Howard Stern praised Carolyn Bessette Kennedy for rare comments on his SiriusXM radio show.
“I knew the real Carolyn Bessette,” he said during Monday’s broadcast of the show of the same name, before clarifying, “I can’t say I knew her very well.”
“But we had a lot of conversations, more than just casual conversations. She was very nice. A really nice woman.”
The 72-year-old shock jock stopped short of telling listeners exactly how he knew the 1990s fashion icon, confessing that he doesn’t have “any glamorous, gossipy stories” about Bessette.
“I don’t want to say how I knew her, but I knew her,” he explained. “I know enough to keep quiet about it. There are some things I want to keep secret.”
Mr. Stern said that John F. Kennedy Jr.’s wife was “very kind to me, very open and talkative” and “never stuck her nose in my direction.”
Notably, Stern appeared on the cover of JFK Jr.’s political magazine George in 1996, which he criticized as “one of the worst covers” he had ever done and that he “looked like Paul Revere in drag.”
The April 1996 cover image depicted him in “colonial costume” chopping down a cherry tree with a chainsaw.
Still, Stern couldn’t say no, describing John as “literally American royalty and the nicest guy in the world.”
FX’s “Love Story” series, which revolves around the couple’s life and tragic death, is heightening interest in their romance.
The iconic pair married in a very private ceremony in September 1996 after a highly publicized courtship, and three years later, in July 1999, they died along with Carolyn’s sister Lauren Bessette in a small plane crash while en route to the wedding of John’s cousin Rory Kennedy.
Carolyn and Lauren were 33 and 34 years old, respectively, at the time of the fatal accident. John was 38 years old.
Stern’s comments aren’t just compliments for the former Calvin Klein spokesperson. Her wedding dress designer, Narciso Rodriguez, once described her as “powerful, authentic, incredibly beautiful. And so complex.”
Close friend and former fashion designer Gordon Henderson told Page Six that the blonde beauty “sometimes talked to people, but she preferred to be alone. She didn’t want to be disturbed.”
He added that he did not think Bessette was a “high-minded woman” and described her as “difficult.” Still, her portrayal as someone who valued her privacy was accurate.
“She was always standing behind John and hiding behind him,” he recalled. “If she didn’t know about you, she would really hide.”
