What to Know
Since Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette premiered on FX last month, people are becoming obsessed with the couple’s relationship (and its tragic end) all over again. As someone JFK Jr. seriously dated just before marrying Carolyn, a character based on Daryl Hannah — who is played by Dree Hemingway — has become part of the plot, and now, Daryl is letting the world know just how much the show got it wrong.
Daryl and JFK Jr. dated on and off for over five years.
As People reported, Daryl and JFK Jr. first met in the early ’80s, but crossed paths again in 1988 when they were both guests at his aunt Lee Radziwill’s wedding. They continued to see each other on and off for the next five years, and broke up for good about two years before he married Carolyn.
Now she’s speaking out against her portrayal in the show.
In an essay she wrote for The New York Times that was published on Friday, Daryl said that though she usually tries not to acknowledge any gossip about her, after seeing the show, she can’t let it slide this time.
“I have long believed that engaging with distortion often amplifies it,” she wrote. “But a recent tragedy-exploiting television series about John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette features a character using my name and presents her as me. The choice to portray her as irritating, self-absorbed, whiny and inappropriate was no accident.”
She continued on to say that the version of her on the show is “not even a remotely accurate representation of my life, my conduct or my relationship with John.”
“I have never used cocaine in my life or hosted cocaine-fueled parties. I have never pressured anyone into marriage. I have never desecrated any family heirloom or intruded upon anyone’s private memorial. I have never planted any story in the press. I never compared Jacqueline Onassis’ death to a dog’s,” she wrote. “It’s appalling to me that I even have to defend myself against a television show. These are not creative embellishments of personality. They are assertions about conduct — and they are false.”
She also isn’t impressed with the Kennedy family’s privacy being violated in this way.
Noting how careful she was about keeping her relationship with JFK Jr. and the Kennedys private, Daryl also spoke out against the show in general.
“The Kennedy family is also notoriously private, and I have always honored their right to privacy,” she said. “Know that most (if not all) of those claiming to have any intimate knowledge of our personal lives are self-serving sensationalists trading in gossip, innuendo and speculation.”
If Daryl’s side of the story is the truth, it’s no wonder she’s outraged. Who would want their personal life to be dissected on TV like this?
