Carolyn Bessette and JFK Jr.: New Book Uncovers the Truth About Their Marriage Before Their Deaths

Upon returning from their two-week honeymoon in Turkey, John F. Kennedy Jr. and his bride, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, found photographers staking out their NYC loft.

“Getting married is a big adjustment for us,” John chivalrously told them. “And for a private citizen like Carolyn even more so. I ask you to give her all the privacy and room you can.”

In the late 1990s, the union of the Kennedy scion and the stylish former fashion publicist made headlines around the world. Unfortunately, the public interest in the couple never waned, and the attention put tremendous stress on their marriage, and especially on Carolyn.

“There is no way anybody could have predicted the frenzy and viciousness that the tabloids would have toward her,” Elizabeth Beller, author of Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, exclusively tells Closer. Whenever she left home, photographers “surrounded her and made her feel physically unsafe. It was like being hunted.”

Beller’s new book seeks to show a different side of Carolyn, who since her death with John and her sister Lauren in a plane crash 25 years ago, has often been depicted in a negative light.

“There was a misconception that she was heartless and cold,” says Beller. “But people who knew her said she was the total opposite of how the tabloids portrayed her.”

After meeting at Calvin Klein’s flagship store, where Carolyn worked, she and John, the only son of President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, began quietly dating. They were drawn to each other’s beauty, humor and compassion.

“He was a very down-to-earth person, as was she,” says Beller. “They shared values about authenticity in relationships and in their friendships. They also just laughed a lot together — something that everyone I spoke with pointed out.”

John had dated celebrities, including Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker and Daryl Hannah, but Carolyn’s poise, intelligence and warmth appealed to him.

“Carolyn was a caretaker, and John carried a heavy burden,” explains Beller. “He lost his father, he lost his uncle, he, by then, had lost his mother. Carolyn had a history of taking people under her wing who had been hurt in some way. That really drew them together.”

Carolyn wed John understanding that he was considering running for political office, but she didn’t realize how entirely her personal privacy would vanish overnight.

“It was such an invasion that it was hard for them to even have alone time together,” says Beller.

In just a short time, the couple’s apartment began to feel like a prison.

“She was somebody who enjoyed New York to its fullest,” says Beller. “She loved going out to dinner, to plays and movies. The paparazzi following her every move truly stole a lot. She began to feel that fame was the thief of joy.”

Other books have blamed Carolyn for being late to the airfield the night John’s plane crashed in heavy fog in July 1999, killing everyone onboard — but Beller says this isn’t true.

“Nobody made them late,” says the author, who notes that heavy traffic leaving the city on a Friday night in summer slowed them down.

Of course, there’s no telling if John and Carolyn’s marriage would have survived if they’d lived, but many believe they stood a good chance. “Carolyn was a good wife to John,” says Beller. “I like to think they’d still be together because they were both very compassionate people.”