TLC’s Forthcoming John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Wedding Movie Is Already Sad and Uncomfortable
On the heels of CNN’s American Dynasties: The Kennedys, TLC has announced that it, too, is getting in on the Kennedy entertainment complex, planning a two-hour original TV movie with never-before-seen footage from John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette’s supersecret 1996 wedding on Cumberland Island, Georgia. JFK Jr. & Carolyn Bessette: A Camelot Wedding was announced on Tuesday in New York at the upfront—a network’s annual rollout of the year’s upcoming programming—for TLC’s parent company, Discovery, almost 19 years after the pair died in a plane crash off Martha’s Vineyard.
According to Deadline, the movie—whose premiere date is TBD—was described this way: “In 1996, America’s Prince Charming, John F. Kennedy Jr., married the love of his life, Carolyn Bessette, in a ceremony that was designed to keep the media and the paparazzi away. Now for the first time ever, 20 years after we lost him and his beautiful wife in a tragic plane crash, TLC takes viewers inside the couple’s lives with never-before-seen footage from their fairy-tale wedding. The two-hour special celebrates JFK Jr. and Carolyn’s life and incredible love for one another, capturing their wedding weekend on Cumberland Island, Georgia, for a firsthand look at everything from the joyful rehearsal dinner, to the magical ceremony, to the intimate reception. With new commentary from famous wedding guests, friends, and family, this remarkable special offers a fresh look at the lives of America’s most famous couple.”
Discovery’s chief lifestyle brands officer, Kathleen Finch, made a “very brief mention of the project during her portion of the program,” Deadline reported, but noted that the premiere will be “quite an evening.” No doubt it will—but probably not for the reasons Discovery is hoping. There’s something deeply sad and uncomfortable about the announcement that a wedding weekend two ceaselessly hounded people sought to make private (and has remained largely private for almost 20 years) is now about to—against their wishes and after their deaths—go public. It’s particularly awkward as Discovery itself says in its description of the movie that Kennedy and Bessette’s coastal wedding “was designed to keep the media and paparazzi away.” Now the media is succeeding in exposing their private moment when they’re no longer here to do anything about it.
It’s part of a disquieting trend of resurrecting the icons of the ’90s for the public’s entertainment, from revisiting the O.J. Simpson trial (against the express wishes of the Simpson and Goldman families) to reinvestigating JonBenét Ramsey’s death and sensationalizing Gianni Versace’s murder. Is there considerable curiosity and intrigue in these cases, and in the Kennedys? Of course. But it’s easy to forget that there are also real families of the dead, and in the case of Kennedy and Bessette, there was their own strong desire for a semblance of privacy. Actively betraying that wish will surely make for “quite an evening.” But it doesn’t make it right.
