Hulu and FX’s hit series “Love Story” has sparked renewed global interest in the relationship between John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette.
The Ryan Murphy-produced drama depicts the whirlwind courtship and marriage of JFK Jr. (Paul Anthony Kelly) and Bessette (Sarah Pidgeon) before their tragic deaths in a plane crash in 1999.
However, each episode begins with the warning that “certain depictions of people and events are dramatized or fictionalized for storytelling purposes.”
Sasha Chermayev, a close friend of the late couple, criticized the show, telling Page Six in an exclusive interview that the writers and producers had no knowledge of Kennedy Jr. or Bessette.
“The way I look at it,[‘Love Story’]is just a bunch of people who have never met and never met and are just making it up as they go,” she said.
Page Six spoke to multiple sources about key scenes from the show and whether it depicts a true love story between Kennedy Jr. and his wife.
Restaurant regular: Yes.
Throughout the series, the two stop at several iconic restaurants, including Indochine, Odeon, and Bubby’s.
The show’s writers got this right, as all three establishments were frequent spots for the two while dating.
“Bubby’s was like a living room for them, and they were always there,” Bubby’s owner and chef Ron Silver recently told Page Six.
“It was a place where they would gather together, meet separately with friends, have meetings and other things.”
They were also known to frequent Rao’s, Tribeca Grill, Il Cantinori, and Nobu.
First date distortions: Mistakes
In episode one, Kennedy Jr. and Bessette’s fictitious first date was filmed at Panna II Garden, a hole-in-the-wall Indian restaurant in the East Village.
Since the episode aired, New Yorkers have been lining up to eat at the same table where Pigeon and Kelly sat and exchanged flirty lines.
The restaurant’s owner, Bashir Khan, confirmed to the Post that the real-life pair were “regulars” in the ’90s, but there’s no confirmation that it was their first date destination.
Darryl Dynamic: No.
In the show, John’s ex-girlfriend Daryl Hannah (Dree Hemingway) is portrayed as a clingy and self-centered partner.
Hannah addressed the show in a brutal essay for the New York Times, saying that her portrayal was “not a nearly accurate representation of my life, my actions, or my relationship with John.”
The series also includes scenes in which Hannah uses cocaine, drugs her father, President John F. Kennedy’s heirlooms, and compares the death of her mother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, to the death of her beloved dog. Hannah denied every moment as completely false.
“I have never used cocaine or hosted a cocaine-fueled party in my life,” she wrote. “I have never pressured anyone into marriage. I have never desecrated an heirloom or invaded anyone’s personal monument. I have never planted a story in the press. I have never compared the death of Jacqueline Onassis to the death of a dog.”
The show suggests that John’s family did not approve of his relationship with the “Splash” actress. In one scene, John takes Hannah out on a date, so her mother doesn’t show up for a family dinner.
However, John’s cousin exclusively told Page Six that Hannah’s representation on the show was “unfortunate.”
“Daryl Hannah was great,” Douglas Kennedy said. “Every time I met her, she was very sweet and had (John’s) best interests at heart. I think that’s a misconception.”
Family Feud: False
The series suggests that there was tension between Carolyn and John’s sister, Caroline Kennedy, on their wedding day.
In episode 4, Carolyn and Caroline also get into a heated argument over wedding plans.
In episode 6, Carolyn asks Caroline (Grace Gummer) to be her sister Lauren’s honorary guardian, as she doesn’t want John’s sister to “hate” her. And as Carolyn prepares for the ceremony, she appears disinterested and uninvolved in the wedding preparations.
However, Chermayev, who was one of 40 guests at John and Carolyn’s wedding in 1996, exclusively told Page Six that there was no friction between Carolyn and her sister-in-law that day.
“People knew there was tension between these two couples,” Chermayf said of John and Carolyn and Caroline and her husband, Edwin Schlossberg.
“It’s something that people knew, but it wasn’t very obvious at the wedding,” she continued. “At that point, there was no tension at all. There was no tension at all.”
Furthermore, Chermayev did not remember that Caroline was involved in bridesmaid duties on the big day.
“I don’t understand why she had to do something like that. I think Carolyn took good care of the people around her,” Chermayf said.
warm wedding: wrong
For the wedding episode, the show filmed the ceremony at the historic First African Baptist Church on Cumberland Island, a remote island off the coast of Georgia.
The venue is the exact spot where Carolyn and John exchanged their vows.
But the series also suggests that guests were anxiously awaiting the bride, who was delayed by two hours due to a wardrobe malfunction with her gown. According to Chermaykh, this is not true.
“The bride always takes her time and comes out when she’s ready. No one cares,” Chermayev said. “The idea that this is offensive and the same as what people wrote is just wrong.”
Although the show seemed to leave guests drenched in sweat in the September heat, Chermayf said it was “never hot or uncomfortable at all.”
“Actually, the weather was wonderful,” Charmayeff declared, noting that Carolyn had a woven fan available for guests to use if they needed to cool off.
Helicopter confusion: right
Against all odds, John and Carolyn’s wedding took place in complete secrecy.
In episode 6, as Carolyn and the bridal party prepare for their wedding at the Greyfield Inn, they hear the sound of a helicopter circling overhead.
Chermaykh admitted that a paparazzi helicopter did indeed fly over the inn on the day of the wedding, but that the guests were able to miss it as they sneaked away to the chapel in a jeep.
“We lost the helicopter and couldn’t find the car,” she said. “We were really lucky that the beautiful ceremony was held quietly with water and not in front of the press.”
“We were all happy about it. They just didn’t find us. So it’s like a miracle,” she said.
Carolyn’s criticism: wrong
Throughout the series, Carolyn struggles to feel accepted by Caroline and Ethel Kennedy, the matriarch of the Kennedy family.
However, Douglas, the 10th child of Robert F. Kennedy and his wife Ethel, denied this story, telling Page Six, “Everyone around Carolyn loves her.”
“It’s difficult to capture the complexity of people’s lives in film and television,” he explained. “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.”
Quitting Calvin Klein: Mistake
In Episode 6, Carolyn quits her high-powered public relations job at Calvin Klein after her wedding and tells the designer that her relationship with JFK Jr. has become a distraction.
“I want you to know how deeply I am indebted to you, for your guidance and friendship, you have changed my life,” Carolyn tells Klein (Alessandro Nivola). “You saw something in me and nurtured it, and for that I am truly grateful.
“I think it has become clear that I can no longer serve you or this company in the way that we both desire.”
When asked to express surprise that the fashion brand’s founder would step down, she replied: “I think my being here has become a bit of a distraction. All of my job is to promote your work, but I can’t do it to the best of my ability.”
In fact, Carolyn quit her job to ensure that John’s journalism career remained in the spotlight.
“She quit her job because basically everything had to revolve around John & George magazine,” Charmaif said, referring to the political lifestyle magazine that Kennedy Jr. co-founded in 1995.
It was also said that there would be a “conflict of interest” for advertisers if Carolyn remained with the American clothing company.
“She would have given up everything in a way to make her career more pleasing to the world, and that’s a shame,” said Shermayf, noting that in the 1990s women “were not that important.”
Paparazzi pressure: right
In episode 7, John and Carolyn return from their honeymoon and are attacked by relentless paparazzi. Carolyn responded without leaving her Tribeca apartment.
This description is accurate, as Chermayeff says on page 6 that Carolyn “began to become a little agoraphobic.”
“So many photographers just harassed (her),” Chermaykh said, noting that the media attention surrounding their relationship had taken a toll on her successful social life.
“The next thing you know, you’re not going anywhere and you’re being followed,” she says. “It was tough. It was really, really tough.”
The show also accurately depicted John feeling more at ease with paparazzi.
“So John wasn’t struggling with[the media attention]; he was struggling with the fact that[Carolyn]was having a really hard time,” Charmaif said. “There was nothing wrong with him, I didn’t know anything else.
“All his life he had been a little center of attention in the world, and he was completely at peace with that and completely used to it.”
