Grim fairy tale - JFK Jr., wife locked in bitter war over drugs and affairs, book says

NY Daily News ^ | 7/1/03 | David Goldiner

[I_Love_My_Husband]

Grim fairy tale

JFK Jr., wife locked in bitter war over drugs and affairs, book says

By DAVE GOLDINER DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy in 1998 JFK Jr. and his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, were often seen strolling the street outside their Tribeca apartment. John F. Kennedy Jr.'s marriage to Carolyn Bessette Kennedy was crumbling amid suspicions of affairs, drugs and depression when the couple died in a plane crash, excerpts from a new book reveal.

The Camelot heir had moved out of the couple's loft and was living alone in a hotel room before the crash off Martha's Vineyard on July 16, 1999, Vanity Fair's Edward Klein writes in his new book, "The Kennedy Curse."

"We've become like total strangers," John told a pal two days before his death. "I've had it with her. It's got to stop. Otherwise, we're headed for divorce."

The feud culminated in a bizarre quarrel on the afternoon of the fateful flight, when Carolyn caused a crucial delay by insisting on having a time-consuming pedicure, Klein writes in the book, which is excerpted in the upcoming issue of Vanity Fair.

The willowy blond had her toenails painted again and again to get the precise shade of violet at a Manhattan salon as John, 38, fumed at a New Jersey airstrip with her sister, Lauren, 34, waiting to take off.

"The more times you call me, the longer it's going to take," Carolyn, 33, snapped on her cell phone, a hair stylist told Klein.

With daylight fading fast, John wound up flying virtually blind into the hazy dusk, which investigators blamed for the crash that killed all three.

'You're a cokehead!'

Arguing was nothing new for the troubled couple, who died two months short of their third anniversary.

Klein says they began marriage counseling, but Carolyn stormed out of a session after the therapist asked her about her alleged drug use.

John once returned to the couple's loft on N. Moore St. in Tribeca to find Carolyn snorting cocaine with a crowd of gay fashionistas, a witness told Klein.

"You're a cokehead," John screamed at his wife, according to the book, which is due out this month.

John had his heart set on starting a family, and even picked out a name for his future son: Flynn. But his wife rejected his pleas.

"I want to have kids, but whenever I raise the subject with Carolyn, she turns away and refuses to have sex with me," he told the friend.

Things got so bad that Lauren had to talk her sister and John into having lunch together two days before they died.

The warring couple sat in stony silence and only reluctantly agreed to Lauren's request that they all hold hands as a sign of reconciliation, Klein writes.

Lauren squeezed her sister's hand and urged her to overcome her fear of flying with John - and travel with him to Hyannis Port, Mass., for the wedding of his cousin Rory Kennedy. To clinch the date, Lauren offered to come along as far as Martha's Vineyard.

"Come on," Lauren told her sister. "It'll be fun."

Talk of infidelity

Even before their last weeks, the couple's marriage was fraught with enough issues to snap apart any relationship.

Carolyn, who Klein says showed signs of clinical depression, suspected her husband was fooling around with other women. She, in turn, occasionally told John that she was still sleeping with an ex-boyfriend, "Baywatch" hunk Michael Bergin.

She also fought with John's beloved sister, Caroline Kennedy, who made snide cracks about the fact that Carolyn showed up two hours late for the couple's dream wedding on Cumberland Island, an unspoiled paradise off the Georgia coast.

Caroline Kennedy declined comment yesterday.

John's penchant for flying and other risky hobbies also caused fights with Carolyn and his mother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

He insisted on learning to fly anyway and wrote a chilling graduation note to his instructors at Flight Safety Academy in Vero Beach, Fla.: "People will only care where I got my training if I crash. Best, John Kennedy."

[onyx]

In another book, I think it's titled "American Son" (I am too lazy to look for it), the author wrote that Carolyn "starved herself reed thin." Some diet: cocaine.

[kms61]

NOBODY is naturally that skinny in their thirties. Coulter has an eating disorder IMO.

Interesting, provocative writer. But she's looking at a serious health issue if she doesn't start eating normally.

[PennsylvaniaMom]

I think they were so well grounded by Jackie's influence...say what you will, but she really kept them out of the spotlight (the Onasisis fortune sure helped). With both JFK,Jr and Jackie gone...I think Caroline Kennedy Schlossburg is going more 'Kennedy.' I think Jackie distanced herself (and her kids) from the 'clan' after RFK died.

[ladyinred]

Where did you hear about Darryl Hannah and JFK again? I wonder if that is in the book?

[PennsylvaniaMom]

I am going to put on my flame retardant jammies...but I agree with you. I know that Ann is a heavy smoker, and has never had a child (or two) and that makes a big difference...but still, physiology (for women at least) does take over and the closer that the 'change' comes the more the pounds go on. Perimenopause can rear its ugly head in the late twenties...If she doesn't have an outright eating disorder, I would guess she has serious issues with food.

[It's me]

My first reaction is not to believe this. None of these three people are here to refute any of this.

[I_Love_My_Husband]

I don't know if that's in the book. But I do remember photos of Hannah with him right before he died in the tabloids. And, then there's the issue of the fact that he was living in a hotel away from his wife before he died.

Supposedly Hannah had been visiting him there.

Other rumors were about him and one of his female staffers.

[Mo1]

If my memory serves me right...didn't Carolyn and Lauren's parents file some sort of 'wrongful death' lawsuit against the estate of JFK,Jr (alleging his incompetance as a pilot)? If so, and if it hasn't been litigated, could this 'tell all' be part of a bigger picture...you know discredit Carolyn Bissette Kennedy (a druggie, clinically depressed, risked their safety in flight to get that 'right' shade of lilac)...just wondering. Not that any well connected (in the literary world) Kennedy would do something like that...

Yes there was, but I forget what happened with it

There may well have been trouble in their marriage .. but I can't help get the feeling this is to trash Carolyn big time

[Mo1]

However that doesn't mean he didn't cheat. IIRC I believe Darryl Hannah had come back into his life before he died and CBK was not happy about that either.

Wasn't that story/gassip because of a fight Darryl Hannah got into with a boyfriend .. for some reason I recall something about Hannah getting a black eye

Also .. wasn't it reported around the time of the crash, the it was Lauren that was late getting to the airport?

[I_Love_My_Husband]

No.

Jackson Browne gave Darryl a black eye and hospitalized her years and years before. Darryl had been seeing JFK Jr. AND JB and had been living with JB.

When JB assaulted her she left him for good and ran straight to JFK Jr. who seemed to really love her.

However, Jackie didn't want JFK Jr. to marry DH at all. The tabloids speculated "too much like Marilyn". IIRC she didn't like Madonna hanging out with JFK Jr. either. Same reason. She didn't want the wife of a potential political superstar to be a lowly actress.

He didn't get married till after his mother had passed.

He chose CB.

I think his marriage was seriously falling apart for several reasons. He wanted children. She didn't. She was a drug freak. She called him "fag"(!) derogatorily in fights with him, which there were a lot of. The book goes into the fact that she hit him and threw things.

He was not a saint, but seemed to be, to me, a little distant from some of the scandals of his family. He wasn't the brightest. He wrote a pretty scathing article about his cousin, who after the article, was killed in a ski accident by crashing into a tree. This was the cousin who was married to Frank Gifford's daughter, who had been having an affair with the babysitter. The weird thing about that case is the babysitter's mother supposedly killed herself(!).

But since it's a Kennedy scandal, you never know if she was murdered.

Anyways, back to what you asked. DH did not go back to JFK Jr. when he was married after getting a black eye.

I'm not sure she was having an affair with him at the end, but they were very chummy. He probably should have married her rather than CB. He didn't have a stormy relationship with DH, only with CB.

Oh well. Rest in peace...all of them.

[Mo1]

Jackson Browne gave Darryl a black eye and hospitalized her years and years before. Darryl had been seeing JFK Jr. AND JB and had been living with JB.

Well, I had the right story .. just the wrong time frame ..

BTW .. DANG, you are good in remembering all that .. *L*

[nopardons]

That p[icture was stagged ! Jackie made little John pravtice that salute until he could do it on command. She stagged the funeral, from every angle, to sell it to " the people ". It was Jackie, who started the whole repulsive " CAMELOT " garbage. One day, she ordered E.B. White to visit here, shortly after the funeral. She lauded him greatly, talked about his book " THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING ", which is what the musical , CAMELOT was based on. She mewed and smiled and whispered at him and convinced him that the Kennedy presidency WAS just like CAMELOT and had him write a newspaper article to that " fact ". From thereon out, the press picked up that befouled ball of garbage and has run with it ever since ; much like " THE BIG LIE " theory.

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks.

[TheSpottedOwl]

Jackie was a very smart cookie and a good mother. When Jackie married Onassis though, it was a scandal. I believe either he got an annullment from his marriage, or Jackie got a special dispensation from the Pope. My mother made a snide comment about what money can buy, regarding the situation. Personally, I think Jackie was happier with Ari Onassis than with JFK.

I hope Caroline doesn't slide too far into the Kennedy mindset, that would be a shame.

[Xenalyte]

He probably should have married her (Hannah) rather than CB.

Probably wanted a woman who shaves her legs, which Hannah doesn't do.

[Starrgaizr]

Sorry, but even with a witch of a wife screwing up a planned departure, it was an imprudent and stupid thing to continue with the flight. It shows how the socialite set puts appearances ahead of common sense. Unfortunately, even good peaople make this mistake. It is easy to imagine the lovely bride berating him even if he wanted to cancel the flight, but that is no excuse.

There are a lot of perfectly legal yet perfectly stupid things to do in an airplane. Flying night VFR in haze over open water is pretty high on the list. Clicking off the autopilot while still over water after the first near death-spiral (if I recall the NTSB report correctly) is really too tempting to the Darwin award people. As soon as he realized he would not have good visual contact with ground references if he continued, he should have done a 180 and just taken the verbal abuse.

[I_Love_My_Husband]

Yeah but in a way they were perfect for each other in personality and brainpower. ;)

Plus I don't think he cared about that issue :)

[I_Love_My_Husband]

Well...I love gossip!