JFK Jr. Was Reportedly Rattled by the Death of Princess Diana for This Carolyn Bessette Reason
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The loss of Princess Diana in 1997 may have affected John F. Kennedy Jr. more than people would expect, but it was something he related to deeply. That’s a hot topic that an upcoming biography, Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, is diving into because the George magazine publisher understood that the paparazzi’s fascination with the royal somewhat echoed his own life with wife Carolyn Bessette.
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When Diana passed away after a high-speed chase with the paparazzi, it was hard not to think about the parallels in his own life and how the photographers waited for Bessette to leave their Manhattan home each day. Author Elizabeth Beller, in an excerpt for People, wrote about how the couple reacted after the loss of the beloved public figure. “Carolyn tried to get John to call Princes William and Harry to give his condolences when it came out that Diana had hoped for her sons to emulate John’s modesty in the face of media obsession,” she wrote. He didn’t jump at the opportunity, though, because “he didn’t know them and thought that their situations greatly differed.”
JFK Jr. wasn’t trying to be insensitive to the situation, but he was dealing with his own emotions in the aftermath. “He had met [Princess Diana] once or twice,” Beller continued in the excerpt. “And the fact that she had died while being chased down by paparazzi, he was aware of the fact that their [he and Carolyn’s] lives were becoming overwrought with attention, and he was upset.” Bessette’s heart was in the right place with her thoughtful gesture, but the author believes that the “moment was too difficult for him to be able to reach out and say something to someone who’s just lost their parent in a very public and dramatic way.”
Beller told People that “the press attention really terrified her” after she married JFK Jr. “There was a vulnerability,” she added. “And I think somehow the press attention and scrutiny just touched a nerve and it stole a lot of her joy.” JFK Jr. famously asked the press to back off in 1996 after they returned from their honeymoon in Turkey. “This is a big change for anyone, and for a private citizen even more so,” he told the throngs of reporters waiting outside their Tribeca residence, via Deseret News. “I ask that you give Carolyn all the privacy and room you can.”
The request didn’t last very long because the media was obsessed with their good looks and their tumultuous relationship that often played out in public spaces. Bessette didn’t thrive in the spotlight the way Princess Diana did, and the manner of her death likely unnerved both of them because it hit too close to home.
Before you go, click here to find out who fights to keep paparazzi away from their partners and kids
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