Posted on 07/01/2003 9:13:40 AM PDT by 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."
My sociology professor used to say that the type of person we marry (or believe we married) reveals a great deal about ourselves.
July 18, 1969
The day Ted killed Mary Jo. 17 days to go to the anniversary.
The only reason Ted Kennedy and his congenitally moronic son, Patrick Kennedy, are still alive is that they are too stupid even to Darwinize themselves, although it is not from lack of trying.........
This is true. I think in JFK jr's case though, he may have married his father. Nevermind that he never knew him, these wierd things happen. I always liked JFK jr. He and Caroline seemed more sensible and well grounded than the rest of them.
Spiny, your post really cracked (no pun intended) me up! Clever, right on and funny!
Thanks for the post and ping.
This is the John Kennedy, Jr. I always think about:
Know it??? I'm living it!!!!
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