John F. Kennedy Jr.’s cousin says Daryl Hannah’s controversial portrayal in “Love Story” is a complete fabrication.
Douglas Kennedy, who doesn’t watch the FX series, exclusively told Page Six that the show’s take on Hannah is “disappointing.”
“Daryl Hannah was great,” he says. “Every time I met her, she was very sweet and had (John’s) best interests at heart. I think that’s a misconception.”
As for JFK Jr.’s wife, Carolyn Bessette, who died along with JFK Jr. and her sister Lauren in an unfortunate plane crash in July 1999, viewers watched as she struggled to feel accepted by her sister-in-law, Caroline Kennedy, and the family’s matriarch, Ethel Kennedy.
But Douglas, the 10th child of Robert F. Kennedy and his wife Ethel, told Page Six that “everyone around Carolyn loved her.”
“It’s hard to capture the complexity of people’s lives in film and television,” he continues. “When you know people well, this kind of thing often doesn’t capture the essence of them.”
“John was a leader of my generation,” he added. “He was irreplaceable.”
Hannah, played by actress Dree Hemingway on the show, broke her silence about her relationship in a poignant essay in the New York Times on Friday.
The “Splash” actress claims her character is portrayed as “angry, narcissistic, bitchy and inappropriate” on the Ryan Murphy-produced show.
“The Daryl Hannah character portrayed in this series is not an even remotely accurate representation of my life, my actions, or my relationship with John,” Hannah, 65, insisted. “The actions and actions attributed to me are false.”
On the show, JFK Jr.’s sister, Caroline Kennedy, and his mother, Jacqueline Onassis Kennedy, expressed their displeasure with JFK Jr.’s relationship.
The actress later addressed the conflict between the show and real life, saying, “I’ve never used cocaine or hosted a cocaine-fueled party in my life. I’ve never forced anyone to marry me. I’ve never desecrated a family heirloom or trespassed on anyone’s personal monument.”
“I have never planted any stories in the press. I have never compared the death of Jacqueline Onassis to the death of a dog.”
She also added how “horrifying” it is to “have to protect” herself from the series.
“I received many hostile and even threatening messages from viewers who believed this depiction to be true,” Hanna wrote.
“My silence should not be misconstrued as consent to a lie,” she continued. “It seems my indiscretion has made me a target.”
JFK Jr. and Hannah dated on and off from 1988 to 1994.
The series covers the death of Kennedy Onassis in 1994, which occurred around the same time as the death of Hannah’s beloved dog.
Kennedy Jr. was walking his dog in Central Park when the dog ran away and was hit and killed by a car.
“JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography” alleges that Kennedy Jr. was “deeply resentful” that Hannah had him come to her dog’s funeral in Los Angeles while his mother was dying of cancer in New York.
The scenes also show drug use in Kennedy Jr.’s New York apartment, which again leads to an argument between the on-and-off couple.
“Love Story” airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on FX and Fridays on Hulu.
