He did do a lot of crazy things, but I don't think he had a death wish."
Although some friends and family members expressed concerns over JFK Jr.'s passion for flying, there are varied accounts on Bessette's thoughts.
"Once, we were waiting for John outside my hangar. I said something to Carolyn like, 'Oh, you should be flying with John in his plane,' " New England pilot Barry Stott remembered. "She said, 'I'm always nervous about flying with John...It was one of those casual asides."
However, Terenzio said that while Bessette wasn't overjoyed by her husband's interest, she "never seemed scared about flying with John."
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Chris Benway, one of JFK Jr.'s flight instructors at FlightSafety even recalled Bessette sitting in the back seat of his plane for a lesson after JFK Jr. asked her to join.
Were JFK Jr. and Bessette going to get a divorce?
John F Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy attend an exhibition at the Whitney Museum on November 4, 1996 in New York.Credit: Sonia Moskowitz/Getty
Prior to their deaths, JFK Jr. and Bessette were at a low-point in their marriage, with friends sharing mixed opinions on where their marriage was headed.
"People always want to know, Were they going to get divorced? And my answer to that is always to ask Richard Burton and Liz Taylor," Terenzio shared in the oral biography. "They also started looking for a second place in Snedens Landing, New York."
Neither John nor Carolyn wanted to end their relationship — their goal was to fix what was broken," Terenzio maintained. "They did marriage counseling. It was right at the end."
Gary Ginsberg, who was with JFK Jr. the night before his death, shared, "He didn't want to get divorced. When one of his cousins was getting divorced a few years earlier, before he married Carolyn, John turned to me — we were on a plane, I remember — and he said, 'I never want to get divorced.' "
However, Gillon, who also wrote a biography of JFK Jr., America's Reluctant Prince, shared that in his last few weeks, JFK Jr. had told confidants, "that he was going to separate from Carolyn. They were going to need to make changes, otherwise the marriage was going to be over."
What were Bessette and JFK Jr. like in public?
John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy at the Municipal Art Society gala.Credit: Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive/Getty
Although Bessette and JFK Jr. were dealing with their own issues behind closed doors, they still made an effort to attend events together.
In the last few years of their lives, they made many memorable appearances — including at the Newman's Own George Awards in May 1999, the White House Correspondents Dinner and the annual John F. Kennedy Library Foundation Dinner.
"She did have an incandescence that doesn't always come across in photos," Karen "Duff" Duffy said in McNeil and Terenzio's book. "When I saw her and John at big, glamorous events, it was almost like a hive of bees, all the bees follow the queen bee, and the lights and people would just kind of swarm them."
Jack Merrill, one of JFK Jr.'s longtime friends, recalled in the book, "I used to say the room tilts — like we'd walk into a party and all of a sudden the room would tilt and everybody would start sliding in our direction."
Were JFK Jr. and Bessette ever unfaithful to each other?
John F. Kennedy Jr. and Caroline Bessette on November 3, 1996 in New York City.Credit: Arnaldo Magnani / Liaison Agency via Getty
In the midst of their marital woes, there were unconfirmed reports that both JFK Jr. and Bessette had been unfaithful. Her ex-boyfriend and Calvin Klein model Michael Bergin claimed in his 2004 book, The Other Man, that he and Bessette had an affair up until the spring of 1998.
"I tried to get her to open up but she didn't feel like talking," he wrote. "She seemed lost deep inside herself and I didn't say much either. I really didn't need to ask her what was wrong. She was having an affair. People don't have affairs unless they are unhappy in their marriages."
However, Terenzio countered the claims, saying there would have been photographs of them together because of the paparazzi who followed Bessette around.
"They were not involved during the marriage," she said. "Paparazzi followed her everywhere — if she and Michael saw each other in New York, how come they never got a photo of her coming out of his apartment?"
Meanwhile, JFK Jr. reconnected with his ex-girlfriend, model Julie Baker, whom he dated in the late 80's and early 90's and with whom he always remained friends. Terenzio described JFK Jr. and Baker's relationship as friendly, and that Bessette "knew that they were in touch."
The week that JFK Jr. and Bessette died in a plane crash, he met up with Baker while he was staying at the Stanhope Hotel. According to Gillon, who also interviewed Baker for his biography, JFK Jr. saw Julie Baker that Wednesday. (They died on Friday, July 16.) "He told her he was afraid of being alone," Gillon recalled. "It's striking how lonely John was at the end of his life."
However, Baker has denied any impropriety. "I spoke to John for the last time the night before he passed," she said in McNeil and Terenzio's book. "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."
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Source: Entertainment
Published: March 21, 2026 at 12:45PM on Source: RON MAG
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