PHOTOGRAPHY BY BOBBY DIMARZO/POLARIS/AUSTRALSCOPE; INSTAGRAM/CAROLYNBESSETTEKENNEDY; GETTY IMAGES.
LIFE STORIES
was pegged as a shrill, hysterical wom-
an who was making America’s “first
son” miserable, and the public demoni-
sation of her became more relentless.
The incident made her even more
determined to keep their wedding
private and, on September 21, 1996, they
married in secret on Cumberland Is-
land, off the coast of Georgia, in front of
a handful of guests. Bessette-Kennedy
asked close friend (and then-unknown
designer) Narciso Rodriguez to design
the gown, and the resulting bias-cut silk
dress launched his career – and cement-
ed her status as a new style icon.
However, the ceremony was
delayed by almost two hours when the
bride had a near disaster. “I couldn’t get
it over my head at first,” she later
recounted to Terenzio, who skipped the
wedding because her presence as JFK’s
PA would have alerted the press. “I was
freaking out. But my friend saved the
day. He put a silk scarf over my head
and eased the dress down.”
A touching photograph of JFK Jr.
kissing his new bride’s hand as they left
the chapel was released to confirm the
wedding had taken place. But the fact
that they managed to keep it a secret
only heightened the media vitriol and,
two weeks later, JFK Jr. begged the
press to back off now that Carolyn was
officially a Kennedy. “I just ask [for]
any privacy or room you could give her
as she makes that adjustment,” he im-
plored, as the couple faced the media
on the steps outside their apartment.
Yet within months, stories started
to circulate that the marriage was introuble – that Bessette-Kennedy was
seeing her ex-boyfriend, model Michael
Bergin, behind her husband’s back, and
that he’d caught her taking cocaine
with friends from the fashion industry.
At the time, JFK Jr. was
editor-in-chief of the political
magazine George. He worked long
hours and would often cancel plans.
Frustrated, his wife confided in
Terenzio, “I just want some normal
married time. I’m exhausted.” In the
spring of 1999, Bessette-Kennedy, then
33, quit her job. Although she under-
took some charity work, her public
appearances scaled back and weeks
would go by without her emerging
from their apartment.
By the beginning of July, rumours
of marriage problems
had reached fever pitch,
compounded by the
revelation that JFK Jr.,
who’d recently brokenhis ankle, was staying at the Stanhope
Hotel on 5th Avenue.
On July 16, JFK Jr., a qualified
pilot, was due to fly them to the
Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port,
Massachusetts, for a family wedding.
Bessette-Kennedy was reluctant to
attend until her sister, Lauren, 34,
offered to go too.
That evening, the Piper Saratoga
plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.
An investigation by the National
Transportation Safety Board concluded
that JFK Jr. had lost control before
the plane hit the water, most likely
disorientated by reduced visibility and
hampered by his ankle injury.
While JFK Jr. was canonised by
both the press and public, Bessette-Ken-
nedy was vilified once again amid
claims the reason they flew so late at
night when conditions were bad was be-
cause she was having a pedicure redone.
Twenty years on, however, she’s
finally getting the positive press
she deserves. It must be gratifying for
those who knew Bessette-Kennedy,
which includes Givenchy’s Clare Waight
Keller, who designed the Duchess of
Sussex’s wedding dress.
Waight Keller began her career at
Calvin Klein and her recollection
of Bessette-Kennedy is the kind of
testament she deserved in life. “She’d
come to the office looking as though
she’d rolled out of bed. And then, she
would transform herself into the most
elegant thing you’d ever seen.”
Bethan Holt, fashion news
director at Britain’s The Telegraph, says
she’s not surprised she appeals to
today’s Insta generation. “Lots of the
trends we’re seeing at the moment are
looks she spearheaded in the ’90s,” says
Holt. “With the conversation around
sustainability and
timelessness, and in-
vesting in [forever]
pieces, her look is
never going to date.”RIGHT The tragic events
that unfolded on the
night of July 16, 1999,
including the search and
rescue, sent shockwaves
around the world.“LOTS OF TRENDS
WE’RE SEEING AT
THE MOMENT ARE
LOOKS CAROLYN
SPEARHEADED”