| Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy | |
|---|---|
| Born | Carolyn Jeanne Bessette January 7, 1966 White Plains, New York, U.S. |
| Died | July 16, 1999 (aged 33) Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Martha's Vineyard |
| Residence | Greenwich, Connecticut |
| Alma mater | Boston University |
| Occupation | Calvin Klein saleswoman publicist |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Spouse | John F. Kennedy, Jr. (m. 1996–1999) (their deaths) |
| Children | none |
| Parents | William J. Bessette Ann Messina Freeman |
| Relatives | Lauren Bessette, sister (1964-1999), Lisa Bessette (b. 1964) |
Carolyn Jeanne Bessette-Kennedy (January 7, 1966 – July 16, 1999) was the wife of John F. Kennedy, Jr., the son of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
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Carolyn Jeanne Bessette was born in White Plains, Westchester County, New York, the youngest child of William J. Bessette and Ann Messina Freeman, an administrator in the New York City public school system. She grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut, and attended St. Mary's High School, where she was voted an "All-Around Beautiful Person". She graduated from Boston University in 1988. While at Boston University she met and dated John Cullen, an NHL player.[1]
She had two older sisters, twins Lauren and Lisa Bessette.
After college, she worked as a saleswoman at the Calvin Klein store in Boston before being transferred to the corporate office/headquarters in New York, where she worked as a publicist and met John F. Kennedy, Jr. while at work. The couple became a popular paparazzi target, with gossip columns detailing where they ate and shopped and even covering the arguments they had. Photographers waited outside the couple's Tribeca apartment to snap photographs. She was reportedly uncomfortable with the media frenzy and the repeated comparisons to her mother-in-law, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
Bessette and Kennedy were married on September 21, 1996 on Cumberland Island, Georgia in a historic Baptist church. Their wedding was private and secret in an effort to elude the media.
Carolyn's wedding dress, designed by a young Narciso Rodriguez, landed a spot on many best dressed lists and her style of bridal gown is still emulated today. She was known for her minimalist style as well as her support for young designers such as Yohji Yamamoto.
On July 16, 1999, Carolyn died, along with her husband and older sister Lauren, when the Piper Saratoga II HP Kennedy was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Martha's Vineyard. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the probable cause of the crash was: "[John Kennedy Jr.'s] failure to maintain control of the airplane during a descent over water at night, which was a result of spatial disorientation."[2] Their ashes were scattered from the Navy ship USS Briscoe off the coast of Martha's Vineyard.[3]
In 2005, Bessette-Kennedy's close friend Carole Radziwill, daughter-in-law of John's aunt Lee Radziwill, published her memoirs, titled What Remains: A Memoir of Fate, Friendship and Love including her memories of the plane crash that took place just weeks before her own husband's death from cancer. Before marrying Kennedy, Bessette was in a relationship with Calvin Klein model Michael Bergin, who wrote a memoir about the couple's relationship called The Other Man: John F. Kennedy Jr., Carolyn Bessette, and Me, which was published in 2004.[4]