NEED TO KNOW
Ryan Murphy is moving from horror and crime to romance and tragedy with his upcoming series, which focuses on the real-life love story between John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette.
American Love Story will spotlight the whirlwind romance between JFK Jr. — son of President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jackie Kennedy — and Bessette, a fashion publicist. Hollywood newcomer Paul Kelly plays the famous first son, alongside The Wilds star Sarah Pidgeon as his bride.
On June 13, Murphy released camera test photos of his stars in character as the ill-fated couple — revealing just how well Kelly and Pidgeon captured Kennedy and Bessette’s looks — and on Tuesday, June 17, viewers caught a glimpse of his latest spot-on recreation: JFK Jr.’s iconic 1990 PEOPLE magazine cover, which you can still read here!
People Magazine
The May 1990 issue — captioned “You Can Do It, John!” — poked some fun at the first son two years after he was named PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive, remarking, “So what if he flubbed the bar exam (twice). America’s uncrowned prince is facing 30 with a steady girlfriend, fabulous looks, even a movie role. But now it’s time to hit those law books!”
After completing his undergraduate at Brown University, studying abroad at the University of Delhi and earning his law degree from New York University, JFK Jr. did, in fact, pass the bar on his third attempt — in July 1990. This made him eligible to serve as an assistant district attorney in the Manhattan DA’s Office, which he did for the next four years.
American Love Story’s recreation of the cover is spot-on, with Kelly in the same blue dress shirt and tan blazer. The caption is also the same, word for word. There are two main differences, however — and one may be central to Love Story’s plot.
BrosNYC / BACKGRID
The minor difference is the other story featured on the cover. In real-life, JFK Jr.’s leading story was accompanied by a smaller photo of Kathie Lee Gifford and her newborn son, Cody, teasing an “at home” interview with the daytime host. In Love Story’s recreation, the smaller featurette is about Beverly Hills 90210 star Jennie Garth “finding love.”
The second difference, however, is more notable. While Kennedy’s real-life cover story was published on May 21, 1990, Love Story’s recreation lists its date as May 11, 1992.
The real PEOPLE article references a date between JFK. Jr and his “longtime girlfriend, actress Christina Haag.” However, by 1992, the national heartthrob was actually in an on-again, off-again relationship with Daryl Hannah, before they broke up for good in 1994.
Viewers will have to wait and see how Love Story handles Kennedy’s real-life romantic timeline. Either way, they’ve tacked two more years onto his bar exam journey.
Kennedy and Bessette first met in 1992 when Bessette was working for Calvin Klein and was assigned the task of giving Kennedy a private tour and fitting. After he and Hannah broke things off in 1994, they dated for two years and married in September 1996 in a private ceremony on Cumberland Island, Ga., with a few members of the famous Kennedy family in attendance.
On July 16, 1999, Kennedy and Bessette died in a plane crash when JFK Jr. was flying his wife and her sister, Lauren, from New Jersey en route to Martha’s Vineyard.
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In addition to Kelly and Pidgeon, American Love Story will star Naomi Watts as Jackie Kennedy, Grace Gummer as Caroline Kennedy, Sydney Lemmon as Lauren Bessette and Alessandro Nivola as Calvin Klein.
American Love Story is the latest in Murphy’s American Story anthology series, following American Horror Story, American Crime Story and American Sports Story. A release date for the series has yet to be announced.
