Heartbreaking Details About Carolyn Bessette Kennedy's Biggest Struggle Were Just Revealed

From Country Living

Carolyn Bessette Kennedy married into one of America's most famous families, but she never adapted to a life in the spotlight. In a new memoir titled Jackie's Girl, Jackie Kennedy's personal assistant Kathy McKeon details Carolyn's struggles with the photographers who followed her every move.

"She couldn't take it. She wasn't brought up with it. John was, Carolyn wasn't," McKeon told People.

"She said, 'I'm terrified of them.'"

In the book, Mckeon recalls a conversation the family had following the death of Princess Diana, in which Carolyn shared a particularly frightening experience with the paparazzi.

"She described how she had gotten chased down the sidewalk by a wolf pack of photographers, and ducked into a building to escape them," McKeon writes.

"They cornered her by the elevator as she frantically pushed the button."

JFK Jr. asked McKeon for advice on how his mother dealt with the photographers.

"'When she [Jackie] was up here, she'd leave the gate smiling, give them one good picture and they'd let her go,'" she writes. But Carolyn never grew comfortable having her picture taken.

She and JFK Jr. died in a plane crash in 1999, just a few years after they had married. The tragedy left McKeon heartbroken.

Jackie's Girl is available for pre-order now; it will go on sale May 9. Pick up a copy of this week's People for the full excerpt.

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