More than 25 years after their deaths, John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette are back in the spotlight. The same goes for Manhattan.
The couple’s tumultuous and ultimately tragic relationship is the subject of Ryan Murphy’s new series “American Love Story,” which premieres Thursday on FX.
The show was filmed across New York City last summer, recreating the stylish duo’s iconic looks and moments, inducing a sense of déjà vu.
It was like 1997 all over again, with Kennedy (played by Paul Kelly) cycling shirtless through Central Park in a suit and backwards hat, and his bride (played by Sarah Pidgeon) emerging from the subway in baggy jeans and flip-flops.
Not to mention their most dramatic public moments, including the infamous Washington Square Park explosion in 1996, when Bessette shoved her lover and he tried to remove the engagement ring from her finger.
Still, it is almost impossible to explain how their lives were recorded. There were even paparazzi peering through the window when Kennedy took and failed the bar exam twice. (He finally passed on his third try.)
This was unusual at the time, when relative anonymity was a perk of living in the city for most celebrities. Long before everyone carried a cell phone in their pocket and oversharing became a commodity.
But the Prince of Camelot always had a voracious appetite.
The sight of a 3-year-old saluting his father’s casket transformed him into America’s son. Being named Sexiest Man Alive in 1998 cemented his status as America’s titan.
The series depicts couples complaining about the ever-present paparazzi. But a friend of Ms Kennedy revealed that while Ms Bessette felt pursued, her husband secretly loved the cameras.
Stephen Gillon, a friend of President Kennedy and author of “America’s Reluctant Prince,” told the Post, “If he was out of the newspapers for a short period of time, I guarantee you he would be outside playing soccer with his shirt off, no matter the weather.” “He liked the attention.”
Finding Kennedy on the streets of New York was a rite of passage.
In JFK Jr: an Intimate Oral Biography by Rosemary Terenzio and Liz McNeil, hairstylist Frederick Fekai recalls that people were “glued” to the window when his famous client walked into the salon. And although he didn’t appear in the 1992 Seinfeld episode “The Contest,” “Jon Jon” played a central role when lovesick Elaine Benes met him at the gym.
Legendary Post reporter Mike Pearl, who was covering Manhattan Criminal Court at the time, told how he met Kennedy in 1989 when the scion started working as an assistant prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Mr. Pearl recalled being at Forlini’s, a now-closed classic downtown restaurant, while Mr. Kennedy was “at a table with some assistant DAs and they called me over. The first thing I did was apologize to him and ask him what he was for, and I said, ‘Nothing yet. But I’m going to be a pest.'”
Kennedy readily accepted it.
After all, the founder of George Magazine was an exhibitionist who rode his bike around town and jogged shirtless.
“He was free to explore the city,” Gillon said. “He didn’t want media attention to change his life.”
Like the rest of us, Kennedy left his keys behind the radiator in the Tribeca lobby when he went for a run.
Rosario, who dated a string of beauties including Daryl Hannah and Madonna, began a serious relationship with Calvin Klein publicist Bessette in 1994.
The Greenwich, Connecticut, native had no famous family history. But she was stunningly beautiful and had an effortlessly minimalist style that captivated the fashion world.
In The Kennedy Curse, author Edward Klein describes how Vogue editor Anna Wintour tried to make Bessette a cover girl, while Ralph Lauren tried to hire her as his personal muse.
The couple wed in a private ceremony on Georgia’s tiny Cumberland Island in 1996, with Bessette wearing a white silk slip dress designed by her friend Narciso Rodriguez. The gown put Rodriguez on the map and established Bessette as not only a trendsetter, but also a career influencer, a proto-influencer.
However, Bessette was unprepared for the intensity of Kennedy’s spotlight. Gillon said one of his friend’s “mistakes” was not understanding how difficult the transition would be for his wife.
“Before[Bessette]the paparazzi kept a healthy distance, but after he married Carolyn, it seemed like things took a turn for the worse,” Gillon said.
The couple lived on North Moore Street in Tribeca, a quiet enclave of artists and a few celebrities at the time. Their presence gave a discreet coolness to the then run-down district.
It also gave paparazzi more freedom.
Gillon said he never understood why his friend didn’t have a doorman or a private back door.
Shutterbugs rented an apartment across the street. Some people tried to slip down the chimney of Kennedy and Bessette’s home, Gillon said. And they were deeply hostile to Bessette, prompting her to react.
A reckless Kennedy was behind air traffic control when a plane crash in 1999 killed two people, including Bessette’s sister Lauren. (The NTSB determined the probable cause was pilot failure.)
It is reported that he and Bessette disagreed about starting a family in the glare of the spotlight and recently moved to the Stanhope Hotel on the Upper East Side, not far from her childhood home.
As “American Love Story” reminds us, we are left with the promise of what could have been. And a pile of photos to fill in the blanks.
