Connor Hines, alongside Ryan Murphy, an American writer, director, and producer of successful shows like Glee, American Horror Story, and Scream Queens, brought Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette to life.
The series has been a massive success for Hulu and has become FX’s most-watched limited series with 25 million viewing hours in its first few weeks. Given the show’s success, it has been hard to avoid discussion of the late couple, JFK Jr. and Carolyn Basset.
But if you are unfamiliar, the show follows a story based on the couple’s real-life romance and tragic death, loosely adapted from the biography “Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bassette-Kennedy” by Elizabeth Beller.
John F. Kennedy Jr., the son of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, grew up in the public eye and was considered “American Royalty” by many, known for his charisma, charm and good looks. Carolyn Bessette came from a more modest background and worked as a fashion publicist for Calvin Klein in the 1990s. The pair met and fell in love, creating buzz surrounding their relationship.
However, after the “it couples” marriage, the pair came under media scrutiny, with Bessette shying away from the spotlight and cultivating a mysterious persona.
Despite the show’s popularity, it has faced controversy for dramatizing a tragic real-life story, and although the Kennedy family is conversant with the publication of their affairs, Love Story may have gone too far.
“Tragedy Exploiting” Portrayals
Daryl Hannah is an American actress known for her iconic roles in films such as Blade Runner and Kill Bill. She notably dated JFK Jr. before his relationship with Bessette, and their romance was featured in Love Story. Hannah spoke out about the show, providing a guest essay for the New York Times titled “Daryl Hannah: How Can ‘Love Story’ Get Away With This?” where she comments on the inaccurate portrayal of her character. Played by actress Judy Hemingway, Hannah’s character in the show is undoubtedly depicted as “irritating, self-absorbed, whiny and inappropriate.” Hannah rejects this narrative, further explaining that the show is “tragedy exploiting”.
Producers explained that her character was meant to serve as a narrative device to oppose the protagonist’s relationship, but she believes a real persons likleyhood should not be used in this way. Hannah comments on the underlying misogyny fostered by the show’s dynamic due to the idea of one woman being torn down to build up another. Hannah was not contacted about this portrayal and did not consent to her life being dramatized in this way.
Kennedy Family Input
Consent was also not granted by any living member of the Kennedy family, and Jack Schlossberg, the only grandson of John F. Kennedy and nephew of JFK Jr., opposes the exploitation. He explained the work to CBS as “capital F for fiction” and “grotesque,” standing by the opinion that making money off of a personification of real-life tragedies is wrong. He feels the show is inaccurate fiction and exploitative, profiting from his family’s history.
He suggests that if creators truly cared about the Kennedy legacy, they would donate profits to philanthropic causes JFK Jr. advocated or to the Kennedy Library.
It’s a little bit ironic
Regardless of critiques from those closely tied to the real-life story, the glamorization and publication of the couple’s story is ironic, given Carolyn Bessette’s personal values. Despite constant paparazzi and media scrutiny of her personal life, Bessette struggled with the attention and had an inherently private nature. Although she had a high-profile marriage, she still wanted to live a normal life, and the couple went so far as to have a secret wedding to avoid public attention.
The show itself actually chronicles Bessette’s struggle with being exposed to the public eye and her fears and trauma surrounding it, leading to strain in their marriage. Due to her private demeanour, the show presumably maintains a superficial view of Bessette; as in reality, she had only been seen through images and never sat down for any prominent interviews.
How is this allowed?
As explained by Shloshberg and Hannah, there was no real consent for the likelihood of the figures portrayed in the show, and this is supported under U.S. law. Filmmakers and authors have wide latitude to tell stories about real people, so long as the work is “expressive” (like a movie or TV show) and not misleading commercial speech (like an ad or an endorsement), and public figures are assumed to be subjects of public interest.
Issues must meet a very high bar to support defamation, with proof of false statements made out to be fact or “actual malice” (knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth). In cases like this, where the expressive value of the work outweighs potential harm to a person’s identity, the First Amendment protection wins. This is why Dayrl Hannah has raised such an objection; she believes the show went beyond dramatization into falsehood.
So, studios like FX do not need permission to depict real historical people, so long as the claims they publish are factual. Producers neglected to reach out to living figures portrayed in the show to avoid serving a certain agenda, and they tried to approach the characterizations with empathy and respect.
The Public’s Opinion
As mentioned, the show has been widely successful but not without significant debate over its ethics. Critics have questioned whether dramatizing John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette is exploitative, while others argue it is simply a continuation of a long tradition of Kennedy myth-making. At the same time, the series works to demystify that legacy, presenting the couple not as untouchable icons but as real people shaped and strained by fame. In this sense, the show becomes self-reflexive.
Its focus on media surveillance, loss of privacy and the transformation of real people into symbols mirrors the very criticism being levelled against it. With Ryan Murphy at the helm, the series is also undoubtedly praised for its stylized aesthetic and ability to romanticize tragedy. Yet that aesthetic is not accidental; it reflects the same media obsession the show means to critique.
Public reaction is varied across platforms. On TikTok, audiences have leaned into the romance, fixating on the couple’s chemistry, appearance and especially their style. The budding resurgence of 90s minimalism has led to renewed fascination with Bessette’s style in particular, with users emulating and reinterpreting her looks.
In contrast, Reddit offers a more analytical response, with its users debating the show’s historical accuracy and examining how media narratives shape public perception. Together, these reactions reveal how the series functions as both a love story and a commentary, inviting viewers to project their own interpretations onto it.
The story we choose to see
Ultimately, the controversy surrounding Love Story is not just about accuracy, but about ownership, who gets to tell someone else’s story, and at what cost. While the series is legally protected and framed as fiction, its impact exists in a much more complicated space between reality and representation. As Daryl Hannah argues, when entertainment borrows a real person’s name, it can permanently shape how they are remembered. The irony lies in the case of Carolyn Bessette, who spent so much of her life resisting the very kind of exposure the show is now resurfacing, turning her into an image once again, styled, interpreted, consumed and critiqued.
In the end, the discourse surrounding the show may be its more revealing element. Whether audiences see a tragic romance, a flawed relationship, or a commentary on fame, one thing remains clear: We are still turning them into whatever story we want.