- - “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette” Fact vs. Fiction: How Accurate Is the FX Series?

Caroline BlairFebruary 14, 2026 at 7:00 AM

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Paul Anthony Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr., Naomi Watts as Jackie Kennedy Onassis; John F. Kennedy Jr (John John) and Jacquline Kennedy Onassis at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Museum and Library in Boston on Oct. 20, 1979.

Eric Liebowitz/FX; Stan Grossfeld/The Boston Globe via Getty

John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette's romance is depicted in Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette

The Ryan Murphy series includes real-life details, as well as dramatized moments

Paul Anthony Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon star as JFK Jr. and Bessette, respectively

There's no shortage of heartfelt, dramatic and loving moments in Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette.

The limited series, which is the first installment of Ryan Murphy's Love Story anthology, explores the relationship between John F. Kennedy Jr. (Paul Anthony Kelly) — the son of President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jackie Kennedy — and Carolyn Bessette (Sarah Pidgeon).

The nine-episode show depicts how JFK Jr. went from being in an on-again, off-again relationship with actress Daryl Hannah (Dree Hemingway) to slowly falling for up-and-coming Calvin Klein associate Bessette after they met through her prominent boss.

In addition to following JFK Jr. and Bessette's whirlwind romance, the series also gives glimpses into his complicated relationship with his mother, Jackie (Naomi Watts), and sister, Caroline Kennedy (Grace Gummer).

Love Story, which premiered its first three episodes on Feb. 12, took inspiration from Elizabeth Beller’s book Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy. And, while several aspects of the show are accurate, other pieces were either exaggerated or changed for the series.

Here's everything to know about what is fact and what is fiction in Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette.

JFK Jr. did have a brief "fling” with Madonna

John F. Kennedy Jr. ; Madonna

Barry King/WireImage; Steve Granitz Archive/WireImage

While Love Story mostly focuses on JFK Jr. and Bessette's relationship, the series doesn't shy away from showing their lives before they began dating. In a brief moment, one of JFK Jr.'s friends casually mentions how he used to be romantically involved with Madonna.

The quick conversation paints the bigger picture of JFK Jr.'s romances before Bessette — which did include Madonna in the late '80s.

"Madonna was totally a fling. Nothing more. Barely a fling at that," JFK Jr.'s college friend, Robert Littell, said in the 2024 book JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography.

RoseMarie Terenzio, who was JFK Jr.'s assistant and co-author along with PEOPLE's Liz McNeil of An Intimate Oral Biography —added, “John had this idea of having Madonna pose on the cover [of his political magazine George] as his mom. We would dress her in a suit, her signature sunglasses. And a pillbox hat sitting on a stack of books.”

However, the singer apparently turned him down in a fax that read, "Dear Johnny boy, Thanks for asking me to be your mother, but I’m afraid, I could never do her justice. My eyebrows aren’t thick enough for one."

In addition to his "fling" with Madonna, JFK Jr. was also romantically linked to Julie Baker and Daryl Hannah — whom he dated on and off from 1988 to 1994. While their rocky romance lasted for years, the Love Story creators sped up their ups and downs to prioritize his relationship with Bessette.

"In reality, they were on again, off again, a little bit more than we had time to do in the show," executive producer Brad Simpson explained to USA Today. "But we needed to jump ahead, and we didn't feel like the audience wanted to see the stop and starts of their romance."

Calvin Klein introduced JFK Jr. and Bessette in the show, but their actual meeting has been debated

Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette

In the series, Bessette's boss, Calvin Klein (Alessandro Nivola), introduces her to JFK Jr. at a fundraiser for the Amazon rainforest in 1992, and they instantly connect.

While Klein could have been the matchmaker, the real way that Bessette and JFK Jr. met is not explicitly clear. Beller wrote that they met in 1992 while JFK Jr. was getting fitted for a suit at Calvin Klein.

“Calvin — along with his wife, Kelly Klein, and ... assistant MJ Bettenhausen — decided it should be [Carolyn], the most effervescent person on the sales floor, who would show John the selection of clothing,” Beller wrote. "Unsurprisingly, John came out of the meeting smitten, with a few men's suits and Carolyn's phone number. He called within days."

However, their friends have maintained that they met at a fundraiser. EP Simpson told USA Today that they received "competing narratives" on how JFK Jr. and Bessette met, so they went with the "most common" one.

"But the most common narrative [of] how they met was at this fundraiser ... so we decided that would be their first meeting," he said.

Jackie Kennedy didn’t despise JFK Jr.’s on-again, off-again girlfriend, Daryl Hannah, like the show depicted

John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Daryl Hannah arrive at the wedding of his cousin Edward Kennedy, Jr. in Rhode Island.

Brooks Kraft LLC/Sygma via Getty

Throughout the first few episodes of Love Story, JFK Jr. is infatuated with Bessette, but he is still in an on-again, off-again relationship with Hannah. Among other issues, the series depicts JFK Jr. and Hannah getting into several arguments over his mom, Jackie, hating her.

In one particularly heated moment, Hannah shows up to Jackie's New York City apartment to have dinner with her, Caroline and her husband, Edwin Schlossberg. A butler informs the foursome that Jackie isn't feeling well enough to attend, so Hannah storms off and later leaves to Los Angeles because of her belief that Jackie hates her.

Hannah even insinuates that Jackie disliked her, because she reminded her of Marilyn Monroe — who allegedly had an affair with JFK. While it's believed that Jackie "disapproved" of Hannah and her son's relationship with the actress, her disdain for Hannah was most likely dramatized for the show.

"John had measured most of the women in his life by Jackie's opinion of them," Randy Taraborrelli wrote in his 2019 book The Kennedy Heirs. "If his mother approved, John would decide he wasn't sure. However, if his mother disapproved, as she did with actress Daryl Hannah, John became even more attached."

Jackie's friend, Jim Hart, also admitted that she was "not a fan of that relationship."

"It wasn't like she hated Daryl at all," Hart said in An Intimate Oral Biography. "She just didn't want her son marrying an actress − it kind of was that simple. There was no great animosity, but she was always talking about 'What do you think of Daryl? Do you think that's right for John?' "

JFK Jr. did transport Hannah's dog’s ashes

A heartbreaking moment in Love Story occurs when JFK Jr. is walking Hannah's dog in N.Y.C. but loses control of the leash, and the pet gets run over. At the time, he and Hannah were not speaking, so he told her the tragic news and then carried the urn of the dog's ashes with him on a flight to L.A.

Sadly, in real life, the dog did die after a car hit it — albeit in Central Park and not Tribeca — so JFK Jr. flew the ashes to Hannah for a funeral.

"So he goes out there to bury the dog," his friend, Sasha Chermayeff, recalled in An Intimate Oral Biography. "And while he's out there, his mom has a dramatic turn for the worse. He was deeply resentful that Daryl dragged him out there to attend a funeral for her dog when his mother was dying of cancer."

The Secret Service did discover marijuana on the Kennedy compound, but Caroline didn't grow it

Grace Gummer as Caroline Kennedy

In the third Love Story episode, Jackie dies from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in May 1994. JFK Jr. and Caroline host an intimate wake at their mom's apartment and reflect on some of their favorite moments with her.

JFK Jr. specifically points out a time when Jackie discovered that Caroline was growing marijuana outside their home in Hyannis Port, Mass. Caroline said that a police officer found it, so she tried to convince her mom that it was just parsley, but she wasn't buying it.

The story is based in truth, as in real-life the Secret Service and the Massachusetts State Police did find marijuana on the massive compound. Jackie's then-assistant, Kathy McKeon, recounted the moment in Kate Storey's 2023 book, White House by the Sea: A Century of the Kennedys at Hyannis Port.

“He and the Secret Service men ripped the plants up that afternoon,” Storey wrote based on her interview with McKeon. However, Caroline and JFK Jr. were children at the time and "were too young to have had anything to do with it."

JFK Jr. and Bessette weren’t officially separated at the time of their deaths, but the show insinuates they were at a low point

John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife Carolyn walk with their dog January 1, 1997 in New York City.

Evan Agostini/Liaison

The first few moments of Love Story show JFK Jr. and Bessette's final moments, which included them getting in a private plane, piloted by JFK Jr., to head to his cousin's wedding in Hyannis Port.

The couple, in addition to Bessette's sister, Lauren Bessette (Sydney Lemmon), ultimately died in a crash in the Atlantic Ocean on July 16, 1999. Prior to the three getting in the plane in Love Story, JFK Jr. is seen venting to Lauren about sleeping in a hotel amid his marital issues with Bessette. As soon as they arrive at the airport, Bessette starts arguing with JFK Jr., but he apologizes and tells her he loves her.

While the show insinuates that JFK Jr. and Bessette were at a low-point in their marriage and separated at the time of their deaths, their friends and loved ones have given mixed accounts of where their relationship was headed.

“A week [after July 4, 1999], John had told several friends and colleagues that he and Carolyn were splitting up," Beller wrote in her book. "Yet, others noted they seemed very happy together, even the weekend before."

Beller added that the couple "had a heated fight" about the upcoming wedding, and that he was staying at the Stanhope Hotel for a few nights.

"She needed a break; she felt she’d done her share of Kennedy events for the time being," Beller wrote. "Carolyn and John's fight turned into an enormous blowup, with John losing ever more patience, and Carolyn feeling ever more like an afterthought."

However, Beller said that Bessette agreeing to go to the wedding marked a reconciliation and a "signified a truce of sorts." Meanwhile, Carole Radziwill, who was married to JFK. Jr's cousin Anthony Radziwill, told PEOPLE in June 2017, "To say their marriage was on the rocks is just inaccurate."

“They were working on their relationship at the time they died. They thought they had all the time in the world to figure this out," The Kennedy Heirs author Taraborelli added.

Author Steve Gillon wrote in his 2019 book, America's Reluctant Prince: The Life of John F. Kennedy Jr., "If anyone says they knew what was going to happen in that relationship, they’re lying. John and Carolyn didn’t know what was going to happen.”

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”