Lower than three years later, that hopeful starting resulted in tragedy.
On July 16, 1999, the Piper Saratoga airplane 38-year-old JFK Jr., who was piloting to his cousin Rory Kennedy’s wedding ceremony, plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Massachusetts’ Martha’s Winery, immediately killing him, Carolyn, 33, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, 34.
Now, as Ryan Murphy’s FX sequence Love Story options the pair, curiosity about John and Carolyn’s relationship is at an all-time excessive.
The reality is way from a fairy story. From all accounts, the romance that captured headlines was unraveling amid drug use and rumored infidelity.
“They have been each very passionate,” historian Steven M. Gillon, writer of 2019’s America’s Reluctant Prince, has mentioned of his good friend of 18 years, although he revealed that at one level, John “instructed a good friend that he was going to separate from Carolyn, letting her understand how critical issues have been and that they wanted to make adjustments.”