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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 U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
She died at age 33, along with her husband and her sister Lauren Bessette, when the private plane that her husband was piloting crashed in the Atlantic Ocean near Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Their ashes were scattered at sea on July 22 1999.
Bessette-Kennedy was born in White Plains, Westchester County, New York, the youngest daughter of Dr. William
J. Bessette and his then-wife, née Ann Messina, an administrator
in the New York public school system. She grew up in affluent Greenwich, Connecticut, and attended St. Mary's High School, where she was voted an "All-Around Beautiful Person".
After graduating from Boston University in 1988, she went to work at a Calvin Klein store in Boston.
With her classic, cool blonde looks, Bessette occasionally worked as a model in
New York City, before becoming a publicist for Calvin Klein, where she met Kennedy. The attractive couple
became a popular paparazzi target, with gossip columns detailing where they ate, shopped and even arguments they had. Photographers
waited outside their Tribeca apartment to snap photographs.
Bessette was reportedly very uncomfortable with the media frenzy and the repeated comparisons
to Jacqueline Kennedy. She married Kennedy on September 21, 1996 on Cumberland Island, Georgia in an historic Baptist church.
The wedding was small and secret in an effort to elude the media. On July 16 1999, Bessette-Kennedy left Essex County Airport in Fairfield Township, New Jersey in a small plane piloted by her husband to attend a family wedding in Hyannis, Massachusetts.
Her sister Lauren (who was survived by a twin, Lisa Ann) was to be dropped off at Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts before the couple continued on to their destination.
Due to a confluence of circumstances, including poor visibility at nightfall, Kennedy's
relative inexperience in these conditions as well as having a recently healed broken leg, he lost his bearings and the plane
crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, approximately seven miles off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. The world was riveted to the
television for days afterwards, as their plane was reported missing and a rescue operation was launched. All three were killed
in the crash. In 2005, close friend Carole Radziwill published her memoirs, containing fond memories of Carolyn and John.
Bessette's blonde hair coloring was the model for that of the "Bergdorf Blondes" in the 2004 novel by Plum Sykes.
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Carolyn Jeanne Bessette-Kennedy (January 7, 1966 – July
16, 1999) was the wife of John F. Kennedy, Jr., the son of assassinated U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
Background
Bessette was born in White Plains, Westchester County, New York to Dr. William J. Bessette and Ann Messina Freeman, an administrator in the New York public school system. She grew up in affluent Greenwich, Connecticut, and attended St. Mary's High School, where she was voted an "All-Around Beautiful Person."
After graduating from Boston University in 1988, she went to work at a Calvin Klein store in Boston.
With her height and cool blonde looks, Bessette occasionally worked as a model. She
worked as a saleswoman at the Calvin Klein store in Boston before being transferred to New York, where she worked as a publicist
and met John F. Kennedy, Jr. The attractive couple became a popular paparazzi target, with gossip columns detailing where they ate and shopped and even covered the
arguments they had.
Photographers waited outside the couple's Tribeca apartment to snap photographs. Bessette was reportedly very uncomfortable with the media
frenzy and the repeated comparisons to her mother-in-law Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
She married her husband on September 21, 1996 on Cumberland Island, Georgia in a historic Baptist church, where their wedding was private and secret in an effort
to elude the media.
Death
On the evening of July 16, 1999, Bessette departed Essex County Airport in Fairfield Township, New Jersey in a Piper Saratoga light aircraft piloted by her husband to attend a wedding for Kennedy's cousin Rory in Hyannis, Massachusetts.
Her older sister, Lauren flew with them and was to be dropped off at Martha's Vineyard, before the couple continued on to their final destination. The plane never arrived at
Martha's Vineyard, and its wreck was discovered four days later.
Although the cause of the crash was never determined, the NTSB concluded that a confluence of circumstances, including poor visibility at nightfall,
Kennedy's relative inexperience in flying in these conditions, and his recently-healed broken leg, caused him to lose his
bearings.
The plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, approximately seven miles off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, killing all three passengers
onboard. Their ashes were scattered at sea a week later.
Legacy
In 2005, Bessette's close friend Carole Radziwill published her memoirs, containing fond memories of John, Carolyn, and Lauren, including
her memories of the plane crash that took place just weeks before her husband's death from cancer.
Before marrying her husband, Bessette was in a relationship with
model Michael Bergin, who wrote a memoir about the couple's relationship The Other Man, which was published
in 2004.
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