Sarah Pidgeon has earned it all for that blonde.
The Love Story actress, 29, revealed in a new video for Vogue Beauty Secrets that it took her more than 20 hours over two days to transform her natural dark brown hair into Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s signature shade.
“I went into Carolyn’s audition with long, dark brown hair, and then I went blonde. That’s the whole process,” Pidgeon said, adding that she and her team “have to be very careful because I have psoriasis. Obviously, this is a very strong treatment, and it kind of lightens dark hair like that.”
The actress uses steroids on her scalp to reduce inflammation, which can be exacerbated by the dyeing process and diet. (“I still don’t have the self-control to cut out gluten, dairy, and sweets,” she admitted.)
But this lengthy transformation had a purpose beyond simply matching Bessette Kennedy’s appearance. Pidgeon said her time in the chair helped her get into the role, saying the process was “very important to me to just sit in the chair and spend time and watch this change happen and have a little bit of Sarah.”
Her hair also evolved throughout the FX series, reflecting Bessette Kennedy’s own style arc. “Initially, it’s curlier, more dimensional, maybe a little more lowlights,” Pigeon explained. “Then she became more blonde and straighter throughout the show.”
Bessette Kennedy’s real-life colorist Brad Johns previously spoke to Page Six Style about the late style icon’s hair, describing it as having “sparkling gold” in the bangs and “darker underneath.”
Johns, famous for transforming Bessette Kennedy from light brown to buttery blonde using a distinctive “chunking” technique, initially had concerns about the early production shots, which he told us were “all wrong.”
That buttery hue was so central to Bessette Kennedy’s identity that when she panicked and asked Johns to dye her color black before her 1996 wedding to JFK Jr., he refused and went lighter instead.
Ms. Pigeon plans to keep her blonde hair for the time being — and after all, who can blame her?
