There can never be another Camelot; there can never be anyone handsomer than JFK Jr.
‘We dared to think, in that other Irish phrase, that this John Kennedy would live to comb gray hair, with his beloved Carolyn by his side. But like his father, he had every gift but length of years.’—Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, 1999
I am on the third episode of Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, on Disney Plus. The nine-episode anthology series charts the courtship and marriage of America’s “Uncrowned Prince” and the princess of his heart, body and soul—Carolyn.
Starring Paul Anthony Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr. and Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette, the series has been blasted by Jack Schlossberg—President John F. Kennedy’s grandson and son of Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, John’s older sister.
When the first photos of the Ryan Murphy series were first released, Jack said in a video posted on his Instagram stories, “For those wondering whether his family was ever consulted, or has anything to do with, the new shows being made about him, the answer is no. And there’s really not much we can do.
“I hope those making these shows about him take seriously what he stood for in his life, all that he achieved in it. And that they donate some of the profits (that) they’re making,” Schlossberg said.
“For the record, I think admiration for my Uncle John is great. What I don’t think is great is profiting off of it in a grotesque way.”
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Despite Jack’s criticism of the series on his beloved uncle, the series, thus far, is indeed a love story. It is worth watching and torpedoes be damned—because anything biographical while there are relatives of the main characters still around to criticize it, is always bound to fall short. No one wants to see their idols—especially idols of their flesh and blood—with their warts and moles and in their underwear.
Forgive me if my main takeaway thus far after watching the first three episodes zeroes in initially on Paul Anthony Kelly, the actor who portrays Junior. He looks like JFK Jr. Talks like JFK Jr. His muscles ripple like JFK Jr.’s. And yet even when you put all the perfect features of Paul Kelly’s face and body together, he is not perfection himself—the real JFK Jr. was. The gods must have conspired to create a mold quite unlike any other when JFK Jr. was conceived by John F. Kennedy and the former Jacqueline Bouvier—John Jr. has his mother’s Bouvier good looks and thick dark hair, and his father JFK’s build, height and perfect nose. The combination was better than the originals, so the gods must have destroyed the mold after they created it. Haay, paano nga ba ang mangarap? (And my husband knows this because I was interviewed by CNN after JFK Jr. died in a plane crash!)
The romance and “roomance” series is also a timeless version of “How to Catch a Guy 101.” If the first three episodes and the articles I’ve read about John and Carolyn are true, he was utterly besotted with her from the very start and she knew it. In the series, she never gives him her phone number (a landline, still), and yet he finds her. When she discovers he’s still publicly in another relationship (with actress Darryl Hannah, who was with him in a stopover at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport), Carolyn rejects his flowers. The Calvin Klein publicist was not easy to get—and yet she never played hard to get. She just was. She set her boundaries and that challenged People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive” no end.
Sarah Pidgeon conveys the easy, confident persona of Carolyn Bessette. And unlike my impression of her onscreen partner, Sarah is more beautiful than the original Carolyn. Sorry, but the real Carolyn was stunning because of her height, statuesque figure and deep blue eyes—but in my opinion, her prominent nose tip and overbite were not cover-girl worthy from some angles. And her long lustrous blonde hair could sweep any man off his feet—except that it was reportedly dyed blonde. Still, she pulled it off and turned heads. One need not be perfect to look perfect. Ladies, she should be your template for minimalist glamor, style and effortless chic.
If my review of the series thus far is personal—it is. Unabashedly.
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The first three episodes also show the influence Jackie Kennedy (portrayed by Naomi Watts, who had the former first lady’s breathy voice but nothing else) had on her son—she made him acutely aware of his heritage and yet encouraged him to be ordinary in a sense. I read in a book that John actually immersed himself in one of the houses for the poor of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and his duties included taking out bed pans.
Caroline Kennedy is portrayed as a brunette here by Grace Gummer, which befuddles me because Caroline has always been a blonde child and adult in my eyes.
And finally, Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessette is a love story among family members—you could see how tight JFK Jr. is with his mother, sisters, nieces, nephew and cousins, especially Anthony Radziwill.
You could also see, as the many tributes after his death showed, that JFK Jr. endeavored to be his own person, especially when he launched the magazine George, which he wanted to be a bridge between politics and pop culture.
Would he have entered politics someday?
Again, this is personal, but I have tons of Kennedy books, magazines and a CNN interview to bolster my answer.
He would have. Absolutely. As his Uncle Teddy said in his eulogy for John in 1999, “From the first day of his life, John seemed to belong not only to our family, but to the American family. The whole world knew his name before he did…”
“He had amazing grace. He accepted who he was, but he cared more about what he could and should become…”
And that is why I am saddened, even before the fourth episode of the series is aired, that that ship has long sailed.
