Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy

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Carolyn Bessette Kennedy (January 7, 1966 – July 16, 1999), née Carolyn Jeanne Bessette, was the wife of John F. Kennedy, Jr., the son of assassinated United States President John F. Kennedy. With her husband and her sister Lauren Bessette, she died when the private plane he was piloting crashed in the Atlantic Ocean near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, at age 33. Their ashes were buried at sea on July 22, 1999.

Bessette-Kennedy was born in White Plains, Westchester Co., New York, the daughter of William J. Bessette and his then-wife, née Ann Messina. Bessette grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut, and graduated from Boston University in 1988. She was voted an "All-Around Beautiful Person" while at school. An occasional model, she eventually became a publicist for fashion designer Calvin Klein in New York City, where she met Kennedy. She and Kennedy married on September 21, 1996 on Cumberland Island, Georgia.

When she and Kennedy began dating, she became the subject of several gossip newspapers; she would be in tabloid headlines for the rest of her life. In 2005, Carole Radziwill published her memoirs, containing fond memories of Carolyn as a close friend.

Bessette Kennedy was frequently regarded a style icon for women around the world with her effortless chic look, and often compared to her late mother-in-law Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis^{[citation needed]}. Jackie died before Bessette and Kennedy began dating; the two never met.

Bessette's blonde hair colouring was the model for that of the "Bergdorf Blondes" in the 2004 novel by Plum Sykes.