FX dramatized John F. Kennedy and Carolyn Bessette’s tragic romance in Love Story, which sparked backlash for the way it was portrayed.
Love Story, created by Ryan Murphy, stars Paul Anthony Kelly as JFK Jr. and Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette. The real-life couple were together on and off between 1992 until their 1996 wedding. Kennedy and Bessette died three years later in a plane crash.
“We had Elizabeth Beller’s book for reference, but we did face challenges [capturing certain moments],” executive producer Brad Simpson exclusively told Us Weekly in February 2026 of adapting the couple’s story. “They died so young, but we had enough information from people around them to know what the problems were in their marriage, what the tensions were, what the highs were, what the lows were.”
He added, “People don’t have an idea of what her voice was like because we only have a tiny clip of her voice, but they have a very distinct idea of what her image was like. We had to get the walk down and the look and the allure, but Sarah could really interpret and go with it. John, we have a lot of recordings of him, and we have a lot more on him.”
Many celebrities, however, took aim at the way Murphy and Simpson’s creative team sensationalized Kennedy and Bessette’s respective lives. Keep scrolling for their reactions:
Jack Schlossberg
Jack Schlossberg, the son of Caroline Kennedy, has been vocal about Ryan Murphy replicating JFK Jr.’s life and relationship history for television. (Caroline and JFK Jr. are the two children of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.)
“Well, if you want to know someone who’s never met anyone in my family, knows nothing about us, talk to Ryan Murphy,” Schlossberg quipped during a March 2026 interview with CBS Sunday Morning. “I would just want people who do watch the show to watch it with one letter in mind, and that’s a capital F for fiction.”
The politician continued, “[Murphy] knows nothing about what he’s talking about, and he’s making a ton of money on a grotesque display of someone else’s life.”
Annette Bening
In Love Story, Sarah Pidgeon’s Carolyn Bessette dresses a famous actress named Annette for movie premiere, which fans presumed was a nod to Annette Bening and her 1991 movie Bugsy.
“I watched the scene. I felt very flattered by the actress,” Bening said on Good Morning America in March 2026. “It didn’t happen in real life. I met Carolyn Bessette once at Calvin Klein [where she worked], but, no, it didn’t happen that way.”
Bening further debunked the Love Story allusion that Bessette dressed her for a specific red carpet occasion.
“It was supposed to be for the premiere of Bugsy, and I was nine months pregnant,” the actress said. “I know, for sure, that wasn’t me at that point. I would know and I do know. I remember that much.”
Daryl Hannah
Daryl Hannah dated John F. Kennedy Jr. for five years in the 1980s before he moved on with Carolyn Bessette. The Splash actress is portrayed by Dree Hemingway on Love Story.
“I have long believed that engaging with distortion often amplifies it, but a recent tragedy-exploiting television series about John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette features a character using my name and presents her as me,” Hannah wrote in a New York Times essay published in March 2026. “The choice to portray her as irritating, self-absorbed, whiny and inappropriate was no accident.”
She continued, “Storytelling requires tension. It often requires an obstacle. But a real, living person is not a narrative device. … Popular culture has long elevated certain women by portraying others as rivals, obstacles or villains. Isn’t it textbook misogyny to tear down one woman in order to build up another?”
According to Hannah, Love Story wasn’t “remotely accurate” in how it portrayed her life or relationship with JFK Jr.
“I have never used cocaine in my life or hosted cocaine-fueled parties. I have never pressured anyone into marriage,” she stated. “I have never desecrated any family heirloom or intruded upon anyone’s private memorial. I never compared Jacqueline Onassis’ death to a dog’s. It’s appalling to me that I even have to defend myself against a television show.”
Narciso Rodriguez
Narciso Rodriguez, who designed Carolyn Bessette’s wedding gown, debunked how Love Story handled her bridal fitting. (On the show, Bessette was unable to get the dress over her head before the ceremony.)
“I’ve heard so many amazing stories — the dress didn’t fit, people that were present weren’t present,” Rodriguez told The Cut in March 2026. “It was just her and I in the bathroom, putting this dress over her head. I guess it comes with the lore.”
According to Rodriguez, Bessette herself was the inspiration for the ensemble.
“We talked about something that wasn’t fussy. I tried to pin her down and sketch with me several times, but she wouldn’t,” he told the outlet. “She always had a reason to walk the dog when I brought my sketchbook over.”
The designer added, “I felt no pressure because I was making the dress for my best friend, and I never thought beyond that.”
